Legal Niches

Jagex: We Had to Self-Publish

By james_fudge

Speaking at the Develop conference this week, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard said that it became a self-publisher out of necessity after several big time publishers basically told them "f**k you."

The company responsible for the ultra popular browser-based MMORPG RuneScape said that it approached Electronic Arts and Activision, but were soundly rejected. Even after its game became a massive hit, publishers spurned them.

"We went to publishers like Activision and EA and said we've got an awesome browser game, and they said 'fuck off'," revealed Gerhard at the Develop Conference in Brighton. "We went back and said we've got a million users and they said 'bullshit'". The necessity forced us to become a publisher."

Gerhard said that, despite those hurdles, the company managed to do well; in 2005 Sony was willing to invest in the company. That's a a long way from being ignored by EA and Activision. Besides publishing RuneScape and casual games through the FunOrb portal, Jagex is also releasing titles such as War of Legends, which is "125 percent over target on revenues," according to Gerhard. Read More

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Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on July 16, 2010 (boomark / email).