Jagex has announced it’s removing Treasure Hunter microtransactions from RuneScape 3, after over 120,000 players voted for their swift destruction in a community poll. These microtransactions will be removed early next year.
Treasure Hunter is a daily activity that allows players to earn prizes, including XP boosts, in-game gold and more. You’re given a number of keys for free each day, but players have been able to buy additional keys for real money for a while. Basically, you open a chest for free loot every day.
Starting the 19th of January, Treasure Hunting as well as over 225 direct XP and skilling items will be removed from the game entirely. The reason why? Well, Jagex held a community poll on whether or not RuneScape 3 would remove Treasure Hunter. This passed overwhelmingly, reaching well over the 100,000 vote requirement for the change.
This isn’t the first major community vote Jagex has held for both RuneScape 3 and Old School RuneScape. Back in 2013 it held a vote asking its community whether it wanted Old School RuneScape to exist, which received a wave of support. There were also votes held for the Wilderness and Free Trade, which heavily impacted how PvP worked in the game.
This big change comes at the start of what Jagex is dubbing a new era for the game, which they’ll reveal more about starting the 19th January. This will include a full roadmap for the game moving forward through 2026, so will be well worth a watch if you’re interested in one the biggest MMOs out there.
Microtransactions have always been a sore point for RuneScape during its life. Treasure Hunter is actually the second loot box system the game has had, the first being so poorly recieved it was removed entirely. In fact, there’s a quest where you can kill its mascot. This vote is, in reality, good thing for the game as unpopular microtransactions have proven a big reason for players leaving.
It’s a frankly respectable amount of fanfare over the loss of a revenue stream that should hopefully earn Jagex a lot of love from its community of RuneScape 3 enjoyers. Still, for games like RuneScape, community is key to maintaining momentum. One has to wonder what the 2026 roadmap will look like, given all the excitement around it. We do know there’s going to be a new area called Havenhythe added to the game, so that’s a taste of what’s to come!
