Shortly After Surveying Players About Monetization Changes, RuneScape Will Be Raising Their Subscription Rates

Just last week I wrote a piece about Jagex's plans to institute a "Community Consultation" group to look at RuneScape's monetization and get feedback on changes that could be made to be more "player-friendly" while also remaining profitable and funding future development in the MMORPG. That group's creation largely stemmed from a survey sent out regarding RuneScape 3's Treasure Hunter loot boxes and feedback on them.

Questions on the survey included an interesting one that asked if players would be willing to pay a higher subscription price if Treasure Hunter was removed.

While the survey itself was specific to RuneScape 3, the Community Consultation group post was posted on the RuneScape side of things. While it would obviously take time to implement such a group and to get actionable feedback (if action COULD be taken at all), it seems Jagex will be making a change ahead of that group's creation, and it isn't one players are all that keen on.

Subscription costs in RuneScape are going up and, spoiler, so far Treasure Hunter isn't being removed.

This increase comes 2 years after RuneScape's previous subscription increase and will impact all subscription options. That means monthly, semi-annual, and annual membership fees are on the rise.

There's an interesting caveat here, though. If you currently pay the $12.49 monthly fee or the discounted 6 -month fee of $59.99, you can actually keep paying those rates as long as you do not let your subscription expire for longer than 14 days. You kind of get a "grandfather" rate. If you do let your sub lapse, you'll have to pick up the new rates of $13.99 per month or $71.94 for the semi-annual bundle.

The current $79.99 annual rate has no such provision. If you are a current yearly subscriber, whenever your annual sub fee comes due, you HAVE to pay the new $99.48 annual price. You won't get a grandfather rate on that package. That said, you can convert your annual membership into a monthly or a semi-annual membership at the grandfathered rates, provided you don't lapse for more than 14 days.

These new rates take effect on September 27th, so next month.

Obviously, this isn't going over well with RuneScape players, nor should it. I'm sure many feel like the formation of the Community Consultation group happening AFTER these price increases is kind of a slap in the face. With many players having alts they also pay membership rates for, this could lead to an exodus of certain accounts that carry a lot of the financial burden for running RuneScape. Raising rates doesn't always equate to making more money if there's fewer people paying the sub.

Happening just ahead of Group Ironman dropping is an interesting choice, too. Not to mention that in RuneScape, players pay for other things like advanced stat and skill tracking through RuneMetrics, an app from Jagex that is pretty handy in tracking EXP, time to level, and a slew of other stats players use. There is some free stat tracking there, but the really great tracking requires an additional "Pro" fee.

I guess the days of RuneScape being the "less expensive" MMO out there are over?