Chinese Company Shanghai Fukong Announces Plans To Sell Runescape Developer Jagex

In 2016, Shandong Hongda, a Chinese iron ore mining operations company acquired Runescape developer Jagex in a $300-million-dollar deal. A few months later, Shanghai Fukong, formerly Zhonji Holding, was established to supervise Jagex and the gaming branch of Shandong Hongda.

Since the acquisition, Runescape has been raking in revenue, setting record-high profits in 2018 and Jagex even announcing their plans to work on a “next-generation MMO”. Whether that MMO sees the light of day though still remains to be seen as Jagex’ goes on sale, though I suspect the sale won't impact it. Jagex itself is performing exceptionally well and I expect it to fetch a premium price.

Reuters has just announced Shanghai Fukong’s plans to sell their partial or entire stake in Jagex. The reasons for selling the studio remain unclear although multiple sources point to poor revenues elsewhere in the company and falling stock prices attributed to the Chinese government’s crackdown on gaming addiction and the freeze on approving new games.

We’ll keep you in the loop as more details come to light.