Interview with Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard: Part 1 of 3, Getting to Know Mark and Jagex

The free-to-play MMORPG "RuneScape" is a very popular game. When its parent company -- Jagex -- announced that they had a new CEO coming on board after years of the same people in charge, gamers were a little apprehensive.

Last week, I spoke with Jagex's new CEO, Mark Gerhard. We had a nice chat, covering topics all over the spectrum. In our three part series, you'll be able to see what we talked about in relation to his history and his new job (part 1), their popular free-to-play MMORPG "RuneScape" and its future (part 2), and Jagex's other projects, such as "MechScape" (part 3).

In this first part of the three part interview series, you'll be able to learn more about who Mark is, where he's come from, how Jagex works, and how Mark wants to change its perception in the gaming sphere.

Brendon Lindsey, Chief Editor, MMOLife Network: You took on the role of CEO [of Jagex] in February...

Mark Gerhard, CEO, Jagex: Yes, I took on the title in February.

Before that you were the CTO and dealt primarily with the technology-related aspects, right?

[laughs] Yes, indeed. Prior to that -- I actually joined the company a year or so prior, and had been serving as the CTO [Chief Technical Officer]. When I joined, Andrew Gower, the founder, had wanted to step down as CTO and focus on enhancing our game engine and other exciting R&D projects.

Right.

So I kind of took over the reins from him, if you will. And worked really close with Andrew and all the tech teams. I was not really involved in the actual content creation, but pretty much everything else around that...

So yes, I kind of started with those things, and certainly wasn't expecting my wonderful, simple, jolly life at Jagex to change so substantially [laughs].

Was it a difficult change?

No, it was good. I mean, it was an incredible endorsement from the board [of directors]. I'm always saying that I don't feel qualified to do the job, as in I don’t have an MBA from Harvard, but I'm really flattered they gave me a chance, you know?

But to get back to the original topic [laughs] my background was and my passion still is technology. And, you know, Jagex is an incredible technology company so it’s a great fit.

Yeah.

I mean, I was blown away. I've served a long career in IT, consulting, security practices, and various other things -- and, prior to joining Jagex, I was the principal security consultant for GTECH who are the guys behind 95% of the lotteries around the world and specifically the National Lottery in the UK.

Oh, wow. So were you already pretty up to date on all the tech stuff even before you joined Jagex?

Yes, indeed. You know, I really thought I was on the sharp end of technology, and joining Jagex, I realized there's still, you know, a lot to learn. There must be at least twenty products within Jagex -- not just the games, technology products; platforms, proprietary applications and tools, that are all in their own right, you know, commercial products, etc. We pretty much run our own entire technology shop in-house. Let me put it this way: they even have their own email server that they custom built themselves – because they can!. No one ever said "Let's just use Microsoft" which was a very dirty word at the time [laughs].

Almost everything we're using is custom and in our language. The company simply doesn't stop innovating, if you know what I mean.

It's always been a case of "What do we need to do? Okay, let's build it." I mean, tons and tons and tons of different pieces of technology are all working together to create things like "RuneScape." And "MechScape," and the FunOrb mini game. So yeah, it really is at super sharp end of technology. I can imagine you could spawn almost 20 companies using the products we've developed and use, at least 20 maybe more.

This is definitely the first job I would argue that I won't leave or get bored with after three years not even in 15 years.

I'd imagine that other companies would also have to have some sort of focus on technology, though? What makes Jagex so unique compared to past jobs?

Well, it's a successful company, but it's not successful because we are a classic “corporate company”-- it's successful because of the emphasis on technology and passion for games. I mean, the corporate stuff is successful, but it's as a direct result of this deep love for developing technology and games, instead of the other way around. And that's nice, that’s Jagex's DNA.

I'm also still very active. We haven't filled the CTO role, so I still have that cap on but Andrew and I work together really well so we seem to have all the bases covered together. We also have a top CFO, Riaan Hodgson who looks after the back office, that’s the team really.

Eh, what's two high pressure jobs! [laughs]

[laughs] Yeah, it's easy! Everyone's doing it!

I don't know, a lot of people these days are still looking for one...

[laughs] Yeah, that's right! [laughs] But I mean, look at it this way: I kind of get to do the best of both worlds, I suppose. I can go and work with what I'm passionate about [tech] and at the same time, help form and execute on the Studio strategy which will have an effect on the overall outcome.

I also have a say on the decisions across the entire company for the first time as well, and having already worked for the studio I can bring in a lot of views on how things could have been done different, or better hopefully, because I’ve been involved on the ground so to speak and I’m an active player. It is a great job, and I really don't mind it's technically two jobs, I just see it as one job.

I've noticed that since you've taken over, Jagex seems to be more open on talking to players more, as opposed to the past where it was all sort of hush hush. Was that part of what you wanted to do?

Yeah! Absolutely! There was just weird, if I reflect back to my early months in the company, the developers and company were still as passionate about the games and community, but just never spoke to them. It was almost like a slightly dysfunctional love affair where you really love someone but you just don't speak to them to tell them how you feel.

So yeah, I said one of the new strategies I wanted to put together for this year and next is really to get back to our roots. Let's go back to who we are. I think there was a short period where the company tried to reinvent itself, be more corporate like Blizzard or EA perhaps, even with the new "hotshot CEO" and stuff.

And that just wasn't who we were. We're a garagey game studio that cares more about the quality of our game and how our community enjoys it than how we are perceived by the rest of the games industry; 10 years ago our distribution system was online, no one really knew who we were or what we were doing and publishers simply wouldn't work with us, so we sort of had to do it all ourselves, and that sort of took the focus away from being able to openly communicate due to how much was required of the company and its people.

We never had a marketing team or a community relations team for that matter, although we are working on that right now.

I imagine then that the fact you guys have more things going now, and have all this stuff already developed that you've talked about, frees you up to sort of go back to the roots, so to speak, and stop being so secretive?

The perception was that we're this secretive, shut-in empire in a bunker somewhere under a mountain. And, it's not that. The reality of the matter is that there are some great guys here. But, they're shy. I mean, they're incredibly talented and focused on what they do, but none of them are you traditional corporate types, with media training, being nicely groomed for TV-- you know. These are guys that kind of come in with a beard, a bit grungy and do it for love of what they do.

So I think our absence on the public stage, historically and possibly in the future, is really just that we don't want to be anything we're not. We think it's more important for us to play to our strengths and create great games than to try and be or present an image of something or someone with a shiny smile, glossy suit or hire a celebrity spokes person. But it certainly is very important that we talk to our players again, because they're the most important people to us, they are our celebrities. So we have become more vocal, and we are reaching out more. I don't think you'll see me commenting in the financial times; but you'll certainly see me at 2AM on the forums or in game talking to our players.

And that's it for part one! Check back in Wednesday, May 27, at 9AM PST for part two of our interview series, which focuses mainly on their best known IP, "RuneScape."

Read Part 2 of the Jagex CEO interview about "RuneScape" here.

Read Part 3 of the Jagex CEO interview about "MechScape" here.

Posted by Brendon Lindsey
May 25, 2009

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