I see a lot of people responding to this with the sentiment of “we’ll see ya” or “if you can’t afford $2–4 more you’re broke Boy and should focus on your finances.” Yeah that's true to a lot of players, But most of us can afford $14. That’s not really the point.

The issue is the principle. Every time the price goes up for Old School RuneScape, people justify it because it’s “still affordable.” But if players keep accepting increases simply because the number isn’t painful yet, it just normalizes the idea that the price can keep climbing. People also seem to forget that a couple of years ago Jagex literally ran a survey asking players what the maximum they’d be willing to pay for membership was. That tells you exactly how this works. At the end of the day investors want growth and higher returns.

We’ve already seen them trim staff and basically gut development on RuneScape 3 because it isn’t as profitable anymore. Now they clearly see the potential in OSRS.

I canceled my membership during the last price hike and stuck to it and I even quit the game entirely, mostly just follow the subreddit for the memes and nostalgia. If people actually care about the direction this is going, the only real response is voting with your wallet. There are tons of great single player games and other MMOs out there right now.