RuneScape Cancels "Reignited" Mode Less Than Two Weeks After Announcing It

Jagex has canceled RuneScape: Reignited, a new version of its long-running online game, less than two weeks after it was revealed. Eurogamer reports that the studio announced the change in a blog post and a YouTube video.

Reignited was one of the big reveals at RuneFest earlier this month. It was meant to be a game mode where players could start new characters in a separate economy, so they could only buy and sell items with each other. Those accounts would also not be able to take on bosses together with regular RuneScape accounts. The idea was to bring in new players, but long-time fans reacted strongly against it.

In the video, associate creative director Mod Ryan said the team received many different views from players and was thankful for them. He said the last time Jagex ignored player feedback, the game's combat changed forever, and it took more than ten years to recover. He said he stood by what he told the crowd at the event, that the studio would not repeat that mistake, so it decided to cancel Reignited.

Why did players object? Eurogamer says there were two main reasons. First, because new Reignited characters would have been the easy way for newcomers to start, the community would have been split in two, and regular accounts would have missed out on new players. Second, there was no way to move an old account into Reignited. Veteran players who wanted to try it would have had to leave behind years of progress and memories, thousands of hours of play.

Jagex did have a reason, though. The game's economy has become very inflated, which makes starting over and reaching the end of the game feel difficult because of the huge prices. For example, a Bond, which can be traded for a month of membership, sells for 11.2 million coins on Old School RuneScape but 141.3 million coins on regular RuneScape. Cancelling Reignited means that problem remains.

There was other news at RuneFest. RuneScape will get an Adventure Guide update and other additions in December, along with a free trial. The studio also revealed RuneScape 4, a completely new game.