The Carlyle Group Acquires Jagex, Leading Online Video Game Company and Creator of RuneScape
January 25 2021 - 10:44AM
Business Wire
Acquisition announced as Jagex celebrates 20
years of RuneScape, making it one of the world’s longest running
and most successful online video game franchises
Global investment firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) today
announced it has acquired Jagex, a leading developer and publisher
of video games. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and employing more than 450
people, Jagex is one of the largest and most successful British
video game studios, developing and publishing video games on PC and
mobile. The company is best known for its online role-playing
living game franchise RuneScape, which has attracted almost
300million player accounts since its launch 20 years ago. Jagex has
grown its RuneScape titles to a $1billion franchise1. The titles,
which are played by a vibrant community of millions all around the
world, are currently enjoying peak global popularity. 2020 saw
record numbers of subscribing players, more than half of which are
in the United States.
The Carlyle Group is one of the world’s largest and most
diversified global investment firms with $230billion of assets
under management. Carlyle will leverage its global network,
expertise and resources to support Jagex as it continues to drive
growth by evolving the core RuneScape franchise through investment
in R&D and increased content release rates, as well as
launching new titles to diversify its portfolio and engage with an
even wider community of players. Equity for the investment was
provided by Carlyle Partners (CP) VII and Carlyle Europe Technology
Partners (CETP) IV funds.
Phil Mansell, CEO of Jagex, said: “I am so proud that Jagex is
teaming up with Carlyle, a prestigious investment group that
believes in the potential of Jagex, our vision for growth, and will
support us in accelerating our multi-year growth strategy. We will
continue to expand our game teams to create and deliver more great
content for RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. We will continue to
create exciting experiences for our players, grow our global
communities, build new games to expand and further explore the
RuneScape universe, lend our expertise to publish third-party games
from like-minded online game developers, and invest in the
incredible tech and talent that powers this all.”
Patrick McCarter, Managing Director at Carlyle, added: “The
global video games market is large and growing, and within this the
global massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)
sub-sector is particularly attractive. We have been impressed with
Jagex’s market position, strong track record of revenue and market
share growth, as well as the experience and passion of the
team.”
Michael Wand, Managing Director at Carlyle, said: “RuneScape is
one of the most enduring RPG franchises and has a fantastic and
committed player base. We look forward to drawing on the full
resources of Carlyle to support Phil and his team to continue to
grow the existing RuneScape franchise as well as launching new,
exciting ones. We believe with further investment and innovation,
Jagex can build on its position as one of the most exciting video
game developers for both existing and new generations of MMORPG
players.”
Notes to Editors:
2020 represented a marquee year for Jagex:
- RuneScape and Old School RuneScape achieved peak popularity and
a new all-time high of online subscribers with more than 1.2million
members joining the further millions of players who enjoy RuneScape
for free
- Jagex continued to invest in the creation of new content for
the RuneScape franchise, commenced early-stage production of new
games, and hired top-tier game development and publishing talent.
This created more than 70 new job openings that grew headcount
c.20% year-on-year
2021 marks the 20th anniversary of RuneScape live game
operations:
- Epic 20th anniversary-themed content added to both games
- RuneScape will also launch on mobile devices for both iOS and
Android, and deliver cross-play functionality between the PC and
mobile platforms
- Jagex will continue building out its game production teams for
the development of new online games, in addition to expanding its
publishing services for live games created by partner game studios
under its third-party publishing division, Jagex Partners
- The first Jagex Partners title will be published later this
year
About Jagex
A leader in creating deep and engaging live games on PC and
mobile, Jagex’s flagship MMORPG, RuneScape, has welcomed almost
300million player accounts to its world and is a $1billion lifetime
revenue franchise. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond
running games in live operations; our titles are living games that
connect and inspire millions of players, with content and
experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds.
Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer
ever-evolving, highly active worlds and our community-focussed
development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each
game is shaped. Now we’re expanding and extending our portfolio
with fresh franchise titles and new IP to bring life to the living
games of the future. Jagex employs more than 450 people at its
Cambridge headquarters. Career information can be found at
www.jagex.com/careers
About The Carlyle Group:
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with
deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three
business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit and
Investment Solutions. With $230billion of assets under management
as of September 30, 2020, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and
create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and
the communities in which we live and invest. The Carlyle Group
employs more than 1,800 people in 30 offices across six continents.
Further information is available at www.carlyle.com. Follow The
Carlyle Group on Twitter @OneCarlyle.
1 Total revenue since inception
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005590/en/
The Carlyle Group: EMEA: Andrew
Kenny / +44 7816 176120 / andrew.kenny@carlyle.com USA: Brittany
Berliner / +1 212 813-4839 / brittany.berliner@carlyle.com
Jagex Rich Eddy:
rich.eddy@jagex.com Jon Goddard: jon.goddard@jagex.com
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