RuneScape developer accused of ‘catering to American conservatism’ by rolling back Pride Month events

An anonymous employee has accused RuneScape and Old School RuneScape developer Jagex of “catering to American conservatism” by rolling back its annual in-game Pride Month events.

RuneScape is a long-running fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, originally released in 2001, where players can complete quests and interact with other players in a largely open-ended fashion.

In 2013, following community feedback, Jagex launched Old School RuneScape (OSRS), a version of the game based on a 2007 backup of RuneScape. Unlike the modern RuneScape, OSRS maintains a more retro, nostalgic feel, with updates voted on by the community.

RuneScape and OSRS have become important to LGBTQ+ gamers for several reasons. From its earliest days, RuneScape’s open-ended gameplay made it a refuge for LGBTQ+ players. In addition, RuneScape has clans and community groups that form long-term friendships. Many queer players have found these to be deeply supportive safe spaces.

Also Jagex has, for many years, run Pride Month events, charity drives for LGBTQ+ causes, and shared public support for diversity, all of which resonated with LGBTQ+ players. 

Hope you're having a wonderful Pride Month so far, 'Scapers! 🌈 pic.twitter.com/OYO1FsVa2D

— RuneScape (@RuneScape) June 11, 2023

However, PinkNews has been shown evidence that reveals deep-seated internal conflict and division between the company’s management and many of its staff around this year’s Pride Month content. 

On Friday April 25, shortly after new CEO Jon Bellamy was installed, Bellamy posted a message on the company’s internal message board stating that RuneScape and Old School RuneScape would not be running any 2025 Pride Month content, so that developers could instead focus more on “what players wanted.”

Many members of staff pushed back against this, stating that the work around the annual Pride events was either already complete, or straightforward to implement in-game.

Staff members volunteered to finish the Pride event content in their own time. Others asked why there couldn’t simply be an in-game Pride parade, which would not have entailed development time. They would have to wait until the following Tuesday for a reply from management.

Donald Trump’s DEI crackdown

Every year in June, many major US and UK brands release a range of Pride Month merchandise, usually donating at least some of the proceeds from that collection to an LGBTQ+ charity, while video game companies often run special in-game Pride events: interactive quests and scenarios that celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. 

For example, the RuneScape 2024 Pride event started on 3 June 2024 and involved helping a character named Rain host a Pride-themed parade.

However Pride Month 2025 has seen dozens of corporations roll back their Pride efforts, in the face of president Trump’s attacks on corporate DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives.

Recently, NYC Pride announced it had lost multiple major sponsors who previously financially supported the annual march. Eve Keller, co-president of the United States Association of Prides, told the New York Times that the move away from sponsoring Pride events is partially due to “pressure” put on DEI programs by the Trump administration.

Although Jagex is based in the UK, it is currently owned by a company with significant links to the US: namely, CVC Capital Partners, a Jersey-based private equity and investment advisory firm with billions of secured commitments within America, as well as Europe and Asia. 

CVC Capital Partners’ website shows it has 26 companies within its US portfolio, and an employee who spoke to PinkNews anonymously believes that the game developer is, in their words, “catering to American conservatism” in its decision to discontinue Pride events. 

“The content.. is now controversial in a way it didn’t used to be”

In a follow-up Q&A session convened to address staff concerns, the CEO, accompanied by the Chief People and Culture Officer, made it clear that the decision to roll back Pride content was related to the current political climate, and that the choice to discontinue Pride Month events was to avoid “backlash.”

A video of the Q&A opens with Jon Bellamy stating: “Friday’s communication very clearly caused distress… I want to be clear, the decision for this is with me. I own it, I’m fully responsible for it. I published Friday’s announcement with speed in mind… and this weekend’s messages and questions made that clear.”

He continued: “I understand that RuneScape… is precious because it is a safe space, it is an escape from reality, and the reality that we find ourselves in is changing. It is getting stranger, more troubling, less moral, I would argue. Games and studios are being cancelled because of content that is perceived to be ‘woke’ or representative. The pendulum is swinging back in a way we didn’t expect.”

Bellamy said that, given that climate, the “safe havens” within RuneScape and OSRS are more needed than ever before, and therefore he has to “ensure the business is protected against those that would wish us harm… this is the difficult balance that Friday’s decision was trying to find, the way that I communicated it missed the mark.”

He confirmed that the OSRS Pride mini-quest is being discontinued for 2025 and the Tales of Pride event will return to RuneScape but without newly developed content, stating:  “The content.. is now controversial in a way it didn’t used to be and that controversy now brings more risk than it did previously, risk that I’m personally responsible to protect against.” 

However, community-organised in-game Pride marches will be permitted to continue.

“We are all aware of the difficult political climate in gaming and the wider world”

An open letter to management, dated 15 May and written by staff DEI groups within Jagex, begins: “Dear Jagex executive team, we are writing to ask you to restart development on the new Pride content for 2025, and to make a commitment that Pride will continue to be an annual seasonal event in both Old School and RuneScape.”

It continues: “We are all aware of the difficult political climate in gaming and the wider world. We understand that openly presenting ourselves as a diverse and inclusive company could be seen as a risk. However, as outlined below, the data from previous Pride events as well as the pronoun changes in Old School clearly shows that despite a vocal minority engaging in bigoted behaviour online, this did not translate to a loss of revenue.”

The letter’s authors went on to state: “We are writing to you because we believe in Jagex, we believe in our players, and we believe that not giving into hate is the right decision for the business in the long term.”

The Jagex executive team responded to the open letter in an email on 22 May, the response, according to an anonymous employee, altered the previous stance to allow the inclusion of pre-programmed Pride content that was on a “timer”, explaining: “What they suggested before would have required MORE development time to remove the recurring (annual) content.”

In their email, Jagex management also told staff: “As a studio, we must stay grounded in the mission we all share, and that’s making great games for players. Our job is not to use the game as an outlet for our own views, but to craft worlds that serve our players, offering immersion, escape and meaning. 

“That responsibility asks each of us to apply good judgement and to make creative decisions that resonate across a wide and diverse community – and that’s what we’ve tried to do here.”

“Jagex is a strong supporter and ally of the LGBTQ+ community”

When approached for comment, a Jagex spokesperson responded:

“Jagex is a strong supporter and ally of the LGBTQ+ community, with a firm belief that our games should be a safe space for all our players and celebrates people of all identities. 

“In April, we took the difficult decision to pause work on new in-game Pride content for 2025 and communicated this with our teams. Our development focus is on crafting worlds that serve what our players have been asking us for, offering immersion, escape, and meaning. 

“Our existing Pride content from previous years remains live in-game, as was always our intention, and we are proud to support our community-led Pride marches, which have been taking place this week.

“Alongside this, we’re working with our internal DEI committee to explore broader, more meaningful ways to celebrate Pride across Jagex, including possible partnerships and charitable support. Our goal is to listen, learn, and find better ways to support all players and employees.”