Early in the days when Fukong Interactive bought Jagex, they had Jagex CEO Phil Mansell going out to the media and called that era "The Third Age of Jagex":
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/the-third-age-of-jagex
They called the Gowers era "The First Age of Jagex", when the online game industry was in its infancy obviously because it was also the infancy of the then "Information Superhighway". Mod Pips had very little else to tell us about "The First Age of Jagex", as noticeably every game in the early 2000's was just finding the direction to the unknown.
"Then the second age, which witnessed the arrival of the venture capitalists and the company's ambitious and expensive efforts to find their next major game. This is an era that did not go to plan. Major projects were invested in and cancelled (the most high-profile being Transformers Universe although there were others behind-the-scenes, too). RuneScape was losing users and the VCs were soon eager to get out. Jagex cut back its projects and re-focused on RuneScape to get back to profitable ways, before finally selling to Chinese investors."
Well, IVP et al came and invested in a lot of major projects in the 2nd Age of Jagex, and it ended with Jagex sold to Fukong.
What happened in The Third Age of Jagex under Fukong then? According to Mod Pips, they tried to cut back on buying new games... but it was 2017.
While Jagex apparently didn't mention a Forth Age of Jagex after Fukong failed in China and subsequently sold Jagex to Carlyle Group after some twists and turns. We are definitely seeing Jagex buying other companies, bigger ones rather, and we see the emergence of the Jagex Publishing Platform... but yet this is still not The Fourth Age of Jagex.
However, with more and more likely Carlyle, UK June Bidco and perhaps the specter of Fukong, will turn Jagex over a new leaf to a new owner, do you think we will see the arrival of the new 4th Age?
