Jagex Financial Report 2008-09

[me]

"This year has been our strongest year financially in our [10-year] history and we fully expect that will continue," said Mr Gerhard.

Source: http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2010/01/jagex...-playing-games/ (19 January 2010).

 

I've just got hold of Jagex's latest financial information from Companies House for the financial year ending 31 March 2009. I've added it to my datasets for previous years to make updated graphs and comparisons, etc. If you want to see more details about the reports of previous years then check out last year's thread. Figures have not been adjusted for inflation.

 

 

 

Profit margin (operating profit as % of turnover): 36.93% (2003-04); 51.94% (2004-05); 60.95% (2005-06); 53.45% (2006-07); 44.89% (2007-08); 46.77% (2008-09).

 

Donations made by Jagex as % of turnover: 0% (2003-04); 0.5272% (2004-05); 0.6316% (2005-06); 0.3665% (2006-07); 0.4521% (2007-08); 0.4989% (2008-09).

 

Advertising revenue as % of turnover: 9.40% (2003-04); 8.63% (2004-05); 6.54% (2005-06); 6.92% (2006-07); 6.84% (2007-08); 5.60% (2008-09).

 

Quotes from Directors' report and financial statements:

Business review

 

During the year ended 31 March 2009 the company experienced further growth following a peak in subscriber numbers and the launch of FunOrb at the end of the previous year. Positive exchange rate movements contributed to the rise in profits and despite continued investment in large development projects, which is expensed as incurred, the company remains very profitable.

 

The company has seen a 19% increase in turnover this year, with net profits increasing by £2,913,615. Turnover in 2010 looks set to be as strong as that experienced in 2009.

 

The number of employees has increased from 369 in 2008 to 370 in 2009, an increase of less than 1%. The majority of recruitment efforts have been concentrated on replacing leavers.

 

Future developments

The company hope to continue to grow foreign language audiences through the launch of Brazilian Runescape and continued updates with all languages.

 

The company intends to release at least one of the projects currently in rapid development.

 

Old charts which haven't been updated (they are correct, except Gerhard has replaced Iddison as director):

[Zaaps1]

Always nice to have this data! :)

[ilovecuttingyews]

Thanks for posting this Ren. It wasn't long ago that I had to search for quite a while when a player ingame asked me about how much of Jagex is owned by the Gowers'.

It's nice to see that the Gowers' still own a majority in the company. I suspect they will try to keep that as long as they can in order to maintain controll of the company's direction.

 

The company intends to release at least one of the projects currently in rapid development.

I am assuming this is War of Legends? For a second my heart skipped a beat and thought it was the new skill, but the 'rapid development' part kinda gives it away as WoL. It will be neat to see what sort of turnovers Jagex gets from WoL.

 

Always useful info. Thank you.

[Danqazmlp]

Once again you have proved to be a very reliable source for all things 'Jagex'.

 

 

It is a good sight to see the profit from subscriptions to have been rising over the last two years, post Wilderness. Whether that is due to new members is unknown, as prices have gone up slightly as well as Jagex gaining new mediums in which to sell Subscriptions.

[n_odie]

And I find myself wishing that Jagex was publicly traded... though that's another discussion all in itself.

[Rainy_Day]

Interesting data there, strange to think that back in my early days of playing there were less than 50 people managing the game.

[Racheya]

Once again you have proved to be a very reliable source for all things 'Jagex'.

 

 

It is a good sight to see the profit from subscriptions to have been rising over the last two years, post Wilderness. Whether that is due to new members is unknown, as prices have gone up slightly as well as Jagex gaining new mediums in which to sell Subscriptions.

Prices haven't gone up have they? O_o

 

At least through traditional debit/credit card it hasn't changed from £3.50. Maybe with other payment methods it has, but that probably has more to do with the third party supplier of that method.

[Patr1ck]

Interesting stuff :blink:

 

I kinda laughed at the percent of Jagex that Ian Gower owns :lol:

[Honest1]

It's kinda funny how that 5th owner somehow jumped in there. Still jagex is doing great.

[ilovecuttingyews]

Once again you have proved to be a very reliable source for all things 'Jagex'.

It is a good sight to see the profit from subscriptions to have been rising over the last two years, post Wilderness. Whether that is due to new members is unknown, as prices have gone up slightly as well as Jagex gaining new mediums in which to sell Subscriptions.

Prices haven't gone up have they? O_o

At least through traditional debit/credit card it hasn't changed from £3.50. Maybe with other payment methods it has, but that probably has more to do with the third party supplier of that method.

I know that here in Canada the price of membership via Credit card went up from $5.00 to $5.95 a couple of years ago (at least it feels that long).

[me]

It is a good sight to see the profit from subscriptions to have been rising over the last two years, post Wilderness. Whether that is due to new members is unknown, as prices have gone up slightly as well as Jagex gaining new mediums in which to sell Subscriptions.

Well they say they experienced a peak in subscriptions during 2008-09. I take that to mean that at one point during that year they had a record number of subscribers, so they can't be doing too bad in terms of subscriber levels. Last time public statement on the exact amount that I can rememebr is "one million fifty thousand subscribers" from September 2008 (source)

 

Comment in terms of how well Jagex is doing...

1. According to a statement from June 2009 RuneScape had ">175m registered users; 4-5m active players on a two weekly basis; 1m paying customers " (source).

2. According to Guinness Book of World Records it was the most popular free MMORPG for the second year in a row (source).

3. As of July 2009 Runescape had a reported 10m players per month (source).

4. Similar claims are carried by United Games who say that "RuneScape, the game, has over 5.4 million active players. These players have logged-in in the last 2 weeks. RuneScape.com has over 10 million unique users a month, according to Media Metrix" (source).

5. As of June 2009 FunOrb had a reported "36 games, 1.3m registered users (non RuneScape). 50k paying subscribers; $3 a month, users stay for 6 months" (see

this thread).

6. I'm not sure if they differentiate between accounts and users in the various figures (if they did it would have to be a guesstimate).

 

I suspect they will try to keep that as long as they can in order to maintain controll of the company's direction.

I agree. They make enough from dividends to have no compelling reason to give up control of a company which they founded and still work at.

[Georgelemmons]

Awesome information, as usual! Thanks for sharing it with us :smile:

[deletemeplease]

Pretty interesting to know. :)

[Toad]

Interesting data there, strange to think that back in my early days of playing there were less than 50 people managing the game.

 

Aye we used to get information of them moving offices and hiring more staff :P

 

Nice figurines you have there my good sir :thumbup:

[Speedyshel]

Once again you have proved to be a very reliable source for all things 'Jagex'.

It is a good sight to see the profit from subscriptions to have been rising over the last two years, post Wilderness. Whether that is due to new members is unknown, as prices have gone up slightly as well as Jagex gaining new mediums in which to sell Subscriptions.

Prices haven't gone up have they? O_o

At least through traditional debit/credit card it hasn't changed from £3.50. Maybe with other payment methods it has, but that probably has more to do with the third party supplier of that method.

I know that here in Canada the price of membership via Credit card went up from $5.00 to $5.95 a couple of years ago (at least it feels that long).

Prices did go up, but they only went up for new subscribers or subscribers that let their account membership lapse for at least a week...or two weeks I'm not sure. In any case, if your membership lapsed for a short time, then they raised your membership price.

[primadog]

It appears that majority of the increase in revenue comes from improvements in currency exchange rate and slight increase in monthly cost, with marginal improvements in raw subscription numbers. The changeover of CEO and development philosophy appears to have stemmed the expected subscription loss. However, there's no doubt that RuneScape as an IP has matured and saturated its possible market base and it's imperative for JaGeX to expand its market offerings beyond this core IP.

[o_knames]

I'd like to know who's still giving donations.

[Opieous]

I wish the shares were tradable... sure shot money gainers in the long run...

[me]

I'd like to know who's still giving donations.

It's money Jagex has donated, not money donated to Jagex.

 

"As part of its ongoing commitment to good corporate citizenship, Jagex supports a range of local, national and international charities.

 

...The charities have included:

 

* Save the Children

* CAFOD

* Hamlin Churchill Childbirth Injuries Fund

* Cancer Research

* Cystic Fibrosis Trust

* The University of Pennsylvania

* Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign

* Bury Bombers Wheelchair Basketball

* SOS Children's Villages

* East Anglian Children's Hospice (EACH)

 

Jagex has also run charity auctions for signed merchandise, and, in 2008, donated artwork and prizes to the MMOCalendar, which raises funds for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, U.S.A."

 

Source: http://jagex.com/corporate/Giving_Back/charities.ws

[warren211]

And I find myself wishing that Jagex was publicly traded... though that's another discussion all in itself.

 

It isn't? But doesn't runewiki have a little box with jagex's stock prices? If there are shares of Jagex that I could invest in (whenever i get an investors license) I'd definitely put a lot into that, it doesn't seem like Jagex has any chance for decline the way it's rolling.

[jonni]

And I find myself wishing that Jagex was publicly traded... though that's another discussion all in itself.

indeed!

 

a couple of things though -

who or what is insight venture? I'm presuming you know, me

 

also, I was checking traffic yesterday just wondering how things were going

 

 

I'm sure it can't mean much if they are still raking in the cash but maybe it means there are less new players coming onboard?

[xxshady]

Jagex has already admitted that the new player numbers have stagnated. Mod Kelvin said so in the community management interview he did on a podcast. That's why we have been seeing updates for the starting area - beginning quests, tutorial update, etc. They are trying to get new gamers into Runescape.

 

I'm also sort of worried that so many people were leaving Jagex. I check the Jagex Vacancies list every week and there are always a lot of openings available. I was always impressed that Jagex was expanding their workforce by so much, but now that I know they were just replacing leavers I'm wondering why so many people are leaving Jagex. Game developers generally don't have that high of a turnover rate in terms of workers...

[Zepheras]

Jagex has already admitted that the new player numbers have stagnated. Mod Kelvin said so in the community management interview he did on a podcast. That's why we have been seeing updates for the starting area - beginning quests, tutorial update, etc. They are trying to get new gamers into Runescape.

 

I'm also sort of worried that so many people were leaving Jagex. I check the Jagex Vacancies list every week and there are always a lot of openings available. I was always impressed that Jagex was expanding their workforce by so much, but now that I know they were just replacing leavers I'm wondering why so many people are leaving Jagex. Game developers generally don't have that high of a turnover rate in terms of workers...

 

What they need is just a TV ad to boost their fame. Many people around me still think that RuneScape = the game with 2d graphics. That trailer on the homepage should do the trick.

[xxshady]

Jagex has already admitted that the new player numbers have stagnated. Mod Kelvin said so in the community management interview he did on a podcast. That's why we have been seeing updates for the starting area - beginning quests, tutorial update, etc. They are trying to get new gamers into Runescape.

 

I'm also sort of worried that so many people were leaving Jagex. I check the Jagex Vacancies list every week and there are always a lot of openings available. I was always impressed that Jagex was expanding their workforce by so much, but now that I know they were just replacing leavers I'm wondering why so many people are leaving Jagex. Game developers generally don't have that high of a turnover rate in terms of workers...

 

What they need is just a TV ad to boost their fame. Many people around me still think that RuneScape = the game with 2d graphics. That trailer on the homepage should do the trick.

 

I completely agree.

[Sea_dragon35]

Jagex has already admitted that the new player numbers have stagnated. Mod Kelvin said so in the community management interview he did on a podcast. That's why we have been seeing updates for the starting area - beginning quests, tutorial update, etc. They are trying to get new gamers into Runescape.

 

I'm also sort of worried that so many people were leaving Jagex. I check the Jagex Vacancies list every week and there are always a lot of openings available. I was always impressed that Jagex was expanding their workforce by so much, but now that I know they were just replacing leavers I'm wondering why so many people are leaving Jagex. Game developers generally don't have that high of a turnover rate in terms of workers...

 

What they need is just a TV ad to boost their fame. Many people around me still think that RuneScape = the game with 2d graphics. That trailer on the homepage should do the trick.

 

I completely agree.

Yes, this is totally true, evry 1 of my friends who used to play RuneScape and now see's it is like "Wow, it looks so good now".