When Old School Runescape first came to mobile, I was astonished by how capable it was, even back then. Switching clicking for tapping felt incredibly intuitive; a match made in tech heaven that would open up Jagex’s hit MMO to a whole new market. Runescape Dragonwilds, currently in Steam Early Access, is set to follow a similar suit, as its full 1.0 launch will also arrive on PlayStation 5, marking the first RS-related IP to make it to console. This is, as Jagex describes it, a “landmark moment” for the franchise, but the studio still has plenty of work to do.
I can imagine entering a brand new market is exciting, yet scary stuff. Building up a playerbase from scratch while fending off genre rivals sounds like a tremendous amount of work, though the pay-off, should Jagex get it right, will be tremendous. Clearly keen to make a good first impression, Runescape Dragonwilds will land on both PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers, saving you 30 bucks if you have been holding off from getting it on Steam, and already pay for a sub.
Dragonwilds has sold more than a million copies since entering early access in April last year, which isn’t bad considering how barebones it was at launch. That being said, the Runescape magic was always there, so it’s perhaps been an easier sell than ‘Generic Unreal Engine 5 survival game A.’ To Jagex’s credit, development has progressed smoothly, and I enjoyed my time with major updates Fellhollow and Dowdun Reach. While the presser doesn’t mention any sort of release window, the most recent roadmap update stipulates Dragonwilds will arrive in September.
This is an incredibly important moment for Jagex, and one which comes at a time where the self-styled ‘The Runescape Company’ is soaring. Alongside Dragonwilds hitting the big one mil in December, Old School Runescape has never been more popular, despite its recent membership price hikes unsurprisingly going down poorly with players – myself included. Runescape proper, meanwhile, had its egregious monetization system, Treasure Hunter, ripped out back in January, sparking a year-long ‘Road to Restoration.’
Having spent the best part of 20 years (on and off) in Gielinor, I’ve been through some soaring highs and sub-cancelling lows. I can’t remember a period where Jagex has had as much momentum as it does now, barring RS2’s golden years. It’s in prime position to make some serious GP, just like when I sold all those cut rubies to Toci in Aldarin during OSRS Leagues 6. That’s not to say it’s a dead cert, though.
If Dragonwilds continues on its current trajectory, then I don’t doubt that it’ll be a solid survival crafting experience when it launches; who doesn’t love slaying dragons? However, the market is saturated with amazing games like the Subnautica series, No Man’s Sky, Minecraft, and Rust, that are all vying for your time. The polish can’t just be solid, it must be pristine.
Dragonwilds does have its advantages. Firstly, nothing really sits in that historical fantasy niche aside from Valheim. By extension of that, Dragonwilds’ excellent magic system is a major differentiator from Iron Gate’s’ viking-based sandbox, so I’m sure there’ll be a natural curiosity for some, while others will be drawn to the fact that it’s Runescape. 25 years of cultural salience will do that.
The big question, and one which I’ve sent Jagex’s way, is if Dragonwilds will launch with crossplay. Runescape’s PC roots run deep, and cross-pollination via word-of-mouth is, I’m sure, going to play a major role in accelerating growth. If those one million Steam players all started playing with a PlayStation pal, who then got even more of their PS5 friends involved, then you can see why Jagex has been so keen to go multi-platform with Dragonwilds. Strategically speaking, I feel it’d be a huge misstep not to have that platform bridge built in time.
As Executive Producer Jesse America says, “Bringing Dragonwilds and its mix of crafting, survival, and quintessential Runescape-ness to new platforms like PlayStation 5 is key to unleashing its magic to more players around the gaming globe.” If Jagex can buff up Dragonwilds to reflect every pore of what Runescape offers, while providing the necessary tools to let existing ‘Scapers corrupt – I mean, persuade their friends to explore Ashenfall with them, then I can see a very bright launch period for Dragonwilds indeed.