Lead: Jagex used RuneFest 2026 to unveil Jagex RS4 — a brand-new RuneScape MMORPG in Unreal Engine, still years away, and explicitly framed as a fourth pillar beside RuneScape, Old School, and Dragonwilds.
What happened
At RuneFest in Birmingham over the October 3–4, 2026 weekend, Jagex revealed that it is building an entirely new RuneScape MMO. The studio’s official landing page at play.runescape.com/4 calls the project by the working title RS4 (“fourth generation RuneScape project”) and stresses that the final retail name may change. The game is being developed in Unreal Engine, is set in Gielinor during the Sixth Age, and begins in Ashenfall — the landmass players first explored in RuneScape: Dragonwilds — years after the fall of Dragon Queen Kuldra.
Jagex’s page is blunt about scope and timing: RS4 is “still a few years away,” platforms / accounts / membership / combat / skills are not ready to discuss, and more detail is promised in 2027. The company also insists RS4 is not a replacement for Old School RuneScape, RuneScape (RS3), or Dragonwilds; those titles keep dedicated teams and roadmaps while RS4 sits alongside them as an additional way into Gielinor.
Polygon’s pre-RuneFest briefing with Dragonwilds executive producer Jesse America adds process color: the project grew out of a planned Dragonwilds expansion concept (“Shadows of Ashenfall”) after players asked for more social MMO systems — persistent servers, high player counts, and trading — until the prototypes looked like a full MMO rather than an expansion. America said the entire studio will contribute. Polygon later corrected that Jagex has not locked “RuneScape 4” as the final commercial title, which matches the official “working title: RS4” language. Radio Times’ RuneFest write-up independently confirms the early-stage Unreal MMO reveal and notes Mod North’s on-stage line that it may be several years before players can try it.
Separately at the same event, Jagex and Lyrical Animation (with Charlie “MoistCr1TiKaL” White) announced early work on an animated RuneScape series, with more details expected in 2027. That screen project is adjacent color, not the same as the MMO lock.
Why Jagex RS4 matters
Jagex RS4 is the studio’s first public bet on a modern Unreal-based massively multiplayer RuneScape — a different tech stack from the legacy Java / custom clients that still define OSRS and RS3. For a 25th-anniversary RuneFest, revealing a fourth pillar this early is a community-co-development play: Jagex says it wants players in the loop before systems harden, the same philosophy it cites from Old School polls and Dragonwilds live-ops.
The Ashenfall starting point also ties the new MMO to Dragonwilds’ geography without collapsing the survival game into a temporary beta for RS4. If Jagex holds the “additional pillar” promise, subscribers could bounce between OSRS nostalgia, RS3’s live service, Dragonwilds’ survival loop, and a future Unreal MMO without a forced sunset. If that promise softens later, RS3’s long-term population is the obvious risk — which is exactly why the official FAQ-style bullets hammer “not a replacement” so hard right now.
For a how-to-draw and games desk, RS4 also matters as a pipeline of new Gielinor creature and armor designs years before launch. Early concept stills and trailers will set the visual language fans sketch long before skill trees ship.
What we know vs what is rumored
- Confirmed: Jagex is developing a new RuneScape MMORPG under the working title RS4; Unreal Engine; set in Gielinor’s Sixth Age beginning in Ashenfall after Dragonwilds’ Kuldra events; not a replacement for OSRS, RuneScape, or Dragonwilds; still a few years from playable release; more information planned for 2027; announced at RuneFest 2026 and documented on Jagex’s official /4 page; Polygon and Radio Times independently reported the reveal; an animated RuneScape series with Lyrical Animation / MoistCr1TiKaL was also announced as a separate early-stage project.
- Unconfirmed: Final commercial title (RS4 is a working name); platforms (PC, console, or both); account linking or membership model; combat, skills, and progression systems; whether dragons are a core rideable fantasy hook beyond trailer imagery; exact release year; how Dragonwilds progression will or will not carry into RS4.
What happens next
Jagex says the next substantial update window is 2027 — world, team, and “how you can start getting involved.” Until then, treat RS4 as an officially confirmed early Unreal MMO pillar with no platform list and no ship date. Watch the official play.runescape.com/4 page and RuneFest follow-ups for the first real systems trailer; do not confuse the concurrent animated-series announcement with playable MMO milestones.
Sources: Jagex — We’re working on a new RuneScape MMO (RS4); Polygon — New RuneScape officially announced, will be series’ first MMO in Unreal; Radio Times — RuneScape 4 announced alongside new animated series; Jagex — Lyrical Animation / MoistCr1TiKaL animated RuneScape series