Jagex Is Up For Sale Again As Its Current Owner Brokers A Deal With CVC Capital Partners

RuneScape developer Jagex is once again up for sale to the highest bidder, in this case it’s CVC Capital Partners. According to Sky News, the studio’s current owner, The Carlyle Group, is currently in “exclusive negotiations” with the private equity firm after it out-bid other interested companies with its £900 million ($1.13 billion) offer for controlling stake of Jagex.

Other private equity firms were reportedly unwilling to go anywhere near the supposed £1 billion valuation for Jagex, citing uncertainty about the studio’s development pipeline and business plan. It’s worth noting that Jagex was valued at just $530 million when Macarthur Fortune Holding bought the studio from Fukong Interactive Entertainment in April 2020.

It’s also actively operating only a handful of titles at the moment, including RuneScape, Old School RuneScape, Block N Load, and Space Punks. Most of its other projects have either been shut down due to poor performance or were cancelled before they even launched.

Should CVC Capital sign on the dotted line, they’ll be the studio’s fourth owner since it was acquired by Fukong Interactive in 2016. Both parties are expected to finalize the deal within the next few days.