My Old School Runescape membership now costs more than World of Warcraft's, and I wonder when the price hikes will end

Back in my day, Runescape was the value king when it came to membership. For a fraction of the cost of what World of Warcraft demanded, you could delve into everything Gielinor had to offer. What’s more, you could run it on your dad’s old Dell, no graphics card required. While Old School Runescape still works fine on any old potato or toaster, as of Jagex’s freshly-announced price rise for its premium subscription, I now find myself facing down a reality I hitherto could never fathom: OSRS, at least here in merry old England, is now more expensive per-month than WoW.

To be fair, the writing’s been on the wall for some time now. After the September 2024 increase brought membership costs within touching distance of Blizzard’s MMO, there was an air of inevitability that OSRS would surpass it. Nevertheless, I put my hands on my ears, said ‘la la la’ very loudly, and proceeded to shove my head in the sand. With the latest change, monthly membership is now $14.99 in the US (the same as WoW), and £10.99 in the UK (£1 more).

Now, before I continue, I do want to point out for the sake of balance that, if you buy a 12-month membership, OSRS still works out cheaper. It’s the classic buy-in incentive utilized pretty much universally across subscription-based services, but at least Jagex does provide a comparatively steep discount at the top end. The problem is that it’s now a whopping $50 a year more expensive to sub for a year than it was before the September 2024 pricing update. Jagex hasn’t provided a before and after table in its article, so here’s one I quickly rustled up, comparing prices over the past couple of years.

As you can see, it’s now over 60% more expensive for a 12-month sub, and over 15% more expensive for a monthly one in the US alone than it was before the 2024 hike. Notably, the update also phases out the six-month subscription option, which I had been eyeing as I don’t see myself leaving my Old School era anytime soon, but wasn’t quite prepared to go all-out on an annual one. Jagex says it’s to “simplify” its membership offerings, but I only see it as removing player choice – I’m not best pleased.

Of course, in isolation, this is cause to head to Falador and kick off. But there’s a bit more nuance to it all than that, which I’m trying to wrap my head around. We have been treated to plenty of expansion-tier content in recent years, with Varlamore and Sailing being major additions that we didn’t have to shell out extra for. So there’s some value compared to WoW if we’re pitching MMO rivals against one another. If, and that’s a big ‘if,’ the “ongoing investment” Jagex speaks of means we get more comprehensive updates in better time, then that’s a trade-off I’m willing to accept. This year alone we’re expecting Leagues 6, Blood Moon Rises, and The Fractured Archive, alongside plenty of Sailing additions, which isn’t bad going, by any means.

Then there’s $/hr value. I get more of that out of my OSRS sub than any of the myriad subscriptions that peck away at my bank balance each month. There are only so many times I can rewatch Twilight before the realization that Netflix is hoisting me up by my ankles and shaking out my pockets hits – what do you mean Twilight’s not on there now? Conversely, I was getting even more value before Jagex started charging me extra, and the money I pay now isn’t going to have an immediately tangible impact on my experience. This, I feel, is the crux of the issue.

Yes, we’re getting more content, but is the rate at which it’s being introduced sufficient enough to merit these steep membership price increases over such a short period of time? Then there are the secondary issues, such as curtailing botting (a Sisyphean task) and improving player support (AI chatbots don’t count), which don’t seem to be budging much despite Jagex’s efforts. The most important question pertains to where it all ends: will pricing ever stabilize for good, and at what point will that happen? $15.99/month? $19.99? I’m glad Jagex is pushing for a “sustainable” future, but at what point does it become unsustainable for players?

Sooner or later, I feel that a fresh carrot is going to have to be added to the stick. I may have to pay for Midnight, but at least in WoW I can have a ton of different characters tied to my account without having to cough up membership fees for each one. If membership prices continue to trend upwards, at some point, there needs to be another tangible benefit tacked on. I’m not saying let players make ‘Lowlife 01’ to ‘Lowlife109’ (if you know, you know), but even just a couple of extra character slots would go a long way. Based on the current model, it’s counterintuitive and probably never going to happen, I know that, but Jagex is going to have to figure something out eventually, should this upward trend continue. Maybe I’m projecting here, but I’m tired of having to progressively pay more for the same in my day-to-day life; I’d quite like a bit of value stability somewhere.