The lucky winner is Pipeworks Studios, an Oregon-based team of 200 people whose model is based on development, porting, and co-development, which has developed over 125 games since its founding in 1999. Contributions from Pipeworks Studios include Terraria, Madden NFL and Zumba Fitness. The amount of the first acquisition of the studio was not disclosed, but the press release reminds us that Jagex’s revenue in the game-as-a-service space has grown for five consecutive years. Jagex has been owned by international investment firm Carlyle since 2021.
“We are delighted to welcome Pipeworks to the Jagex family. The studio brings a high level of expertise in video game development, especially in the AAA game-as-a-service space, and exemplary experience working with the world’s best game creators. Lindsay (CEO of Pipeworks) and her team have led a successful and profitable team for many years, and we look forward to jointly licensing and accelerating Pipeworks development.”, commented Jagex CEO Phil Mansell.
Last month, Jagex revealed that it was working on an open-world survival game developed using the Unreal Engine 5 engine. The game is set in the world of RuneScape and is intended to be released on PC and consoles.