An Update On Partnerships

At the beginning of this week we published a blog on working with potential partners in the games industry. What we were offering in this blog represented a change to how content could be introduced to the game - however, for any game to continuously grow and attract new players there is a need for strong partnerships that engage existing players, attract new players and give returning players an incentive to come back and play.

We pride ourselves on ensuring that our players can vote on any in-game content, including content related to commercial efforts, like that which we were offering in the partnerships poll. As far as we're concerned, polling is the epitome of community-driven game development and is the heart of Old School RuneScape.

The poll was set to end on Monday 8th July. You came to vote in your thousands, and the voting so far has sent a clear message – and as such, we've made the decision to end the poll early. The results were so one-sided that the outcome of the poll could not change. It's this, coupled with the divisive discussion surrounding the poll, that has led us to make what we believe is the right call to close the poll booths early.

We'd like to thank you for voting, and your continued passion around Old School. We hope that you continue to trust in the polling process, just as we do. We'd also like to take this opportunity to share some insight into why we offered the content that we did.

Everything we stated in the blog was entirely true. Had the content we offered passed in the poll, it would have been added to a backlog of content we would call upon whenever a partnership was active. There would be no surprises whenever a partnership was approaching, and you would know exactly what content to expect. If the content passed it would not have led to more invasive forms of advertising or monetisation but would have enabled us to do exciting things for our players with partners such as Twitch, Discord, and more. Our motivation for the poll stems from our belief that by tying the partnership to content that we think you would honestly like to see in-game, our partners would then be more inclined to help us with activity that’s good for all players.

The content we chose, we did so as a result of extensive focus group testing. We heard loud and clear that the Old School community would not accept the likes of buyable resources, wealth, or XP. We heard that you would not accept any additions which were either exclusive through purchasing, or partnership, nor would you accept anything that would become discontinued. We heard that you wear your cosmetic accomplishments with a feeling of pride. That's why we promised that the content we were offering would become freely available to all players once the partnership ended. It’s why we've offered cosmetic content like the player-owned-house style decorations that would be seen only by yourself (and others you invite into your house).

We are disappointed that the reception to the blog has focused around monetisation in-game –something that is not in any of our plans – although we can understand your trepidation. We would like to categorically highlight once again that the forms of monetisation listed in the paragraph above will not be coming to Old School and that everything we are doing with Old School is to enable this amazing game to grow, be more fun for you and be experienced by more people in the world.

It should be noted that ‘partnerships’ is not a ‘catch-all’ term – there are many types of commercial partnership opportunities, and as well the ones suggested in the poll, we’ve partnered in the past with the likes of Apple and Google, who have been pivotal in helping us bring Old School Mobile to you all in October last year. So, rather than Walmart or Pepsi, we would look to partner with companies who make sense to both us, yourselves and the game itself.

Whilst we do believe that partnerships can be used for the growth of Old School RuneScape, we're going to work with you to see what you would be happy with. Again, we welcome your feedback on this and rest assured, no in-game content for partnerships will be added without a poll.

Collaboration is at the heart of decisions we make so we will work directly with players at our HQ in Cambridge and with the broader community so you can advise us on the right way to build partnerships that excite, rather than cause confusion and fear. Everyone at Jagex wants Old School RuneScape to be a game that you play and enjoy for many years to come.

Mods Acorn, Archie, Ash, Bruno, Curse, Ed, Gambit, Gee, Ghost, Husky, John C, Kieren, Lenny, Lottie, Maz, Nasty, Roq, Ry, Sween, Tide, Weath, West & Wolf

The Old School Team