As an example, take Desperate Measures. It was officially announced about 3 months before release, so you know that it had been in development a long time prior to
RuneScape gold. It brought new resources, narrative development, etc.. Most likely this could have been several months of development having rather a large group, but just to prove the point, let's say it costs precisely the same as the Artisan event to develop this exploration. Contrary to the previous case, it costs nothing for existing members to engage this content. The only way that this makes money is if people return to the sport and resubscribe to play this. At $11/month for membership, you'd need over 5000 players to resub for this to be profitable. That is 5x the engagement needed compared to some small MTX event, and this also relies on bringing in new or bringing returning subs - something considerably more difficult to perform than getting existing users to devote a little extra.
What you're saying is definitely correct. Yes, and that is why they've been moving towards trying to tie in some permanent improvement with every one of the MTX events - so they are not solely short-term gains but that they do lend some permanent value to the sport - beginning with the graphic rework of
OSRS buy gold the Dwarven Mine. Arguably not so well-executed this moment, but I think we could all agree it is a step in the right direction.
