SRL Archive - News and General

It turns out Mod MMG stepped down from his position as CEO at Jagex today, what do you think?

Official post : http://services.runescape.com/m=news/a=12/a-letter-to-the-runescape-community-from-mod-mmg?jptg=ia&jptv=community_news

"A letter to the RuneScape community from Mod MMG

Hey Everyone,

For the past six years I have had the immense pleasure of holding the position of CEO at Jagex. It is with a heavy heart that I write to you today to tell you all that this will be my seventh and final year at Jagex as I will be leaving this fantastic company and amazing talented passionate team this December.

I’ve been wrestling with just precisely how and when to say “goodbye” to not only all the amazing people at Jagex but of course to our beloved RuneScape community. Both have played such a seminal part in my life for what has seemed a lifetime and I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute serving both.

If I look back over the past seven years we’ve come a very long way as a studio and no bigger testament of that is RuneScape. Now in our 14th year together, RuneScape continues to evolve and reinvent itself time and time again.

One of my proudest achievements at Jagex has been our efforts of tackling Botting and Gold Farming. When I first joined this was a huge problem for the business which I understand had plagued the game and community for many years. Today the game is virtually bot free and with the introduction of Bonds, gold farming too has become almost inexistent. A year on since Bonds was introduced, and I am again so pleased so see so many players reap the benefits of many years’ hard effort and loyalty.

Back in 2009, I pledged that we would start talking to our community more, and keep you all in the loop after a decade of perceived secrecy. Fast forward to 2014 and I think we have done just that! The return of PvP in the Wilderness & Free Trade, the launch of Old School RuneScape and most recently, Legacy Mode, have all been driven by YOU!.

Add to that the launch of Player Power at the start of this year, I have been thrilled to watch both the team and the community readily embrace this new way of working together. I still think we can do even more and I know my good friend Mod Pips and the rest of the RuneScape team have some really ground breaking plans for 2015 (I won’t steal their rightful lime-light).

It would be wrong of me to say I have always got everything right, because frankly I haven’t, but I can promise you everything we’ve ever done was always done with the RuneScape’s best interests in mind. I do genuinely believe RuneScape now has the strongest, passionate and most committed team ever, and RuneScape’s future is in very safe hands indeed.

In all honesty, with my departure in mind, I have been taking a step back and passed the virtual baton to Mod_Pips sometime ago. I have no doubt he will continue to lead RuneScape into a very bright future. I know you will all afford Pips and the team the same passion, dedication, support and feedback (good and bad) I’ve been very blessed with over the years!

Lastly, I wanted the opportunity and honour to say “Thank you for playing RuneScape” one last time and I will continue to pop into game (on my choob account) for many years to come.

Have fun!
Cheers

Mark Gerhard
"

No remarks on why?

From: Mod MMG
Today the game is virtually bot free and with the introduction of Bonds, gold farming too has become almost inexistent.

lol.

Surprised this didn't happen earlier.
With the direction this game is going, a bunch of Jagex mods have already left since 2013.

Whoever the new CEO/CTO is, probably won't do as a good job as he has.

From: Flight
No remarks on why?

None needed. He never played the game and didn't even understand the concepts of Runescape. He was just in charge of making the decisions regarding $$$$ profit. When he became CEO, we say f2p turn into shit, micro transactions etc.

I think you're missing something…
The whole micro transaction/SpinScape started with IVP (Insight Venture Partners) buying a stake at Jagex which began at 35% in 2005.
Their stake in Jagex Ownership then increased to 55.45% in 2010.

Now when they bought a stake at Jagex, they expect their stake to be earning a profit or atleast being paid back for what they had purchased.
Their financial results were kinda shaky, and in 2012, out came the Squeal of Fortune and Yelps.

When anyone owns more than half of a company, they would obviously expect their time and money to be worth it. Hence all the microtransactions that started. You can't really blame MMG for this, the game was going off the cliff and needed 'stimulus' to keep running.

From: Unfold
When he became CEO, we say f2p turn into shit, micro transactions etc.

On top of not saying why, it also doesn't say where he is going after this, it doesn't really comment on him or the company except for his replacement. It just recaps the accomplishments he has achieved over the years. Kind of vague, makes me wonder whether he wanted to step down, or if he was forced into doing so.

From: Jake
I think you're missing something…
The whole micro transaction/SpinScape started with IVP (Insight Venture Partners) buying a stake at Jagex which began at 35% in 2005.

I never played in 2005 (2008ish was when I got started) but I'm pretty sure there weren't any microtransactions back then. Back when I started, F2P was left to be F2P without being contantly nagged about members content.

From: Jake

Their stake in Jagex Ownership then increased to 55.45% in 2010.

Now when they bought a stake at Jagex, they expect their stake to be earning a profit or atleast being paid back for what they had purchased.
Their financial results were kinda shaky, and in 2012, out came the Squeal of Fortune and Yelps.

When anyone owns more than half of a company, they would obviously expect their time and money to be worth it. Hence all the microtransactions that started. You can't really blame MMG for this, the game was going off the cliff and needed 'stimulus' to keep running.

Also it's more than just them expecting their time and money to be worth it, once they own above 50% they're the ones making the decisions, not Jagex. So it wouldn't matter if they'd already made back their time and money, they can always make changes to make them more.

I started in 06, and everything was great because RS seemed to be on its path to its peak soon.

What I meant is that the micro-transactions did not start until late 2011/early 2012 when the number of players online began to start going down and/or majority of the players online were bots/goldfarmers.

Also, 2010-12 was the year(s) when Jagex opened the lawsuit against the Snellman brothers; they had to put money in to get those American Lawyers and have this case won.

I was pointing out to Unfold that this isn't MMG's fault, that you couldn't just blame him for turning the game into sht, and that the increase in stake was the sign that spinscape was becoming a thing.

From: BMWxi
I never played in 2005 (2008ish was when I got started) but I'm pretty sure there weren't any microtransactions back then. Back when I started, F2P was left to be F2P without being contantly nagged about members content.

Also it's more than just them expecting their time and money to be worth it, once they own above 50% they're the ones making the decisions, not Jagex. So it wouldn't matter if they'd already made back their time and money, they can always make changes to make them more.

From: Jake

I was pointing out to Unfold that this isn't MMG's fault, that you couldn't just blame him for turning the game into sht, and that the increase in stake was the sign that spinscape was becoming a thing.

Yeah, MMG didn't have much to do with what happened. That's why I wonder what they new CEO will be like. They won't have the power to remove microtransactions, so players probably won't like them more than MMG. But they will blame them if the game gets worse.

jagex needs to buy that 10% extra back tbh

From: sparkyownage
On top of not saying why, it also doesn't say where he is going after this, it doesn't really comment on him or the company except for his replacement. It just recaps the accomplishments he has achieved over the years. Kind of vague, makes me wonder whether he wanted to step down, or if he was forced into doing so.

he is going to the caiman islands to live like a boss with all the money he made from being CEO for 6 years :spot:

From: Jake
I think you're missing something…
The whole micro transaction/SpinScape started with IVP (Insight Venture Partners) buying a stake at Jagex which began at 35% in 2005.
Their stake in Jagex Ownership then increased to 55.45% in 2010.

Now when they bought a stake at Jagex, they expect their stake to be earning a profit or atleast being paid back for what they had purchased.
Their financial results were kinda shaky, and in 2012, out came the Squeal of Fortune and Yelps.

When anyone owns more than half of a company, they would obviously expect their time and money to be worth it. Hence all the microtransactions that started. You can't really blame MMG for this, the game was going off the cliff and needed 'stimulus' to keep running.

Yeah i understand that completely. I'd assume it's both of their faults. I found mod mmg's phone number and called him via skype and he is a complete douche bag. However, we did kind of prank call him. I can also assure you, he barley knows much about runescape.

The worst thing that happened was the micro transactions. I try to ignore them as much as possible. With that, I wonder if the new CEO will want more or less of them.

MMG wasn't the greatest and didn't know a whole lot about the game, but I do feel his heart was mostly in the right place. Unfortunately with IVP holding a majority stake in the company, money grabbing ploys were inevitable. They're investors; they are ultimately here to profit from the game, not nurture it. This is the same company that more or less destroyed Maplestory.

I worry about who the next CEO will be now that IVP gets to pick.

From: Unfold
Yeah i understand that completely. I'd assume it's both of their faults. I found mod mmg's phone number and called him via skype and he is a complete douche bag. However, we did kind of prank call him. I can also assure you, he barley knows much about runescape.

Elaborate?

Mod MMG was just Insight Venture Partners puppet. i find it very interesting that in 2012, when they took a 55% controlling stake in jagex, new graphics were released and slowly the snowball started rolling down the hill…