This is the reason we let the free membership remaining - they did not want to scare off their customers RS gold. And, as we've learned, it definitely worked, as its popularity only increased. But as The First 20 Years explains, RuneScape didn't reach its highs without a few blunders throughout the course.

Many of us who played the game daily in the 2000s would probably be unable to play the game's first release which is now referred to as RuneScape Classic. The players could take on anyone or even one another. The graphics were beyond simple. It could accommodate only 1,200 players at a time without the game crashing.

The games can't fail today. Titanfall 2 isn't getting the funding it needs to improve its online gameplay on the PC. Anthem was pulled at the midpoint of its massive overhaul. Fable Legends was canceled before it was even able to launch. It's not happening, and you have to play Fortnite or you'll die trying.

A developer's enthusiasm can seem irrelevant to publishers, too. Dragon Age 4 has been delayed twice because of superior interference continuously dictating the game's direction. Metal Gear players, who very obviously want one-player games, got the multiplayer game Metal Gear Survive in 2018. This isn't even to look at all of the affiliates Activision Blizzard wastes on constant Call of Duty development.

Thank goodness Jagex started at a moment that it was able to remain an independent. The player base began to stagnate in the late 2000s, a publisher would likely have pulled the plug on it all. Hell, Raven Software started laying people off in the midst of Warzone earned billions of dollars, which means even success could spell disaster for the humans who play the game.

The success stories we do have are just an exception to the norm at times. The stars needed to align for Among Us to find its user base after the game's launch cheap OSRS gold, and arguably the biggest case before that without the support of a huge publisher was Undertale back in 2017.