The combat update dropped yesterday. On paper, this is a major update. In practice, looking at hourly averages at a week-over-week grain for the same day, RS3 is still underperforming with very few glimmers of upticks. Each day is logging new low hourly averages, although last night (CST) the game slightly overperformed between 8pm and midnight, but not by any substantive margins.
February 2026 finished with an average of 20,776 concurrent players. That is the lowest February in 13 years of data.
With fewer concurrent players there is less chance people are multi-logging on alts, which lowers both active counts and concurrent counts. There are also fewer bots, which lowers counts further. Jagex has done well on bot bans, but the underlying player engagement is not improving.
After trying out the combat update myself, I do not feel it qualifies as new content. It is modified content. I don't see it creating a reason for people to log back in just yet. While seasonality at this time of year does tend to push counts lower, I am not seeing upticks or upward momentum to suggest that players are staying or returning due to the recent roadmap. Instead, the data suggests they are leaving, and maybe more quickly.
Basic features, expected functionality, and stable systems do not motivate players when they are present. But when they are absent, they cause frustration and disengagement (Herzberg). Jagex needs to do more to ensure that features customers assume will be there are actually there. When you remove an experience or feature, especially a valued one that has become a standard part of the service, you are always more likely to drive people away, just based on how motivation works.
Removing people's auras, for example, especially when some took months of effort to earn, is a hassle in the context of many hassles. That accumulation leads to burnout if not adequately addressed. This pattern is a common theme with Jagex updates: remove, don't replace, and don't compensate for the removal. This is wrong, and you are driving people away.
The combat update looks mostly solid and logical, but there are still hassles Jagex is baking in. Thankfully, Mod Sponge has been quickly fixing bugs.
Mod Anvil mentioned on Reddit that world consolidation is being considered to increase player collision.
Mod Anvil has mentioned several times that he is the community manager. This presents an interesting pattern: many of the recent changes, including AFK nerfs, MTX removal, rebalances, and simplifications, share a commonality of promoting more community-driven interactions and easier engagement with the content. In my opinion, Anvil is literally creating a new community for RS3. It does not surprise me that he believes world consolidation is a winning idea.
My opinion on this is that statistically there are over 100 worlds on RS, and it is inefficient that most have 200 or fewer players. An MMO shouldn't feel empty.
From that perspective, I agree with this direction, but with several caveats: Jagex needs to fix its lag issues. I'm on a high-end computer, and I still experience lag. Competition for resources should be adequately addressed. Even with half measures on both of those, Jagex could reduce the world count down to 45 worlds and many would still be barely populated with these counts.
I firmly believe one of the central reasons OSRS is so popular is because it's popular. It's a network effect (positive feedback loop). People join the game because other people have joined the game.
People say it's the combat, it's the events, PvM, player support, but I think objectively, RS3 is a more modern and better game, so I have to ask, am I just missing something here? Or is there another explanation. Since I essentially played 2007 RuneScape when it was new, I don't feel I'm missing anything. I think that if RS3 felt more populated, it would paradoxically become more populated. That's my hypothesis.
I saw people saying that Jagex is hoping to save money by doing this. I don't always like what Jagex does, but will say, that does not appear to be the case. I've seen no evidence that they're cost-saving, and I don't imagine these servers are costing them that much money overall.
This is strategic, not financial. If Jagex were most concerned about finances and appearances, they wouldn't have hired a new lead community member (Mod Anvil) last year. And they certainly would not be nuking bots to the extent they are. Bots are not only player count numbers they can boast but likely subscriptions they're removing also.
In sum, I am slightly surprised more players haven't returned for the combat update. However, I still believe many will return when there is exceptional content and when they feel valued. Historically, that has been the pattern driving player counts.