This History of the Old School RuneScape Player Count

Player Count in early 2013 through to 2021. Yellow: RS3, Blue: OSRS, Red: Total.

In Late 2012, the future of RuneScape was looking grim. With the Evolution of Combat (EoC) and declining trust in Jagex as a company. In hindsight, it was hard for all RS players, but now we are all glad it is far behind us!

There had been attempts to bring back an older client of RuneScape in the form of Private Servers (RSPS), such as the popular RS2006. However, all these attempts were shut down due to legal reasons. But what was clear was players missed an older, simpler time when the game they loved was at its peak in a “Golden Age” of around 2004-2008.

Jagex listened to these demands of players. According to the then CEO Mark Gerhard, the idea came from players wishing for these old days. These calls allowed them to uncover an old backup for the game from August 2007, fixed it up to be played, and then released a poll on the 15th of February 2013.

The poll received over 449,000 votes, and on the 22nd of February of 2013, Old School Runescape became open to all paying members. It was to become a sensation that surpassed even the main game. However, in the beginning, there were hurdles.

The number of players playing OSRS on the 22nd of February was roughly between 30,000-50,000 on the first day. By the end of the first month, it dropped down to around 20,000, and by the end of 2013 was at about 10,000-15,000 players. Thus, RS3 was on par in terms of the overall numbers at any one time early on, but over time became the more popular version of the game in 2013. 

However, in 2015 with the release of free-to-play and the popular Twitch streamers to the game, the total number of players became 30,000-45,000 players on average. This number at the time equaled that of RS3. Thus, the battle for players began as they went up and down throughout the next couple of years.

By the end of 2016, the number of players on OSRS was 45,000 on average, but the RS3 numbers dropped slowly to 20,000- 30,000. This trend continued as OSRS kept climbing up to 80,000 and RS3 below 20,000 at the start of 2019.

At the start of 2020, with mobile OSRS, the number of players went above 100k, and by the end of the same year, they sat at 85,000 on average. RS3 also reaped in the benefits of this as their numbers climbed back up to 30,000. In 2021, this trend continues to rise.

Sources:

• Overview and history of OSRS: Old School RuneScape – History, Gameplay, and Lore Guide - Rune Fanatics
• The infamous “Vault” who developed RS2006: https://rsplayers.fandom.com/wiki/Vault
• Discussion on 2012 forums around RS2006 and discontent with Jagex: Will 2006scape Get Shut Down By Jagex? - d2jsp Topic
• See record of players over time: https://www.misplaceditems.com/rs_tools/graph/?display=avg&interval=qtr_hr&total=1&mid=1361836800 
• In-depth player count from YouTube: Old School Vs New - Runescape Player Count History (2013 - 2021) - YouTube

Current Estimated Total Active Players

On the 18th of August 2021 (2:00 pm in NZ), the total number of players of OSRS at the time that I write this is 74,426 players online. These numbers prove that the game is more popular than ever!

In addition, the Old School team is a passionate group of developers that constantly engage with their community through Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, the game forums, and even in-game! Moreover, they regularly bring out new updates weekly, displayed in detail on their main website.

Sources: 

• Old School RuneScape website: Old School RuneScape - Play Old School RS
• Reddit: Old School RuneScape! (reddit.com)
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/OldSchoolRS 

How Easy is it to sign in?

Very simple! To play the game, you have three main options. 

The first is to download their main Jagex client (access it here: Old School RuneScape Game Play for Free). The second option is to download the mobile app! Then, you just search the game in your app store and download it directly to your phone or tablet. 

The last option is to choose a third-party client, which can pose issues. But if you want to try a reputable client which lots of useful features, I recommend my personal choice, RuneLite! (Check it out here: RuneLite - Open Source Old School RuneScape Client).

How Active Are The Game Developers?

The Old School team is very active as game developers who have constantly been updating the game since late 2013. Moreover, they have polls and always ask the community for advice about the game.

The types of updates often include dev blogs, player feedback, player showcases, general game news, and weekly game updates. These sources of engagement come directly from their main website. However, they also engage with players on Twitter, Twitch, Discord, and Reddit (to name a few).

One highlight of this is their live streams, where they do live Q&As with select developers. Sometimes, they will showcase design processes up upcoming quests or bosses. However, my personal favorite is the bot-busting streams!

Sources:

• Polls: RuneScape 2007 Server - Play Old School RS
• Updates: Old School RuneScape - News
• Bots: Old School Runescape Bot Busting Stream Highlight - YouTube

How Active Is the Community?

BOaty during the OSRS All Stars Livestream in 2018.

The OSRS community has always been a tight one. However, one thing that keeps it strong is the content creators playing it for over a decade, and there are always new treasures coming to the battlefield! Some of these more significant personalities include Soup, B0aty, Alkan Woox, and Mr. Mammal. All of which can be found uploading videos or streaming on Twitch regularly. 

Some of my fondest memories of 2013 were watching twitch streamers for hours on end as I played OSRS. On average, twitch can get between 1,000 - 10,000 watchers at any one time for OSRS. Usually, it’s the popular creators that drawn these more significant numbers.

On Reddit, there are currently 5.5k players online from 586k players subbed to the subreddit.  

The discord server for OSRS doesn’t have as many people overall as Reddit but still easily has 17k people online and 70k members overall!

It shows that the OSRS community is very active and is growing steadily! 

List of Active Communities

• Old School RuneScape website: Old School RuneScape - Play Old School RS
• Reddit: Old School RuneScape! (reddit.com)
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/OldSchoolRS 
• YouTube: Old School RuneScape - YouTube
• Forums: RuneScape Forum - Community Forums for Clans, Feedback & Discussion
• Twitch: oldschoolrs - Twitch
• Instagram: Old School RuneScape (@oldschool.runescape) • Instagram photos and video.
• Discord: Old School RuneScape (discord.com)

Summary

Based on the results of this analysis into the players, community, and developers of OSRS, it shows that this game is far from dying! The game did have a slow start. However, the game has survived and grown from strength to strength due to a loving hand from both Jagex and the players! 

The last three years have given the game a fresh new life which brought new players to a game that they had never played before! Moreover, it also drew back old ones who wanted to relive a piece of their childhood.

Despite 2007 being over for the rest of the world for fourteen years, it still lives on in the hearts of RuneScape players!