Jagex Acquires SCUM Developer Gamepires

RuneScape publisher continues strong growth trajectory with latest acquisition of community-driven developer, will support Gamepires on breakout hit SCUM

Cambridge, United Kingdom – 14th December 2022. Jagex, the leading developer and publisher of community-driven games, today announced the acquisition of Gamepires, a highly successful game development studio of 50+ experienced developers best known for its open world survival title, SCUM.

Founded in 2010, Gamepires is an independent developer based in Zagreb, Croatia. Gamepires launched SCUM to great critical and community success in 2018, with over 3 million copies sold and a consistent place in Steam’s Top 100 most played games. Gamepires’ and Jagex’s community-driven approach will enable SCUM to realise its full potential with a multi-platform 1.0 release in the future.

Jagex, known for the success of its RuneScape franchise, will use its deep expertise in community-driven games and its platform as an international publisher to accelerate SCUM as a leading open world survival title. Through acquisitions and third-party publishing, Jagex continues to leverage its expertise to create an industry leading family of community-driven studios and live service games.

"Building game communities is the lifeblood of what we do at Jagex, and this shared passion is why we're delighted to welcome Gamepires into the fold" said Phil Mansell, Jagex CEO. "We believe in the vision of Tomislav, Andrej and their talented team who've built an impressive open world survival game, cultivated a highly engaged community and grown a strong profitable business. With our backing and the support of our Jagex Partners publishing team, together we will make SCUM an even greater global success."

“Partnering with Jagex provides us the opportunity to take SCUM to the next level” said Tomislav Pongrac, Creative Director and co-founder of Gamepires. “Jagex’s world-class reputation as a company where players drive game development matches our ethos and will help us grow as entrepreneurs and as a studio. We’re extremely excited to see how we can build on everything we’ve achieved with SCUM so far and take the game to its full potential.”

In 2021, global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) acquired Jagex to support the company’s growth strategy, including M&A. Michael Wand, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Carlyle Europe Technology Partners advisory team, said: “We’re pleased to support Jagex with the acquisition of another very talented development team. This further diversifies Jagex’s portfolio of quality development studios creating unique community-focused gaming experiences.”

Transaction terms were not disclosed. IMAP and Ostermann & Partners acted as financial and legal advisers respectively to Gamepires’ shareholders. KPMG acted as financial and tax advisers to Jagex and Wolf Theiss as its legal advisor.

ENDS

About Gamepires

Founded in 2010 and based in Zagreb, Croatia, Gamepires has over a decade of experience in game development. Gamepires is best known for its breakout hit SCUM, a next generation, open world survival game available on Steam. Since its Early Access launch, SCUM has sold more than 3 million copies, consistently features in Steam’s 100 most played games, and has won numerous critical awards.

About Jagex

A leader in creating deep and engaging live games on PC and mobile, Jagex’s flagship MMORPG, RuneScape, has welcomed over 300 million player accounts to its world and is a $1 billion lifetime revenue franchise. Jagex employs more than 450 people at its Cambridge headquarters. Jagex expanded its community-focused group of game studios with the acquisition of Pipeworks earlier in 2022. Jagex Partners are the third-party publishing arm of Jagex, focusing on developers of community-driven games.