Back in the day tons of players used to flock to these extremely popular games. They might not be in the news as much as your Fortnites or Genshin Impacts, but their loyal fanbases have ensured they remain relevant years after release. Here are six games with surprisingly consistent player bases that have stood the test of time.
It’s important to keep in mind that the specific player counts listed below are not set in stone. Since these numbers fluctuate with the time of day and on weekends, it’s hard to nail down exact numbers. That said, we check in with a variety of sources in this article to try and get as clear a picture as we can of what’s going on with these six games.
Old School Runescape
If you’ve ever gotten into MMORPGs, then it’s very likely that you’ve played or at least heard of Runescape. This free-to-play browser game has gone through many changes since it launched back in 2001. And even back then the graphics weren’t anything remarkable.
However, the deep lore, engaging quests, and ease of access have kept Runescape as one of the most popular online games with approximately 85,000 concurrent players decades after its launch.
Since the game is free and doesn’t require more than a very basic laptop to play, it’s unlikely to go away any time soon.
Eve Online
Eve Online is one of those MMOs that will pop up on your newsfeed every so often with ludicrous headlines about battles lasting multiple days, involving thousands of players, and causing thousands of dollars in digital goods. It’s always a good read, but then there’s usually radio silence until the next big battle.
But in between those massive and costly battles, the dedicated fanbase of typically over 30,000 concurrent players flocks to Eve Online to live out their virtual lives as space pirates, law-abiding citizens, and everything else in between. This game isn’t going to grab the headlines consistently, but it has a large and loyal fanbase nonetheless.
For Honor
This is that one game we get an update about from Ubisoft at E3 every year that makes the internet collectively ask, “For Honor still exists?” Well, yes it does and Ubisoft has been putting some work into this third-person action game like the major update in 2018 that added a fourth type of warrior based on ancient Chinese soldiers.
The intense hand-to-hand combat in a competitive format makes For Honor feel unlike anything else on the market. The game had a rough launch in terms of sales but decent reviews — like ours from 2017 — so there was clearly something there. And thanks to Ubisoft’s consistent love and care put into the game it’s still going strong four years later with over 6000 unique players daily and an active subreddit.
Quake 3 Arena/Quake Live
Back when Quake 3 Arena launched in 1999, it was a bit of a risk for id Software to release a multiplayer-only game after the first two titles featured single-player campaigns. Sure, the Deathmatch mode in the first two Quake games was incredibly popular, but gamers usually get mad when they view content as being “cut out” of a new game.
Fortunately for id Software, this allowed the team to focus solely on the multiplayer side of Quake. And clearly, they succeeded in creating the ultimate Quake multiplayer experience since tons of FPS fans still play this game competitively all around the world.
It’s a small community with a minimum of about 500 players constantly active at this point. On any given night you’ll likely have no issues finding matches consistently.
Team Fortress 2
Part of the reason why Valve can’t count to three is that it usually perfects the genre after the second title. Team Fortress 2 is a fantastic example of Valve’s mastery of not only creating a great game but also keeping people coming back day after day.
To this day, TF2 consistently lands in the top 10 most played games on Valve’s digital distribution platform, Steam. More PC gamers on Steam are playing TF2 on average than major more recent titles like GTAV, Rainbow Six Siege, Destiny 2, and Outriders. All of those games are fantastic, but TF2 just keeps on trucking with a huge base of about 100,000 players concurrently during the day.
Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy X was a huge step forwards for the franchise. It was the first FF game on the PS2 and had some of the best CG cutscenes ever seen in the early 2000s. Then Square took a massive left turn and decided to make the next numbered game in the franchise an MMO.
It was a bold move but it worked out and now Final Fantasy XI is still going strong with a consistent player base of at least 94,000. And on top of that, the game is still receiving constant updates from Square Enix 18 years later including an entirely new storyline.
Heck, the original website is even still up with all of the latest news in all of its early 2000s website glory.
About the author
