Jagex Just Revealed RuneScape 4 - First Series MMO Built in Unreal
RuneFest bomb: RS4 started as a Dragonwilds expansion, became a full MMO. Dragons to fight and ride. Fourth pillar beside RS3, OSRS, and Dragonwilds. Early development, no date.
Birmingham weekend. RuneFest. And suddenly there are four pillars.
Jagex officially announced RuneScape 4 at RuneFest - a brand-new MMO in the RuneScape universe and the series’ first built in Unreal Engine. No release window. No platforms list. Very early development. The trailer sells dragons you can fight and ride.
How a survival expansion became an MMO
Executive producer Jesse America (RuneScape: Dragonwilds) told press the project began as a Dragonwilds expansion called Shadows of Ashenfall. Players wanted more social systems - persistent servers, high player counts, player-to-player trading. Prototypes pointed at a different scope entirely.
“We came to the realization that it essentially would be an MMO, and that it deserved its own game,” America said. The whole studio will work on it together.
What that means for the old games
America framed RS4 as Jagex’s fourth pillar alongside RuneScape 3, Old School RuneScape, and Dragonwilds - implying the other three stay supported. Fans will still ask the obvious question: does RS3 bleed players the second a modern Unreal sequel looks real?
Years away, maybe. Mod North noted it could be several years before players see the game. For a franchise that already runs two living MMOs and a survival spin-off, announcing a fourth is either confidence or chaos. RuneFest picked confidence.
The magazine read
Unreal. Dragons. Fourth pillar. No date. RuneScape just told 20-year veterans the next continent is still loading - in a brand-new engine.