Former SoulSplit RSPS Founder Rejects $500M AI Buyout to Build His Own Company

SoulSplit Founder Rejects $500M AI Buyout to Build His Own Company

The former creator of the iconic RuneScape private server SoulSplit has reportedly turned down an acquisition offer valued at approximately 500 million dollars, choosing instead to continue building an independent artificial intelligence company with global ambitions.

Pim de Witte, widely known within the RSPS community as the founder of SoulSplit, is now leading two major technology ventures. One is Medal.tv, a gaming platform used by millions of players worldwide. The other is General Intuition, an artificial intelligence company focused on training next generation models using large scale behavioural data.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the buyout offer targeted General Intuition and its underlying data infrastructure. Rather than accepting the deal, de Witte opted to retain full control of the company and pursue a long term vision.

From RSPS success to early entrepreneurship

De Witte began programming at a young age and launched SoulSplit as a teenager. What started as a small RuneScape private server quickly grew into one of the most successful RSPS projects ever created.

At its peak, SoulSplit attracted millions of players, generated significant monthly revenue, and operated with a growing development team based in the Netherlands. The project consistently ranked at the top of RSPS toplists and became a defining part of the private server scene.

By his late teens, de Witte was already managing a profitable online business, gaining experience in scaling infrastructure, handling large communities, and maintaining complex virtual economies.

SoulSplit ultimately shut down in 2015 following stricter enforcement actions against private servers. By that point, its creator was already moving toward new technology projects.

 

Building Medal.tv and a massive gameplay dataset

After leaving the RSPS world, de Witte co founded Medal.tv, a platform that allows gamers to capture, edit, and share gameplay clips.

As the platform expanded, it began collecting an enormous volume of gameplay related data. This included player movement, reaction timing, decision making patterns, and interactions inside complex game environments.

While originally gathered to support creator tools and social features, this data later became the foundation for advanced artificial intelligence research.

 

Why AI companies are interested

General Intuition was created to apply Medal.tv’s behavioural datasets to large scale machine learning systems.

Unlike traditional AI models trained primarily on text or static images, this approach focuses on how humans behave in dynamic and interactive environments. The goal is to train systems that better understand motion, spatial reasoning, cause and effect, and real time decision making.

Industry observers believe this type of data is increasingly valuable as AI development moves beyond language and toward real world simulation and interaction.

 

Turning down a half billion dollar offer

The reported acquisition offer would have been a defining moment for most founders. Instead, de Witte chose to remain independent.

People familiar with the situation indicate that accepting the deal would have meant folding General Intuition into a larger organization. De Witte reportedly believes the company has the potential to grow into a leading AI research platform on its own.

By declining the offer, he signaled confidence in the long term value of the technology and the data behind it.

 

How the RSPS era shaped a tech founder

Within the RuneScape private server community, de Witte’s background is often seen as a key part of his success.

Running SoulSplit required managing large online communities, scaling infrastructure under heavy demand, designing monetization systems, and responding rapidly to user feedback. Those same skills now apply directly to operating high growth technology companies.

 

Choosing the harder path

Turning down a 500 million dollar buyout is rare in today’s startup landscape. For de Witte, it reflects a belief that building something meaningful is worth more than an early exit.

Whether General Intuition will eventually compete with the world’s largest AI companies remains uncertain. What is already clear is that the former RSPS developer behind SoulSplit is no longer just a figure from private server history.

He is now a founder confident enough to walk away from a massive offer and commit to building his own future.