RuneFest 2026: Jagex unveils a new RuneScape MMO
Jagex closed RuneFest 2026 with a teaser for an unnamed RuneScape MMO built in Unreal Engine, an animated adaptation with MoistCr1TiKaL, and a 2 December relaunch for the main game.
Jagex has confirmed that a fourth RuneScape game is in development. The reveal headlined RuneFest 2026 at Birmingham's NEC, where a short concept trailer introduced an as-yet-unnamed MMO built in Unreal Engine and teased simply as “4”.
The project is the fourth pillar in Jagex's line-up, standing alongside Old School RuneScape and the survival spin-off RuneScape: Dragonwilds. Jagex describes it as built for a new generation of players, combining the depth and community spirit that have defined Gielinor for 25 years with technology available to developers today. It is early in development and has no release window.
How a Dragonwilds expansion became a new MMO
The game began life as an expansion for RuneScape: Dragonwilds called Shadows of Ashenfall, planned for 2027. Speaking during a RuneFest roundtable, Dragonwilds executive producer Jesse America said the plan was to add persistent servers, a social hub and player-to-player trading, building on the survival game's fundamentals. Early prototypes convinced the team that what it was building “essentially would be an MMO, and that it deserved its own game” rather than a place inside Dragonwilds.
The concept trailer runs about ninety seconds and shows adventurers riding dragons above a city before the screen fades to black and a burning “4” appears. It is a mood piece rather than a demonstration, and leaves open whether the finished game will adopt action combat or a more traditional tab-targeting system.
An animated series and a December relaunch
RuneFest brought two other reveals. Jagex is working on an animated adaptation of RuneScape with streamer Charlie “MoistCr1TiKaL” White and Los Angeles production company Lyrical Media, intended to bring Gielinor's world and characters to new formats and audiences. No platform or release window has been announced.
For the game that started it all, Jagex has set RuneScape: Reignited for 2 December. The update is built around a Remastered Journey, an Adventure Guide, a fresh economy and new hiscores, and non-members will get full access from 2 to 12 December. A long-promised Plugin API arrives this month, and the 2027 content plan will unfold across three story arcs.
Old School RuneScape has its own roadmap: the Fractured Archive raid on 20 October, which Jagex calls its hardest raid yet; dedicated hardcore worlds with a one-life rule on 4 November; and the opening of Menaphos, the golden city, alongside the completion of a long-requested storyline.
Our opinion
Jagex is doing something rare for a 25-year-old franchise: planning for the next 25 rather than mining the last five. Announcing a fourth pillar before the third is finished is a statement of confidence, and building it in Unreal Engine suggests the studio finally intends to look its age. The risk is sprawl. Jagex already runs two live MMOs and a survival game, and a fourth world to feed is a lot of plates for one studio to spin. The animated series is the quieter, more interesting bet: if Gielinor can travel beyond the screen, the franchise stops depending on the health of any single game. The telling detail is that this MMO began as a Dragonwilds expansion. That suggests Jagex stumbles upwards, and that its best ideas are coming from the teams closest to the players.