Update from January 29, 2021: The old-school version of RuneScape finally has a specific date for its Steam release: How RockPaperShotgun reports, the nostalgic version of the MMO classic will land on the Valve platform on February 24, 2021.
The latest version of the MMO classic appeared on Steam last year. Developer Jagex had already planned last year that the “old” variant would follow suit. No wonder, Old School RuneScape 2020 enjoyed its biggest player high since the launch of over 20 years ago: The previous record was broken by 157,000 simultaneously active MMO adventurers.
Speaking of which: RuneScape celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2021. And developer Jagex plans to celebrate this appropriately. In January the studio announced an event that would give fans an extensive quest line to play. The entire history of the MMO is to be rolled out again – all details about the event can be found on the official RuneScape website.
Original message from September 2020: Do you still remember RuneScape? Or do you even still play? For many fans, the video game from the developers of Jagex was possibly the first point of contact with the MMO genre. Now, almost 20 years after the original release, Runescape is getting its long overdue Steam debut.
This is doubly exciting because since its original release in 2001, RuneScape has primarily eclipsed its existence in web browsers. Like the developer on the official homepage announced, two versions of RuneScape are about to be launched on Steam:
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The latest version of RuneScape starts on October 14, 2020 on Steam
- The retro version “Old School RuneScape” is to follow sometime in 2021
All information about the RuneScape Steam launch
What will change with the Steam release of RuneScape? With the launch on Steam, RuneScape gets the usual features that are now common for titles on the Valve platform: Players can earn achievements, badges and trading cards for their Steam account.
Jagex promises improvements for the future: The aim is to make the game experience more accessible and clear and, for example, to optimize the UI extensively. You also want to tweak the engine itself in order to guarantee a stable gaming experience regardless of your personal settings.
The developer also benefits from the Steam features: Steam’s Community Hub would like to use Jagex to immediately consider and utilize player feedback. The fans themselves will also be made aware of the most important news and information about RuneScape through any announcements.
In addition, fans can support the further development of RuneScape by purchasing membership packages that are subject to a fee and which will bring you cosmetic items. Strictly speaking, both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape are free2play, but much of the content can be unlocked with these membership packages.
more on the subject
Opinion: “Steam is now getting the coolest feature in years!”
Can I continue to play my existing characters? Yes, you don’t have to start from scratch with RuneScape on Steam. If you already have an existing RuneScape account, all you have to do is link it to Steam in order to continue using your existing character.
Runescape: An MMO hit for (almost) 20 years
RuneScape is definitely one of the older irons of the MMO genre, but continues to do well: First in June 2020 the developers announced the highest level of all daily active players. At the moment, Old School RuneScape ranks behind heavyweights such as World of Warcraft or The Elder Scrolls Online in terms of the number of active players – how AltarOfGaming reported.
In 2008, 2009 and 2019, RuneScape was dated Guinness Book of Records Incidentally, it was recognized as the world’s largest and most popular Free2Play MMO and can still do so today over 250 million registered accounts refer for yourself.
By the way, RuneScape is now also available as Mobile version for Android and iOS devices available, which is also very popular among gamers.
Link to YouTube content
If you are also interested in the history of RuneScape, we recommend the official documentation of the developers, which you can refer to YouTube can dedicate.
