The cost of maintaining large multiplayer games keeps climbing. Two major studios announced price increases this week, citing the mounting expenses of server infrastructure, content creation, and ongoing development as the reason players will soon pay more for the same services.
RuneScape raised subscription rates effective immediately, according to Rock Paper Shotgun. Monthly membership jumped from $14 to $15, while annual subscriptions jumped from $99.48 to $131.88 per year. This marks the second price increase in under two years for the long-running MMO. New players will be subject to these rates, though existing subscribers who signed up before September 27, 2024 can maintain their previous pricing indefinitely.
Jagex, the studio behind RuneScape, also removed the six-month membership option going forward, though players currently on that plan can continue until they manually change or cancel it. The studio justified the increases in an official FAQ, stating the move "better supports the ongoing investment we are making across both games" and "keeps RuneScape and Old School RuneScape sustainable for the next 25 years, not just the last 25."
Across the industry, Fortnite is taking a different approach to the same problem. Rather than raising subscription prices outright, Epic Games is cutting the value of in-game currency bundles. Starting March 19, the $8.99 V-Bucks pack will contain 800 currency units instead of 1,000. Larger bundles are similarly reduced, as reported by The Verge and Kotaku. The cost to purchase exact amounts of V-Bucks in 50-unit increments is doubling from $0.50 to $0.99.
Fortnite Crew subscribers will receive 800 V-Bucks monthly instead of 1,000, and the main battle pass will no longer award bonus V-Bucks upon completion. However, some pass prices are dropping: the standard battle pass costs 800 V-Bucks instead of 1,000, and the OG, Music, and LEGO passes each fall by 200 V-Bucks.
Epic stated simply that "the cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot." The company is applying similar adjustments to Fall Guys beginning April 8.
Both studios point to genuine operational realities. Hosting global multiplayer servers, creating regular content updates, and maintaining cybersecurity and customer support infrastructure costs substantially more now than it did five or ten years ago. Server prices have risen, bandwidth demands have increased, and player expectations for new seasonal content and quality-of-life improvements require larger development teams.
The timing raises some questions, however. Kotaku notes that Epic recently secured regulatory victories in both the US against Google and in the EU against Apple, which should theoretically reduce the platform fees that studios pay. These gains potentially should have created financial breathing room, yet prices are moving upward instead.
Jagex frames its approach as more transparent than alternatives. The studio notes that "most major MMOs rely on expansions, battle passes, or increasingly aggressive monetisation to account for increased investment and cost of operation. We believe in a simple subscription-led approach that delivers incredible value."
Whether players view these increases as fair depends largely on their perception of value. A subscriber who logs in daily may see a $1 monthly increase as reasonable given the scale of RuneScape's world and the cost of maintaining it. A casual player who visits occasionally will inevitably feel the pinch more acutely. Similarly, Fortnite players who primarily purchase cosmetics and battle passes face the reality that their dollars stretch less far than before.
The gaming industry's challenge is real but not unique. Any business providing ongoing digital services faces inflationary pressure. The question for studios is how to balance operational necessity against player retention and goodwill. These decisions suggest that both Jagex and Epic believe the benefit of continued development justifies asking players to contribute more, whether through direct subscription hikes or through reduced currency value.