Jagex goes mobile as RuneScape comes to smartphone and tablets

RuneScape and Old School RuneScape will be portable as the games come to mobile and tablet platforms.

Old School RuneScape will launch this Winter while RuneScape will come after, although no date has been given.

The games don’t appear to be playable cross platform but are ‘interoperable’ play, meaning that you can access your normal PC based account on mobile and play with that account. So you will be able to play on the move, go back to PC and have all of your progress saved.

“As a MMO player, you ideally want to play at any time of the day or night no matter where you are," said Jagex senior product director, Neil McClarty We know that our players’ time is precious, and that’s why want to give all RuneScape players, both present and past, the opportunity to play RuneScape on the go. The fact that they’ll be able to play on their PC, leave the PC, and pick up their mobile and continue playing where you left your character will be a big deal for our players – there really will be no need for any XP waste.”

Jagex claims that these two games will be the first ‘mainstream and fully-established’ MMORPGs from a Western developer to make the jump to mobile and to feature the interoperable play functions.

“This is a real step change for MMORPGs and a signal of Jagex’s intent to continue to push the boundaries of live games," said Jagex COO, Phil Mansell. "The RuneScape titles will become the first mainstream and established Western MMORPGs on mobile in full and the first to deliver interoperable play between PC and mobile platforms. We believe in taking our games to wherever our players want them; recent player surveys showed an overwhelming 90% of active players and 64% of former players telling us of their very high intent-to-play on mobile. Our innovative approach to mobile is also evidence of our ambitions in the mobile sector, and a further indication of our investment in extending the RuneScape franchise to additional devices and territories.”