Interview With Andrew

[sk8ermaster]

its 1000 usd per server to keep it up per month, other then paying employees and new programs/software its all going to them.

 

 

 

 

 

wtg andrew+paul #-o

[tylersk8shop]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13769

 

 

 

About macroers. Some people buy memberships pins and sell them for 1M on the blk market. So the member macros pay aswell :P

 

But there's not alot of member macros, only pure ess miners.

 

theres also alot of fishing autoers, go to catherby or the fishing guild

[ikzelf100]

Why dont they just invest 1 million dollars into getting rid of macros? !million would probably bring them down quite a lot, and less people might be encouraged to quit, so in the long run theyll get their money back.

 

 

 

art of the upsurge in RuneScape's popularity could probably be attributed to Jagex's recently launched German-language RuneScape beta. Jagex also has a solid reputation for its rigorous security policy. The company now has over 150 support staff able to deal with any issues that arise around the world 24/7.

 

http://mmorpg.qj.net/RuneScape-passes-o ... /aid/91293

 

 

 

150 support staff x $20000 / year = 3,000,000 / year of support staff cost. I think JaGeX is trying. If you compare RS to other games (aka MapleStory), you'll realize that JaGeX actually does a pretty good job.

i think they got a lot more then 20000 a year a very lot more 20000 i could make with this job if i worked a complete year and i am just a teenager

[Mil]

Soon to be 1,000,001 suscribers. :

[Duke_Freedom]

calculated it meself...

 

 

 

Didn't know you were in the advertisement business and actually know the rates... Oh wait, you don't.

 

 

 

how many ppl play only 3 hours a day on f2p? milions? :P

 

 

 

Average amount of players simultaneously online lies below 200K - and roughly 25% of those are members too. Means max 150K free to players * 24 hours a day / 3 hours per f2p'er = 1.2million players playing 3 hours a day max. I don't see how you are able to make millions of that, since this simple calculation is already way on the high side. :roll:

 

 

 

I would already be surprised if Jagex add income stream means more then 25% of their total income.

 

 

 

If you actually read the article, you'd have read that paying the servers with advertisement only wasn't even possible when they started and basically breaks even nowadays, whereas with the introdcution of members they started making them money:

 

 

 

The basic plan was to run it for free, but to pay for my hobby through advertising. However, when the dot com bubble began to collapse, advertising dried up, and there was no way to pay for the game's server...

 

 

 

...Basically what we did was calculate how many people we'd need to keep going, and came up with 5000. Thankfully, we managed to get like 2000 subscribers in the first hour, and had our 5000 in the first week. Once we had people paying, we were able to reinvest back into the game. The more we invested, the faster it grew.

 

 

 

With the free version, we basically break even, but of course this version is very important to us as it brings in new players and introduces more people to the game.

[drapit]

If they get (or employed) 140 macro-mod (something i invented), one for each world, for like, $1000/month, THAT'll bring macroers down a lot.

[Gin_and_Tonic]

I pay ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã3.20 using my card and ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã4.50 using the phone.

 

 

 

Say 1/2, 1/2 people using card or phone.

 

 

 

Thats ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1.6million a month from cards and ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã2.25m a month from phones.

 

 

 

So, say, to be safe, ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã5million a month...

 

 

 

Not being funny, but 1/5th of what the make in a month invested into macroers is not significant, seeing as they'll only ever invest that much, say 1 every 3 years... Their operating costs cant be much more than ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1m a month (if that), so they're still making abnormal profits.

[Happysniff]

Its more than 5 mil a month though...5 mil would be the minimum they are getting, some places it's more than 5 a month.

Its 5 a month US. Canadians have to pay like 7$, but thats still 5US.

it's 10 canadian if you pay by phone

 

 

 

Who pays by phone?

[l337ubernoob]

 

 

 

Quote:

 

art of the upsurge in RuneScape's popularity could probably be attributed to Jagex's recently launched German-language RuneScape beta. Jagex also has a solid reputation for its rigorous security policy. The company now has over 150 support staff able to deal with any issues that arise around the world 24/7.

 

 

 

http://mmorpg.qj.net/RuneScape...../aid/91293

 

 

 

150 support staff x $20000 / year = 3,000,000 / year of support staff cost. I think JaGeX is trying. If you compare RS to other games (aka MapleStory), you'll realize that JaGeX actually does a pretty good job.

 

 

 

Relatively speaking, they might.

 

If you ask me, the only jagex employee that seems to have done his job right, is the PR manager responsible for making the writer believe that Jagex has a solid reputation for its rigorous security policy :anxious:

 

 

 

(sorry for messing up the quote btw)

[ShakingBro]

Hooray. 5M into andrews pockets.

 

- all the paying of employees, lets say 1m :D

 

- updates and server upkeeping, 100 grand

 

 

 

thats 3.9m to go to making a better report abuse system

 

 

 

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

why am I getting my hopes up.

[007007008plp]

As someone who started when there were 3 serves and no more than 200 people on them...im blown away

 

 

 

So am I, its amazing, if someone told me six years ago that in 2007 runescape will have over 1million paying members I would of laughed at them.

[cowmasta13]

@ everyone who says spend it all to git rid of autoers:

 

 

 

Autoers are not an object that you can just throw money at and it will go away. Jagex needs a strategy of CAREFULLY considered updates that make it nearly impossible for a bot to run this game.

[maxdout4life]

Congratulations to Jagex on reaching 100000 members. =D>

 

 

 

I'm fed up with people, like the poster, whinging about the RS graphics. Graphics are not the attraction of RS. If it was then no-one would play it. There are a lot of other MMORPGs on the internet with fantastic graphics (we all know what they are), but I have yet to find one with such in-depth gameplay as RS. Before you flame me - yes I have tried these other games and normally get bored within a few weeks, but RS has kept my interest now for more than 4 years.

 

 

 

RS is unique in the MMORPG field, so lets consider its attractions :

 

 

 

1. The game can be played anywhere on any PC - all you need is an internet connection (any kind) and a browser. I know of one person who plays RS on an old 386PC with windows 95 and IE4 over a 56k dial up internet connection. Many of the other games require large amounts of disc space for a multi MB client and have minimum specifications for a PC and network connection.

 

 

 

2. You can play the free version forever if that is what you want. Most other games have a maximum trial period after which you have to become a member or create a new charcter and start again. Others only let you reach a certain level and no higher unless you pay.

 

 

 

3. The cost. Membership of RS is a mere $5 per month. Most of the other games are at least double, if not treble this.

 

 

 

4. You don't have to purchase an initial game before you can play. Some of the games require you to buy software to install on your PC at a cost of around ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã30 and THEN make you pay a subscription

 

 

 

5. Regular updates (whether you like them or not). I cannot think of another game that has such regular updates.

 

 

 

6. Content. RS has a greater depth of content than any other game I know of as there a multitude of things to suit all types of player (some even that Jagex did not anticipate like merchants and "pures").

 

 

 

All in all, IMO, these attractions far outweigh the minor probelm with the graphics.

 

 

 

As for getting $5M per month is concerned that is gross income, not profit. From that Jagex has to pay for servers (currently around 140 of them), network bandwidth, staff costs (in the region of 200-300 people) and the cost of accomodation for all those people. I would expect that these cost would use up around 95% of the initial $5M.

 

 

 

no its 1.000.000

 

 

 

whatever..

 

 

 

OT:if they would ip ban all autoers...

 

 

 

its so simple!

 

just put a j mod in a random f2p world at yews and ban every lvl3 with smale beard and no hair :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Kiriyama]

Congratulations to Jagex on reaching 100000 members. =D>

 

 

 

WHAT! They lost 900k members overnight? This is bad.

 

 

 

Sorry, just a bit of fun, you missed a 0.

 

 

 

Oh and maxdout I think the macroers would use a dynamic IP to avoid the IP ban.

[Happysniff]

Its more than 5 mil a month though...5 mil would be the minimum they are getting, some places it's more than 5 a month.

Its 5 a month US. Canadians have to pay like 7$, but thats still 5US.

it's 10 canadian if you pay by phone

 

 

 

and dont forget the f2p adverts... thats another 10mil a month... :wall:

 

 

 

10 mil from ads? You are being sarcastic, right?

[Wachtwoord]

 

OT:if they would ip ban all autoers...

 

 

 

its so simple!

 

just put a j mod in a random f2p world at yews and ban every lvl3 with smale beard and no hair :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

Have you ever heard about "dynamic IP" adresses? You can't IP ban them.

 

Do you really think one mod doing this will totally stop all the macroes? I don't think so, there are just too much of them. And you also have ess autoers, green/blue dragon autoers, shark autoers, etc.

 

How ever, some of the "autoers" are actually gold farmers from China, which you can't ban for autoing (because they aren't) and you probably have no proof they are real world trading.

[highlanders]

Of course, ip bans wont work. But it's still additional trouble for the macroers to get accounts to lvl 60 wc. Banning them can only be good. But he's right about it not being hard. The mods just gotta go to any f2p world and ban them -.-

[happybappy]

They will still update the game engine.

[Danqazmlp]

Why dont they just invest 1 million dollars into getting rid of macros? !million would probably bring them down quite a lot, and less people might be encouraged to quit, so in the long run theyll get their money back.

 

 

 

art of the upsurge in RuneScape's popularity could probably be attributed to Jagex's recently launched German-language RuneScape beta. Jagex also has a solid reputation for its rigorous security policy. The company now has over 150 support staff able to deal with any issues that arise around the world 24/7.

 

http://mmorpg.qj.net/RuneScape-passes-o ... /aid/91293

 

 

 

150 support staff x $20000 / year = 3,000,000 / year of support staff cost. I think JaGeX is trying. If you compare RS to other games (aka MapleStory), you'll realize that JaGeX actually does a pretty good job.

 

 

 

 

 

Your forgetting something very simple though. Jagex gets payed 5m a MONTH (before costs), but they only need to pay staff a maximum of around 5k per MONTH, not thier full yearly wages.

 

 

 

So a year jagex makes 5m*12, 60 million a year, after costs/taxes, i'd say they are left with at least 20-30million to put back into the game of for andrew to spend on a new car :-w

[brave]

I pay ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã3.20 using my card and ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã4.50 using the phone.

 

 

 

Say 1/2, 1/2 people using card or phone.

 

 

 

Thats ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1.6million a month from cards and ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã2.25m a month from phones.

 

 

 

So, say, to be safe, ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã5million a month...

 

 

 

Not being funny, but 1/5th of what the make in a month invested into macroers is not significant, seeing as they'll only ever invest that much, say 1 every 3 years... Their operating costs cant be much more than ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1m a month (if that), so they're still making abnormal profits.

 

 

 

On the subject of the cost of members. The charge made by Jagex IS US$5 per month (or whatever that translates to in your local currency). Anything over that goes to the companies used for the transaction, ie. if you pay by phone the excess over USÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã5 you pay goes directly to the phone company.

 

 

 

 

 

I shall re-iterate :

 

 

 

Jagex gets ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã3.20 per member whatever the payment method. If you pay more, for example, to use phone, the additional money goes to the service provider. In other words they "only" get ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã3.2 million per month

 

 

 

Also, you are very naive if you think that their operating costa are ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1M per month. Lets break down their probable costs :

 

 

 

1) Tax, National Insurance, employee pensions etc, as required by British law : ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1M

 

2) Support staff costs. Lets assume that there are 200 support staff each being paid ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1500 (about UK average for support staff) : ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã0.3M

 

3) Game programmers/designers/testers. Judging by the amount of updates produced I would estimate around 100 programmers being paid, say ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã3000 per month (again about UK average for Java programmers/designers) : ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã0.6 million

 

4) Server costa I will make the assumption that F2P servers break even. That leaves 65 servers at a minimum (you need test systems). I would estimate that servers cost around ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1000 per month : ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã65000

 

5) other overheads. Building rental, equipment etc. Based on where they are located in the UK I would estimate at least ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã0.5 per month

 

 

 

Adding all these together produces an operating cost of approximately ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã2.5 million. Still a healthy ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1M profit per month though.

 

 

 

However, bear in mind that these are "educated" guesses not hard facts. The costs listed above are probably not all the costs involved with running a company that need to be taken into account. Due to this I would be very surprised if the company profit were ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1M per month, its probably less.

[Myweponsg00d]

As someone who started when there were 3 serves and no more than 200 people on them...im blown away

 

 

 

Me too. I am quite impressed at how much this game has grown. From the invention of adamantite armor to the first days of the wilderness, Runescape has changed so much since when I started.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the more people that play, the more people will be wanting to macro. I like the good ole days when Runescape wasn't cared about enough for people to design bots.

[lemontail]

VERY interesting, hearing Andrew in his own words.

 

 

 

I had no idea there was any trouble at all with Runescape's cost.

[highlanders]

I update the interview to make it easier to read <___>

[Bard_Bow_Man]

They posted this on the rs mainpage now.

[aoe325]

Its more than 5 mil a month though...5 mil would be the minimum they are getting, some places it's more than 5 a month.

Its 5 a month US. Canadians have to pay like 7$, but thats still 5US.

it's 10 canadian if you pay by phone

 

 

 

Yeah I know some people who pay by phone and other ways and it's more expensive.

 

And it's $7.50 cad for a month and $1 CAD is around $0.90 atm which makes around $6.75 USD.

 

What a rip

 

 

 

Anyway its good to hear they are making a lot, and they should spend some of it in making the game better and free of autoers :D

 

 

 

Yeah the 5$ a month thing is a myth