Jagex announced the acquisition of Gamepires, a game development studio of 50+ experienced developers known for its open world survival title, SCUM.

Founded in 2010, Gamepires is an independent developer based in Zagreb, Croatia. Gamepires launched SCUM to great critical and community success in 2018, with over 3 million copies sold and a consistent place in Steam’s Top 100 most played games. Gamepires’ and Jagex’s community-driven approach will enable SCUM to realize its full potential with a multi-platform 1.0 release in the future.

Jagex, known for the success of its RuneScape franchise, will use its deep expertise in community-driven games and its platform as an international publisher to accelerate SCUM as a leading open world survival title. Through acquisitions and third-party publishing, Jagex continues to leverage its expertise to create an industry leading family of community-driven studios and live service games.

"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 Phil Mansell, Jagex CEO. "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. With our backing and the support of our Jagex Partners publishing team, together we will make SCUM an even greater global success."

“Partnering with Jagex provides us the opportunity to take SCUM to the next level” said Tomislav Pongrac, Creative Director and co-founder of Gamepires. “Jagex’s world-class reputation as a company where players drive game development matches our ethos and will help us grow as entrepreneurs and as a studio. 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.”

In 2021, global investment firm Carlyle acquired Jagex to support the company’s growth strategy, including M&A. Michael Wand, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Carlyle Europe Technology Partners advisory team, said: “We’re pleased to support Jagex with the acquisition of another very talented development team. This further diversifies Jagex’s portfolio of quality development studios creating unique community-focused gaming experiences.”