Old School RuneScape reaches 200k concurrent players as WoW exodus continues

Over the weekend, on July 20, Old School RuneScape (OSRS) continued its recent ascension on the MMORPG player count charts. The decades-old game reached over 200,000 concurrent players on a random Sunday afternoon/evening.

This prompted the development team at Jagex to issue a quick patch that stabilized the servers due to the sheer volume of players. It's another milestone for Old School RuneScape, which has been making major waves in the video game community over the summer.

Old School RuneScape has seen consistent player growth over the past couple of months. While the major Varlamore Part 3: The Final Dawn update is coming out soon, this growth has mostly come from new players or players returning after a long hiatus. While some of the new players are coming due to the update, a bulk of them are arriving thanks to the World of Warcraft community.

Many popular WoW streamers, such as Sodapoppin, have grown increasingly frustrated with the MMO in recent months, prompting them to try out other games. The primary game the streamers have been playing is Old School RuneScape, and the streamers have continued to play out of pure enjoyment and fascination. As a result, these streamers' audiences have also started playing Old School.

Many streamers have relished learning a new game, and one that's as large as OSRS has kept them busy for hours every day on stream. The streamers have also praised the developers at Jagex, especially after seeing what the upcoming Varlamore Part 3 update has in store. Sodapoppin has stated, "Why can't Blizzard devs be like this?" when watching official OSRS videos from Jagex.

While the current WoW exodus has certainly benefited the player count in OSRS, the community that's existed for over two decades has helped to ensure new players stick around. The constant passion from the Old School player base is a major reason why the game has been able to sustain itself for all these years.

If you're a new player in OSRS, then you might be wondering what's on the horizon for you as an official resident of Gielinor.

As we've previously mentioned, the new Varlamore Part 3: The Final Dawn update is coming out soon, launching on Wednesday, July 23. While a solid bit of the content in the update will be for mid-game to endgame players, there is still plenty to do for beginner-level players. We recommend you watch this in-depth video from Jagex that explains the major pieces in the update.

Other than that, OSRS is always delivering new patches, community updates, and other smaller content. Later this year, the game will receive its first-ever new skill: Sailing. While Sailing has been met with some criticism from the long-standing members of the community, the new skill might be enticing to beginner players.

For all new players in Old School RuneScape, welcome to arguably the best MMORPG on the market. If you're a grizzled member of the community, enjoy the growth and recognition your favorite game is finally receiving.

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates.