Could OSRS’ Economy Become Unstable?

August 2, 2023

4 Min Read

Old School RuneScape’s economy isn’t looking too good.

As we’re halfway through 2023, Old School RuneScape’s economy has slowly become unstable.

Old School RuneScape is a game that’s been around for 10 years since its official launch in 2013. Naturally, the economy of the 2007 copy of Runescape will change as the population fluctuates, new content gets released, the cash price of bonds changes, the OSRS value of bonds changes, new valuable items get introduced in the game, gold and item sinks and faucets get introduced in the game, and consequently the OSRS gold price changes on the black market. On top of this, other factors influence a game’s economy, such as bot or gold farmers.

Keeping Things Afloat

One thing is for sure, many elements keep a game’s economy stable, and many are totally dependent on the players. On the natural supply and demand equation, some economies need an outside force’s intervention.

This takes the economy from a free market where the prices are entirely dictated by supply and demand to a semi-artificial economy where some prices are soft or hard-capped or other artificial means that prevent or even stimulate inflation and deflation. OSRS doesn’t have an entirely free economy since the prices of several items and taxes are dictated by Jagex. For example, the coins you’ll get for casting high alchemy on various items keep the prices of the items you can alchemize within certain limits, or you’ll have to pay a fee depending on the current GE price of a bond when converting one.

Naturally, in an inflated economy, you’ll need more currency to buy the same thing, or you’ll buy fewer things for the same currency. This is why many players got concerned about the economy of Old School RuneScape when the price per bond reached over 8 mil OSRS GP which is a huge fluctuation in price.

While small price fluctuations are expected for a stable economy, a fluctuation of around 20 percent of the price within a relatively short period indicates something is concerning.

OSRS’ Economy is Affected By Real-Life Situations

At the surface level, the massive change in the price per bond could only have to do with the in-game economy. Still, since bonds can only be initially obtained by purchasing them for IRL currency from Jagex, the fluctuation in the price for bonds might have a lot to do with the worldwide post-pandemic scenery drastically affected by the Russian – Ukrainian conflict. While Jagex won’t release the exact numbers, the worldwide economic situation has decreased the number of bonds bought from Jagex before being sold on the grand exchange to obtain OSRS gold.

The New Content Affects OSRS

Another key element to consider is that a lot of new content has recently been added to the game. For example, this year, the Phantom Muspah boss, the Bounty Hunter minigame, the new Wilderness bosses, and their solo-able versions have just been introduced. This has two natural consequences that can impact the market.

First, some of the new content has brought some new valuable items with it through uniques and drops, enabling you to earn a lot of GP per hour. For example, the new group versions of the reworked wilderness bosses can bring your team loads of GP to compensate for the risks you’re taking by venturing into the unsafety of the wilderness, or the phantom Muspah boss can also bring you a lot in drops as a solo-able instanced boss which you can take down for quite a good profit after you complete the quest that precedes it. And the more coins there are in the game, the less value each can account for.

Another thing to consider is that more content means more stuff that can appeal to players and make them start playing the game (again). Think, for example, of the bounty hunter minigame, which offers unprecedented and contained PvP fun with its unique, fast-paced, and target-based content.

An Intervention is Needed

Ultimately, the increase in bond price could indicate that OSRS’ economy is becoming increasingly unstable, as any game needs pretty steady gold sinks and faucets. Therefore, Jagex might need to intervene again and create even more gold sinks, such as the most recently introduced Grand Exchange Tax, to help stabilize the economy further.