Old School RuneScape is a special phenomenon. The MMORPG was released in 2013 and reflects the state of the game from 2007. In recent years, it has gained increasing popularity and with an event, it even managed to set a strong player record.
How many people play Old School RuneScape? On November 15, the MMORPG peaked at 185,123 concurrent players. This is impressive, especially considering the age and graphics of the game.
Old School RuneScape significantly surpasses the combined player counts of the two games from Amazon, which can be well read on SteamDB. New World reached a peak of 30,681 on the same day, and Lost Ark reached 58,021.
Furthermore, the MMORPG is currently the big draw for the developer Jagex. The modern RuneScape only reached a peak of 31,802 players on the same day.
Is this just a snapshot? Not really. While an event is currently driving the numbers up, RuneScape is experiencing a positive trend overall.
While there were only 75,000 peak players combined in both titles in 2015, there were already 140,000 in 2019. After the record years due to Corona, the number did go down, but at least Old School RuneScape is currently experiencing a very positive trend and regularly surpasses 120,000 players on its own.
You can see the complete development of player numbers in this (admittedly small) graph. It comes from the MisplacedItems page, which queries and documents the player numbers from the official website every 5 minutes. The red bar represents the total number, light blue is OSRS, and yellow is the modern RuneScape:
Old School RuneScape is popular and successful, delights with new season
How is the MMORPG doing right now? Very well. In 2021, the game celebrated its release on Steam and is by far the highest-rated MMORPG there. With 91% positive reviews and 2,300 players at peak, it can boast on Valve’s platform.
Praise is especially given for the in-depth mechanics and the proverbial carrot the MMORPG constantly dangles in front of you. One can quickly become addicted and keep coming back, even after long breaks.
An important factor are the different skills that one can grind, as well as the Ironman modes, where one is left to their own devices and must sometimes go through the content without dying.
The current event Leagues IV: Trailblazer Reloaded also goes in this direction. There, you can create a character in a sort of season, level it particularly quickly, and take it through various challenges. At the end of the season, the character will be deleted, but there are special rewards that remain with the account.
Recently, the game also made headlines with the vote on the first new skill since the release in 2013. Over 150,000 fans participated in the debate and discussed heatedly about the pros and cons.
There is a very close bond between the developers and the community, which also plays an important role in the success of Old School RuneScape. Every new feature must receive 75% approval from players before it is implemented.
Additionally, Jagex organizes RuneFest every year, where new content is presented and players and content creators are honored. I personally attended the event in 2019:
The community and the developers of the MMORPG RuneScape are completely crazy, but lovable
