Jagex Reveals New RuneScape MMO in Unreal Engine and Animated Adaptation

RuneScape is getting another massively multiplayer chapter, but the most important word in Jagex’s reveal is probably early. The studio has shown an initial look at an as-yet-untitled fourth MMO in the franchise—currently using RS4 as a working label—and says it is being made in Unreal Engine for a new generation of players.

There is no release date, final name, platform list, gameplay footage, or detailed feature breakdown attached to the project. Jagex has indicated that launch is not expected for at least several years. That leaves a great deal undecided, but the outline is already substantial enough to establish where this game sits: it is a new MMO set in Gielinor, beginning in Ashenfall after the events of RuneScape: Dragonwilds, rather than a replacement for the existing RuneScape games.

The company also used its RuneFest presentation in Birmingham, England, to reveal plans for a RuneScape animated adaptation. Creator Charlie White, known online as MoistCr1TiKaL, and Los Angeles-based production company Lyrical Media are involved in that separate effort.

“RS4” is a working name, not a confirmed title

Calling the project RuneScape 4 is understandable shorthand, but it is not an official game title. The franchise’s naming history makes the distinction especially worthwhile. RuneScape was renamed RuneScape 2 in 2004 and RuneScape 3 in 2013, before both sequel labels were eventually dropped in favor of simply RuneScape, which continues as a live-service game.

Jagex describes the new title as the fourth RuneScape MMO, while retaining RS4 as an internal-style public placeholder for now. Players should therefore treat every use of “RuneScape 4” as a convenient reference to the newly announced project—not confirmation of the branding that will appear at launch.

That caution applies broadly to the announcement. An early concept tease can communicate a direction and mood, but it is not a final product roadmap. Nothing released so far confirms combat systems, player progression, business model, supported hardware, subscriptions, character transfers, or a launch window beyond the long wait implied by its current development stage.

Unreal Engine signals technology ambitions, not a finished feature list

The clearest technical detail is the use of Unreal Engine, a commercial game-development engine. In simple terms, a game engine is the foundational software toolkit developers use to build and run a game: it can support rendering, lighting, animation, environments, physics, audio integration, and many other production needs.

Jagex says the new MMO will bring Gielinor to life with contemporary technology and game-design possibilities while retaining the depth, freedom, and community-led character associated with RuneScape. It is fair to read that as an ambition for a more modern presentation and development foundation. It would not be fair, based on the information available, to convert it into promises about particular visual benchmarks, world size, combat feel, or online capacity.

For an MMO, technical choices matter beyond prettier scenery. A massively multiplayer online game must support many players interacting in a persistent world, often while that world receives regular updates over years. The engine is an important component of that work, but it does not by itself explain how quests, skills, social systems, economies, servers, or content releases will function. Those are the questions Jagex has yet to answer.

The studio says it announced the project this early in part because it wants to build on technology development from RuneScape: Dragonwilds and on the community co-development approach established through RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. Community co-development, in this context, means involving the player community during development rather than presenting a completely finished plan only near launch. How that process will work for RS4 has not been detailed.

Ashenfall is the starting point—and a post-Dragonwilds setting

The new MMO will be set in Gielinor during the Sixth Age. Its opening location is Ashenfall, a landmass to the north-east of Gielinor that players first explored in RuneScape: Dragonwilds.

Chronology matters here. Jagex says RS4 takes place years after the events of Dragonwilds and after the destruction of the Dragon Queen Kuldra. Ashenfall will have changed as time passed in-world. That establishes the new MMO as related to Dragonwilds without being presented as a simultaneous retelling of its story.

Ashenfall is also explicitly only the beginning. Jagex’s stated ambition is for the adventure to expand over time into familiar locations and newly created places across Gielinor. That is consistent with the long-term nature of a live-service MMO, where the playable world can grow through ongoing additions. Still, it remains an ambition rather than a published content schedule, so fans should avoid assuming specific legacy regions, characters, or plotlines are already locked in.

Existing RuneScape games are meant to continue

For players concerned that a modern Unreal Engine MMO could push aside the games they already play, Jagex’s message is direct: RS4 is intended to sit alongside RuneScape, Old School RuneScape, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds. The company says each has its own dedicated team and will continue to receive investment.

That positioning is more consequential than it may initially sound. RuneScape and Old School RuneScape do not merely represent two versions of the same product; they offer different ways to engage with the wider setting and its community. Dragonwilds is another distinct branch. Jagex’s plan is to make the new MMO an additional entry point to Gielinor, whether a player remains primarily committed to one game, moves between several, or encounters the setting there for the first time.

It is a franchise-expansion strategy rather than a declared migration plan. There is no indication that existing players will be required to abandon their current games, and there is equally no announced information about shared accounts, shared items, cross-game rewards, or crossover progression. Those practical details are precisely the sort of issues that may become clearer only as development proceeds.

There is plenty of reason for the studio to think in terms of a broader audience. Jagex says more than 300 million player accounts have been created across RuneScape’s 25-year history. That figure is account creation, not necessarily a measure of current active players or unique people, but it underlines the scale of the franchise’s accumulated reach.

For a broader look at the other RuneFest announcements and the stated plans around the franchise, see our rundown of RuneFest 2026’s RuneScape roadmap.

An animated RuneScape project broadens the plan beyond games

The animation announcement is even earlier than the MMO reveal in terms of publicly known creative detail. Jagex says work has started on an animated adaptation designed to bring Gielinor’s world, characters, and stories to a new format. White and Lyrical Media are named as partners.

No release timetable, format, cast, plot, episode count, or distribution partner has been announced. Most importantly, the reveal does not say whether the adaptation will draw from a particular game storyline, build an original tale within Gielinor, or connect directly to RS4. Those are open questions, not blanks that can be filled from the announcement.

What is clear is that Jagex sees RuneScape as a universe with room to extend beyond interactive games. The animated project and the new MMO point in the same strategic direction: widen the paths into Gielinor while preserving the established games rather than framing the new work as a replacement.

What players can reasonably take from the reveal

Confirmed: Jagex is developing a new, unnamed RuneScape MMO in Unreal Engine, currently referred to as RS4.
Confirmed: It is set in the Sixth Age, begins in Ashenfall, and occurs years after Dragonwilds and Kuldra’s destruction.
Confirmed: RuneScape, Old School RuneScape, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds are intended to continue alongside it.
Confirmed: A RuneScape animated adaptation is in development with Charlie “MoistCr1TiKaL” White and Lyrical Media involved.
Not yet confirmed: The MMO’s final title, release date, platforms, detailed gameplay systems, pricing approach, or links between the games.
Not yet confirmed: The animated project’s story, format, cast, release timing, or where viewers will be able to watch it.

For now, RS4 is a declaration of intent with a setting, a technology choice, and a clear coexistence promise—not a full specification for the next RuneScape. The sizable gap before release gives Jagex time to turn that ambition into a defined game, and its stated emphasis on community co-development suggests players may hear far more before the working name is replaced by a final one.