"This will be the end of OSRS": Runescape players break out in (in-game) riots against (in-game) ads

Old School Runescape (also dubbed OSRS) finds itself in major controversy following a series of projected business decisions that fans heavily disagree with. Much of this concerns potential monetization options in leaked surveys for the iconic MMORPG game. These include paywalled features and increased subscription prices, which while bad enough pale in front of the worst offender: in-game ads.

This led to an in-game riot with gamers congregating in the virtual space demanding that these changes be reversed. User @Faux_Freedom on X summarized the severity of the situation aptly as follows:

Other users were more than happy to stoke the fire by demanding justice across social media, including @bethanbear22 who tagged the official Runescape X account to show them the reality:

"doesent seem like to many people are happy with this poll you put out @RuneScape"

@OsrsPurple found the price hike unfair, and says that nobody should support such practices:

"It looks like RuneScape / OSRS is done for. I will not pay more for standard features and neither should you."

@HowOnEarth42069 expressed frustration with the proposed changes, citing they are canceling their subscription and moving to a different MMORPG, Brighter Shores:

"#runescape #OSRS #Jagex thanks to your recent survey to see if you can further exploit your player base I am done. Membership canceled on all of my accounts I've been paying for, for over 2 decades. Off to #brightershores"

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Why is Old School Runescape being protested against?

OSRS has broken out the tried and true Falador riot byu/Good_Guy_Vader inrunescape

Publisher Jagex rolled out surveys and updates to the community, detailing what fans can expect going forward; however, some anti-consumer changes, chief among which is the prospect of ads, has been criticized. The game already boasts a subscription model for those who wish to see all it has to offer but shoving in ads is immersion-breaking.

It is unclear why the team thought some of this would be well-recieved but was greenlit anyway. As expected, much of the news resulted in immediate backlash, as seen via the above Reddit post. Fans also took to social media to vent their frustration, complaining about the jacked-up subscription prices, up to CAD 350 for a yearly sub.

Heading to Steam, players review bombed both Runsecape and its OSRS rendition with the two versions sitting at an Overwhelmingly Negative status as of writing. Reading the reviews offers further insight to those out of the loop, showing that the devs even planned to lock features such as customer support behind a subscription.

As such, much of the backlash is justified with players even opting to cancel their subscriptions in protest. Recently, the company was bought by investors for a whopping 1.1 Billion USD price tag, which fans would no doubt deem "selling out" to their corporate overlords despite the promise of a community-friendly approach.

Thankfuly, Jagex was quick to reinstate these changes in light of the in-game riots with an official apology letter from the CEO. That said, the damage is already done and despite repeated pleas about protecting community interests in said apology letter, Runescape fans will be careful trusting future moves from Jagex now onwards - especially since ads are still under consideration for free-to-play models.