Retro-styled MMORPG Old School RuneScape just smashed its own concurrent player record, reaching 257,044 players online at once across PC and mobile platforms on August 3.
The surge wasn’t driven by a flashy new game mode or a flashy battle pass—it came from two key forces: the release of the Varlamore: The Final Dawn update and a surprising wave of support from the World of Warcraft community. The update, which dropped on July 23, introduced new regions and fresh endgame content, giving veteran players a reason to return and new players something to chase.
On top of that, WoW streamers like Guzu, AnnieFuchsia, Sodapoppin, and Savix have been jumping ship (at least temporarily) from Blizzard’s seasonal grind. Their respective communities followed suit, spiking interest and giving OSRS a massive presence on Twitch.
Jagex confirmed the record-breaking peak on August 3 but has not released official numbers. The stat originates from third-party tracker misplaceditems, a long-trusted community site. To give some perspective, RuneScape 3—the more modern version of the game—saw around 26,000 concurrent players during the same period, making OSRS the undisputed king of the RuneScape ecosystem.
And it’s not slowing down anytime soon. Fans voted in 2023 for the game’s first-ever new skill—Sailing—and the alpha version saw limited testing in March. That momentum is still rolling, with more updates and feature votes on the horizon.
Old School RuneScape’s success isn’t just a nostalgic blip—it’s the result of smart community-driven design, steady content delivery, and a healthy dose of streamer hype.
