RuneScape developer firefights desperately as new battle pass leads to player revolt and review bombing: 'They've gone too far down the rabbit hole'

pcgamer.com:

«Cancelled my subscriptions after playing for more than 15 years, see you around boys and girls,» says sfouggarakhs. «Been playing RuneScape since I was a child and this is the first time I really have a bad taste in my mouth from an update,» says ExileAgent.

Welcome to the recent and «mostly negative» reviews of RuneScape on Steam: and they all take aim at one thing. «Why do I have to pay for a battlepass for a game that has a monthly subscription,» asks CommonClapton. «People are already paying membership for this game and they're tryna milk as much as they can from their players,» says Chriwigi. «They've gone too far down the rabbit hole.»

Yep, RuneScape's added a new monetisation method, called the Hero Pass, on top of its existing subscription fee, and the 'Scapers are revolting. This is the version of the game some refer to as RuneScape 3, and its official forums and subreddit have been taken over with posts from players who say they've cancelled their accounts, contacting Jagex to request their accounts be permanently deactivated, and generally fuming about the Hero Pass, celebrating the review bombing, and calling developer Jagex various nasty names.

Fuel was poured on the fire when popular content creator Asmongold caught wind of the controversy, and posted a video with the incendiary title «RuneScape is ****ED. How Jagex is lying to you» in which he reacts to a RuneScape content creator discussing what had happened. It's about as subtle as the title suggests and ends in a big rant with Asmongold calling on players to stop playing the game.

The most amusing thing about Asmongold's video, incidentally, is watching RuneScape players discuss it and being torn between going along with the «yeah eff Jagex» vibe but