Hey Everyone,
For the past six years I have had the immense pleasure of holding the position of CEO at Jagex. It is with a heavy heart that I write to you today to tell you all that this will be my seventh and final year at Jagex as I will be leaving this fantastic company and amazing talented passionate team this December.
I’ve been wrestling with just precisely how and when to say “goodbye” to not only all the amazing people at Jagex but of course to our beloved RuneScape community. Both have played such a seminal part in my life for what has seemed a lifetime and I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute serving both.
If I look back over the past seven years we’ve come a very long way as a studio and no bigger testament of that is RuneScape. Now in our 14th year together, RuneScape continues to evolve and reinvent itself time and time again.
One of my proudest achievements at Jagex has been our efforts of tackling Botting and Gold Farming. When I first joined this was a huge problem for the business which I understand had plagued the game and community for many years. Today the game is virtually bot free and with the introduction of Bonds, gold farming too has become almost inexistent. A year on since Bonds was introduced, and I am again so pleased so see so many players reap the benefits of many years’ hard effort and loyalty.
Back in 2009, I pledged that we would start talking to our community more, and keep you all in the loop after a decade of perceived secrecy. Fast forward to 2014 and I think we have done just that! The return of PvP in the Wilderness & Free Trade, the launch of Old School RuneScape and most recently, Legacy Mode, have all been driven by YOU!.
Add to that the launch of Player Power at the start of this year, I have been thrilled to watch both the team and the community readily embrace this new way of working together. I still think we can do even more and I know my good friend Mod Pips and the rest of the RuneScape team have some really ground breaking plans for 2015 (I won’t steal their rightful lime-light).
It would be wrong of me to say I have always got everything right, because frankly I haven’t, but I can promise you everything we’ve ever done was always done with the RuneScape’s best interests in mind. I do genuinely believe RuneScape now has the strongest, passionate and most committed team ever, and RuneScape’s future is in very safe hands indeed.
In all honesty, with my departure in mind, I have been taking a step back and passed the virtual baton to Mod_Pips sometime ago. I have no doubt he will continue to lead RuneScape into a very bright future. I know you will all afford Pips and the team the same passion, dedication, support and feedback (good and bad) I’ve been very blessed with over the years!
Lastly, I wanted the opportunity and honour to say “Thank you for playing RuneScape” one last time and I will continue to pop into game (on my choob account) for many years to come.
Have fun!Cheers
Mark Gerhard