UK-based RuneScape creator Jagex has made its latest acquisition in the form of Croatian studio Gamepires for an unknown sum.

As a stalwart of the UK’s game development scene, Jagex earned a place on our Top 50 Mobile Game Makers list in 2021, roaring back onto the scene following its own acquisition by US investment outfit The Carlyle Group earlier that year.

Readying for release

Perhaps best known for its open-world survival title Scum, Gamepires has a team of more than 50 developers and first released the game in early access four years ago – in August 2018. The acquisition by Jagex is aiming to enable Scum to be fully prepared through a community-driven approach for a 1.0 release.

"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 Jagex CEO Phil Mansell.

"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."

Gamepires co-founder and creative director Tomislav Pongrac commented: "Partnering with Jagex provides us the opportunity to take Scum to the next level. 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."

Following seven years of record growth, Jagex announced its first-ever acquisition this July, taking US developer Pipeworks Studios under its wing. Gamepires marks Jagex’s second acquisition.

The company raked in revenues to the value of £124.86 million in 2021, which marked record profits as a 4 percent increase from the year prior. Looking to the future, Jagex has partnered with Titan Publishing which will begin in full swing in 2023, seeing the publishing house produce comics, graphic novels and more based on the RuneScape IP.