RuneScape Fans Outraged as Dev Defends $30 Price for Dragonwilds in Shocking Reveal

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Summary

  • The creative director for Dragonwilds defends the $29.99 price based on player feedback during the testing phase.
  • Dragonwilds offers 20 to 30 hours of mainline content, additional exploration, and more crafting.
  • Jagex wanted to make Dragonwilds a complete experience, leading to the decision to sell it for a fixed cost.

The person responsible for designing RuneScape: Dragonwilds has justified its $29.99 price tag, sparking debate among RuneScape enthusiasts. Jagex’s cooperative survival spin-off generated a lot of anticipation when it was unexpectedly unveiled and released, but this initial excitement began to dwindle for some players once they saw the cost. While RuneScape: Dragonwilds isn’t the most expensive game on the market, it has drawn comparisons to less expensive games.

Jagex unveiled “RuneScape: Dragonwilds” on March 31st, hinting at further details due on April 15th. True to their word, on that date, the studio offered not just an in-depth look, but also made “Dragonwilds” available for early access. Interestingly, unlike past “RuneScape” titles, this one came at a cost.

In a conversation with PCGamesN, the creative director of Dragonwilds, Rick Turek, shared why they decided to market the game as a premium title. This choice was made to differentiate it from previous RuneScape titles. While both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape are free-to-play with paid memberships for extra content, Jagex wanted Dragonwilds to be a finished product rather than an ever-evolving MMO. Therefore, they decided to sell it at a one-time cost instead of relying on ongoing subscriptions or microtransactions. However, some fans have expressed concerns over the high price point of $30, especially when compared to other games like Valheim that are available for under $20.

RuneScape: Dragonwilds Dev Says Its Price Is Based on Player Feedback

Despite objections raised, Turek maintained the game’s price was justified, as it was derived from feedback gathered during playtesting sessions. According to Turek, Jagex polled players during the testing phase for Dragonwilds, asking them what they would be willing to pay given their current experience. The game’s cost was then set accordingly. Notably, past surveys on pricing by Jagex have not always been met with favorable responses. In fact, earlier this year, players gave negative reviews to Old School RuneScape following a survey that proposed some questionable future pricing ideas, although the company pledged to steer clear of the more divisive suggestions raised in the survey.

Turek defended the price of the game Dragonwilds by emphasizing its extensive content. He estimates that approximately 20-30 hours of main storyline is available, with even more content for players who wish to delve deeper into exploration and construction. However, it’s unclear how fans will react once a larger number of people have played it, as some controversy still lingers. It’s not just RuneScape that has faced criticism over costs; Nintendo has also received backlash due to Mario Kart World costing around $100 in certain areas, and rumors suggest that GTA 6 could be priced similarly. It will be intriguing to observe how the audience reacts to these pricing trends and what impact they may have on the gaming industry as a whole.

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2025-04-20 20:09