By Jim Rossignol on May 9th, 2012 at 12:30 pm.
RPS isn’t shy, which is fortunate because it had over 2.1 million unique browsers staring at it in March. That’s you guys. There’s so many of you! But don’t just take our word for it. We had the site independently audited by ABC, and you can see our shiny certificate of traffic enormity right here. Yes, we’re very proud. But not too proud to admit that the real reason that RPS has been a success is because you lot love PC games as much as we do. So thanks for sharing our enthusiasms, and thanks for reading the site.
We love all of you.
Except that guy. Sheesh.
09/05/2012 at 12:32 SiHy_ says:
Sorry. I’ll try harder in the future, I promise…
Love you RPS!
09/05/2012 at 17:38 gnodab says:
Why don’t we all? If everybody of us gives a 1$/€/idonthaveapundsigncausenoonecares tip, that’ll be 2.1 million!
I’m so excited. Maybe it’d be enough to get Kieron back, from writing for men in tights!
09/05/2012 at 12:33 Ephaelon says:
We are legion. Am I?
09/05/2012 at 12:36 alexheretic says:
I’m not
09/05/2012 at 12:38 westyfield says:
No idea, your geth is as good as mine.
09/05/2012 at 12:43 Zanchito says:
I’m always Anonymous.
09/05/2012 at 13:00 Arglebargle says:
I am not a number, I am a free and unique browser!
09/05/2012 at 13:05 Makariel says:
I’m not.
09/05/2012 at 13:29 mangrove says:
I am not a number.. I am a series of letters, and then a number!
09/05/2012 at 13:44 RedViv says:
Do these pants make this unit’s….
09/05/2012 at 14:18 mpk says:
I am legion, and so is my wife.
09/05/2012 at 15:40 andyhavens says:
I used to be legion. But then I lost a bunch of weight.
09/05/2012 at 17:34 lijenstina says:
We are the blood cells that keeps an e-penis erect so it can be waved around for ad revenue.
Obligatory cynicism aside, I do really like RPS. :) Keep the good work guys.
10/05/2012 at 04:39 mixnsyv says:
Give-You-a-Surprise Wooden Box (Practical Joke,) to scare him! Ha ha! http://vo.to/61xz5
09/05/2012 at 12:35 Nim says:
We also love quality.
09/05/2012 at 12:35 Cooper says:
I can see Wally!
09/05/2012 at 16:52 Jibb Smart says:
You made me scroll up!
09/05/2012 at 12:36 dawnmane says:
Congrats! Best games journalism site out there.
09/05/2012 at 12:37 Chris Evans says:
<3 you guys!
09/05/2012 at 12:47 alexheretic says:
theres at least 4 of them
09/05/2012 at 13:04 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
It took me 10(!) seconds before I understood your joke ^^.
09/05/2012 at 13:29 Lars Westergren says:
I first thought you meant 3628800 seconds. Stupid literal brain.
09/05/2012 at 16:10 Mattressi says:
Wait, he didn’t mean 10 factorial?
09/05/2012 at 17:46 Danny252 says:
Surely it would just be 10! for 10 factorial?
09/05/2012 at 12:37 rustybroomhandle says:
Oh no, I thought this was a hipster joint!
09/05/2012 at 13:02 Makariel says:
I was reading RPS before it was cool.
09/05/2012 at 13:17 max pain says:
I AM reading RPS before it was cool.
That is, reading old posts, all the way back from 2007, saluting past commentators from the future.
09/05/2012 at 14:32 jaronimoe says:
I read old posts before reading old posts was cool. Ha!
09/05/2012 at 13:28 The Godzilla Hunter says:
And I used to feel special.
09/05/2012 at 12:37 wuwul says:
> RPS isn’t shy, which is fortunate because it had over 2.1 million unique browsers staring at it in March.
I hate to break it to you, but it’s because you left the zipper open.
09/05/2012 at 12:52 Sleepymatt says:
Also, with all those people staring… surely this needs a staring eyes tag?!
09/05/2012 at 13:04 Dozer says:
Yes it does. What a shocking mistake!
09/05/2012 at 12:37 The Sombrero Kid says:
Best games site on the World Wide Web, congrats.
09/05/2012 at 12:38 amishmonster says:
You guys are wonderful! Glad that others agree.
09/05/2012 at 12:39 Stellar Duck says:
Am I that guy?
09/05/2012 at 15:31 Shortwave says:
Don’t worry dude, it’s probably me. : (
09/05/2012 at 15:55 Defiant Badger says:
Yeah that’s true.
09/05/2012 at 18:15 Hmm-Hmm. says:
So self-conscious. A bit like me, perhaps.
Also, hooray RPS!
09/05/2012 at 23:32 Jengaman says:
You’re so vain, you probably think that guy is you.
09/05/2012 at 12:40 Bluerps says:
We love you too!
… or at least I do. Maybe some other people really hate you and only come here, so that they have new material to rant about, on their hate-blogs (probably called “Rock, Paper, Suckgun”).
Maybe some other people are actually really indifferent about you, and only come here because they don’t know much about internet browsers, and someone set their start-page to RPS.
But I think most people love you.
09/05/2012 at 12:41 wodin says:
Good stuff, well done lads. However where is Cardboard Children? Also get a female writer aswell.
09/05/2012 at 12:43 ItalicThatGuy says:
It’s really heart warming to see you recognise us the fans as … oh… :(
09/05/2012 at 12:43 LionsPhil says:
How many of them were spambots?
09/05/2012 at 13:18 Lars Westergren says:
I see you are a “glass half spam” kind of guy.
09/05/2012 at 13:30 Guvornator says:
Worst milkshake I ever had…
09/05/2012 at 13:45 LionsPhil says:
I told you it needed more tabasco sauce.
09/05/2012 at 16:38 Odeon says:
Not to mention a higher percentage of Spam.
09/05/2012 at 13:42 DiamondDog says:
Spambots can like PC games too, you know. Maybe they come to RPS to relax, and all they get is banned.
Whats with the discrimination?
09/05/2012 at 16:14 Mattressi says:
Yeah, it’s not their fault that the only English they’ve been taught are (mostly garbled) phrases for peddling cheap wares. Maybe they’re showing appreciation by giving us a good deals?
09/05/2012 at 12:43 nabeel says:
Congratulations!
09/05/2012 at 12:43 Nameless1 says:
No, thanks to you.
I’m really happy about the numbers, I’ve even emailed you (questioning) about it some time ago.
09/05/2012 at 12:44 smokiespliff says:
hooray!
09/05/2012 at 12:44 Solskin says:
I love you too
09/05/2012 at 12:47 Sic says:
So, there are about 100k users of the site on any given day?
:O
09/05/2012 at 12:47 ironman Tetsuo says:
Best gaming site on the web, came for the news, stayed for the humour.
I want to know what happened/what was posted on the 30th to cause the spike?
09/05/2012 at 12:51 westyfield says:
The Ludum Dare article perhaps? I expect a lot of people whose games were mentioned sent the link to their friends/family saying “look wot i dun”.
09/05/2012 at 12:48 Nallen says:
RPS is the best website :)
By the way what happened on the 30th of March?
09/05/2012 at 13:07 Nallen says:
Looks like it was Obsidian joining Wasteland 2 (and not the f’ing TF2 Hats thing thank god).
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/30/obisidian-to-co-develop-wasteland-2-on-one-condition/
09/05/2012 at 12:50 kael13 says:
Very swish. Had any offers from any media corporations lately?
09/05/2012 at 12:51 soundofsatellites says:
<3 <3 <3
09/05/2012 at 12:51 Davee says:
Don’t you go mainstream on us!
Also thanks for keeping the site running with great articles. :)
09/05/2012 at 12:52 rocketman71 says:
You’re welcome.
(in a John Hodgman voice)
09/05/2012 at 12:53 atticus says:
You really have a nice mix of writers to cover a wide variety of topics – and always with that all-important great sense of humour. Keep up the good work! :)
A special thanks on behalf of Norwegian readers to mr. Walker for his features concering violent games in connection with the ongoing Breivik-trial. A proper counter to much of the ignorant sensationalism in the media!
09/05/2012 at 12:55 Tom Walker says:
Good work chaps.
These days I pretty much judge whether an upcoming game is worth considering on whether RPS seems excited about it. Everyone else is just so much noise.
09/05/2012 at 12:56 Deathmaster says:
Love you back, RPS.
09/05/2012 at 12:59 mr.ioes says:
I wanna be that guy.
09/05/2012 at 13:06 Voxel lens says:
Sorry but that guy is me. Nobody loves me :’(
09/05/2012 at 15:07 Stellar Duck says:
I thought Carmack was into voxels again?
09/05/2012 at 17:38 Voxel lens says:
How can I know what you thought? :(
09/05/2012 at 13:01 djbriandamage says:
I could get RPS for free if I wanted to. But I subscribe monthly, voluntarily, for no tangible additional benefit. It’s worth it to me.
Thank you RPS, current and past contributors. I have a busy day but you are always a part of it.
09/05/2012 at 13:04 sonofsanta says:
It would be nice to get a newsletter again, though. Just every now and then. More pretty words is always good.
09/05/2012 at 13:41 Plivesey says:
Yeah, I miss those witty e-mails from RPS. Now I just get rubbish “Click here to give all your bank details away” e-mails, whereas before I got those AND a witty one.
As djbriandamage says, though, I still feel the subscription is worthwhile as RPS’ content is so fantastic.
09/05/2012 at 16:34 sinister agent says:
That’ll be because I offered them an extra quid to make sure that nobody else got them. RPS is nothing if not corrupt. And cheap. And racist. Etc.
09/05/2012 at 13:02 sonofsanta says:
You’re welcome. <3
Come up with any better names for the site yet though? I still remember Kieron's awkward expression when he was introduced in an interview as an editor of "Rock, Paper, Shotgun", completely undermining any serious debate on video games he was trying to have.
09/05/2012 at 14:59 Reefpirate says:
This is the worst idea ever. No offence.
10/05/2012 at 12:19 sonofsanta says:
Oh I don’t mean for them to change it, it could never be changed now. Just be interesting to hear if any inspiration ever struck after the domain registration.
09/05/2012 at 13:02 Syra says:
Aww, I liked you before you were cool.
09/05/2012 at 13:04 Deathmaster says:
Love you back, RPS
09/05/2012 at 13:08 Plivesey says:
As long as you keep writing puns, I’ll keep reading ‘em!
09/05/2012 at 13:09 Ironclad says:
Do these sort of audits have a purpose? I mean, can you wave this certificate around and get more ad revenue? Glad to be that one guy
09/05/2012 at 13:09 Freud says:
Now the hipsters will stop visiting the site.
09/05/2012 at 13:21 max pain says:
If there’s so many of them to matter, they’re not really hipsters because they’re too mainstream.
09/05/2012 at 14:46 Skabooga says:
Now they’ll just visit the website ironically.
09/05/2012 at 13:11 Chris England says:
You guys deserve it. Keeping up the quality of the work and posting at the rate you guys have for so many years can’t have been easy.
You’ve also helped shape the indie scene, I think – I certainly know you guys were the ones who made me aware of the possibilities and pushed me over into games development from the realms of having a proper job.
09/05/2012 at 15:08 Stellar Duck says:
For which I, at least, am very grateful. Now finish the game already. :P
09/05/2012 at 13:12 That Guy says:
I’m definitely hurt
09/05/2012 at 13:14 MonkeyMonster says:
That will help very nicely with the ad revenue. Well done chaps on making a site that really does have and deserve that many worshippers :D
We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy *genuflects*
09/05/2012 at 13:14 felisc says:
I really enjoy rps. Best way to take a quick break at work.
09/05/2012 at 14:47 Skabooga says:
Or a looooooooonnnngggg break.
09/05/2012 at 13:15 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
Do we qualify as a cult yet? I have the robes and everything.
09/05/2012 at 13:30 The Godzilla Hunter says:
Ever wondered what happened to quinns?
09/05/2012 at 14:45 Auspex says:
Spy photo of Quinns at a cult meeting.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grill/6190152437/in/set-72157627769030296
09/05/2012 at 13:17 Mario Figueiredo says:
I’m afraid I consider RPS on par with many other game news websites, with the exception I’m continuously annoyed by the website anti-spam code that sometimes tends to block posts or edits, thinking I’m a spammer.
Throughout my… hmm, it’s been 3 years?… around there’s been plenty of situations where I strongly disagreed with the staff (turning XCOM into an FPS is just a different game with the same name. Really!? You think that’s all that is going to happen to the IP?)
There’s been also situations where I disagreed with reviews. But that’s obviously a whole lot more subjective matter. Not everyone can agree. I just wished however that there was in RPS a more critical eye towards indie games and not everything was hailed as brilliant just because it’s different or a novelty, but because it is actually a good and fun game. I often feel that I’m being pushed into liking something simply because it s hipster to like it.
Finally, very often the articles and news pieces overdo tongue-in-cheek language, to the point it becomes almost impossible to read by a non native speaker. Jokes sometimes also seem to fall into an insider joke pattern. Both things put together end up forcing me to just skim through the whole article hunting for any place where some real information is actually being given. It ends up becoming a hunt and peck reading experience. Not to my liking.
That said, there’s plenty to like at RPS. The wealth of news and comprehensive treatment to games, often having them being revisited time and time again, is the reason why I visit. Naturally humor too, when its not overdone. But above all, despite the several situations where I was left with a sour taste on my mouth, I think the balance is positive on what comes to the credibility of the website. And that’s the number one reason why I would visit.
09/05/2012 at 13:45 derbefrier says:
i think we found “that guy” :D
09/05/2012 at 14:44 Greggh says:
I there was a like button in the comment section… It would be even more filled with idiots than it already is – myself included.
But your comment, derbefrier, would’ve gotten a thumbs up from me :D
09/05/2012 at 15:06 Reefpirate says:
There’s plenty of counter-examples that came to my mind for your criticisms… The A Valley Without Wind article was a very good example of not all indie games being holy. Also that lengthy article doubting the whole ‘indie’ industry recently. Also, I don’t remember the last time FPS XCOM was featured, but there have been several great features about the more ‘pure’ Firaxis take on XCOM.
As for the tongue-in-cheekiness… Well, there’s no defence for that.
09/05/2012 at 16:08 Mario Figueiredo says:
Indeed. I do believe the balance is positive. But I find this the perfectly article to introduce my own criticism.
09/05/2012 at 13:18 MichaelPalin says:
Keep up the quality journalism, love you too.
09/05/2012 at 13:18 Maldomel says:
That’s like, a lot of people. And yet at the time I write this, there is barely more than 50 comments!
09/05/2012 at 13:20 McDan says:
Yeah, but don’t let it go to your heads! We still expect the same cut-rate journalism as there always has been. Wooooooooo RUPPUS. (that’s how I say it in my head).
09/05/2012 at 13:21 Lemming says:
“Except that guy. Sheesh.”
Yay I was included! \o/
09/05/2012 at 13:27 Fen_Mar says:
Yeah! PC gaming 4evaaaa!!1111
Seriously though. Its brilliant journalism; that’s why we keep reading.
09/05/2012 at 13:31 alexheretic says:
Yeah you guys are the best, at least that I’ve encountered.
But once the great backslap has ended, can RPS briefly turn its greatness toward some opinions on a released PC game or games. Like Risen 2, for example, I believe Quinns once asked: “Risen 2: Dark Waters! Will it be shit?”. So, was/is it?
09/05/2012 at 13:32 ninjapirate says:
Wow. I almost feel shy to post a comment, now that I know a potential 2.1 million people will read it…
09/05/2012 at 13:39 AbyssUK says:
I say its time for a new stupidest reader article… I can’t be the 3rd most stupid out of 2.1 million I JUST CAN’T *sob*
09/05/2012 at 13:39 Advanced Assault Hippo says:
There are too many visitors here now.
I used to be able to stand alone, leaning against walls inside pretentiously small coffee shops, wearing 60′s specs and a fake pipe in my mouth, mentioning to anyone passing that I frequented a unique corner of the internet called RPS. But these last couple of years, RPS hasn’t been the website that passes my lips any more.
09/05/2012 at 13:40 Lekker Pain says:
I read through the document. Where’s the Ad revenue section?
09/05/2012 at 13:45 Hoaxfish says:
Since I browse at home, and at work, on multiple machines and browsers… I think I probably count as at least 5 different people
09/05/2012 at 13:45 ninjapirate says:
Alexa offers some interesting information on the RPS website as well. I found some of the Regional Traffic Ranks quite unexpected: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/rockpapershotgun.com
09/05/2012 at 13:48 ninjapirate says:
Oh, and “Based on internet averages, rockpapershotgun.com is visited more frequently by males who are in the age range 18-24, have no children, have no college education and browse this site from school.”
Wot?
09/05/2012 at 14:09 Max.I.Candy says:
“aged 18-24, browse the site from school, no college education”………hmmmm
09/05/2012 at 14:20 TormDK says:
Looks like you guys scared them as this is what that site says now :
“Statistics Summary for rockpapershotgun.com
There are 8,891 sites with a better three-month global Alexa traffic rank than Rockpapershotgun.com. Roughly 58% of visits to the site are bounces (one pageview only). Relative to the overall population of internet users, the site’s audience tends to be Caucasian; they are also disproportionately childless men under the age of 35 who browse from school and home and have no postgraduate education. Visitors to Rockpapershotgun.com view an average of 2.4 unique pages per day. While about 29% of visitors to the site come from the US, where it is ranked #6,393, it is also popular in South Africa, where it is ranked #1,403.”
09/05/2012 at 15:33 theleif says:
Can someone explain to me how Alexa get that kind of data?
09/05/2012 at 16:07 zontax says:
disproportionately childless men.
;_;
09/05/2012 at 20:36 Lars Westergren says:
disproportionately childlike men.
09/05/2012 at 15:12 formivore says:
Haha, also the top search query is “lydia in skyrim dies.” Walker you cruel man.
09/05/2012 at 15:11 Reefpirate says:
Who is this Alexa? And why is she such a buzz-kill?
09/05/2012 at 13:47 Kadayi says:
Well done, but such a tease Jim, such a tease.
09/05/2012 at 14:12 Greggh says:
09/05/2012 at 14:43 Winzzy says:
I don’t feel the need to register and comment very often but felt like I would this time.
Wanted to say you guys are doing great and have become my preferred video game news site. I like that the gaming news is not diluted by other non related articles (I’m looking at you Kotaku!) and the writing is fun to read with a perfect mix of humor and reporting. I also enjoy that it seems the article count is lower with higher quality articles as opposed to many trivial ones.
Wishing you all even more success.
09/05/2012 at 15:14 Stellar Duck says:
That reminds me. I absolutely love that RPS doesn’t run those damn cos play features that every other supposed gaming site does.
Keep up not doing it chaps!
09/05/2012 at 14:51 BathroomCitizen says:
RPS! RPS! RPS!
09/05/2012 at 14:53 puppybeard says:
My fucking pleasure.
In case you’re curious, Notch sent me here last year and I’ve been a regular since.
Net effect: I’m starting to feel more and more that if you like your games to be exciting and new, you simply must have a pc. Which I do, which is nice.
Pun threads in the comments also get me excited.
09/05/2012 at 14:58 MD says:
My only regret… is that I have… boneitis.
*dies unloved by RPS*
09/05/2012 at 15:59 Dan Lowe says:
Best video game site on the internet, for sure.
09/05/2012 at 16:20 phenom_x8 says:
Wow, what an achievement!
Sadly, many of my local fellow PC gamer refuse my commendation to read your site due to lack of score in your review (so, they often pointing to gamestop or IGn score to show how great the game we discussed). Mind that, guys. English are not our native language, so that understandable.
09/05/2012 at 16:49 Brian Rubin says:
As an SEO professional, I both take umbrage and applaud you. Good, white hat SEO isn’t a trick of any sort, but a series of best practices to improve a website for the experience of the user through better navigational elements, better URL structure, better/more content and so on. Making a website more valuable is the ultimate goal of good SEO.
On the other hand, you’ve validated what I’ve been telling clients for years. If you write, good, meaningful, valuable and authoritative content — as you guys do with aplomb — then that will naturally bring people to your site because it’s a GOOD, valuable site. If you give people a compelling reason to visit your site and share your content, you’ll gain links, ranking and prominence naturally.
Anyway, congratulations to you guys, you deserve it. Love the site, and hope to keep reading it for a very long time.
09/05/2012 at 16:53 Odeon says:
GG RPS. GG.
If I read only one gaming site on the Internet (which I do), I read Rock, Paper, Shotgun! I might read other sites if I had more time for such readings, but I feel that RPS covers pretty much everything I’m interested in. Plus it’s gotten me interested in more things than I ever used to be interested in, which is a good thing. Might even be the whole point of the site!
Cheers for the work/fun and keep it up. 8-)
09/05/2012 at 17:59 Raziel_Alex says:
Cheers.
09/05/2012 at 18:00 Inglourious Badger says:
Congratulations! Approximately one of those people was me, I feel so proud.
But what we really want to know is how many Scotch Eggs were consumed?
09/05/2012 at 19:16 Diotisalvi says:
I was here, in 1873.
09/05/2012 at 19:35 equatorian says:
Came here for the taste and the niche games nobody wrote about anymore, stayed for the coolness.
I guess this is the story of how we accidentally DDOSed Obsidian’s servers way back in February, huh?
09/05/2012 at 20:29 Sidewinder says:
Well, I for one am most displeased. How are we an atrocity? Wouldn’t 2.1 million browsers be a GOOD thing, or have you secretly joined a cult that feels bandwidth is sacred and must never be used?
Or are you simply mistaking ‘enormity’ for ‘enormousness’?
09/05/2012 at 21:21 Iliya Moroumetz says:
Recently discovered RPS and it was by accident. I thought I had made a mistake in the google search, but it brought me here and here I am.
I’ve been enjoying the site quite a bit. Whatever you gentlemen are doing, please, continue.
09/05/2012 at 22:11 theleif says:
I was browsing through your archive and I realised I’ve been following you since 5 days after your first article.
The piece Kieron wrote about UFO:Extraterrestrials is most probably the first thing I read here. Those where the days when John Walker was both stupid and wrong (his words), and an article about steam only had 1(!) comment.
Daym
Anyway, thank you.
09/05/2012 at 22:21 nootron says:
How do you average 117k per day but only get 2m in a month? Also, I notice you use Google Analytics tracker. How do the ABC audit numbers compare with what GA tells you?
At any rate, congratulations and cheers!
10/05/2012 at 09:59 Thermal Ions says:
Because, the 117K is the average of each individual day’s count of unique browsers. The 2.1M is the unique browsers measured across a whole month, thus a given browser is only measured once during the month even if visiting multiple times during the month. It’s not a sum of each day’s count of unique browser figures as this would be duplicating browsers which visited on multiple days during the month.
This tells me that there are likely somewhere in the vicinity of 50K of regular daily visitors, with the remaining 67K daily average made up of those who visit only once or twice in the month.*
* There’s of course those that visit with some regularity in the middle (e.g. weekly) but you start getting into all sorts of permutations and maths that’s far to complicated for this time of night. I guess it may decrease the 50K down closer to 45K, but I’ve not doen the maths properly.
Those sort of figures actually surprise me, as I thought there’d be far more regular visitors, with the numbers coming from search results or linked from other blogs being the lesser figure each day. I’m also surprised at how consistent the daily figure is given this (apart from one day there’s not a huge number of peaks and troughs).
09/05/2012 at 22:59 Museli says:
The best game reviews on the internet, excellent coverage of indie games, humour that tickles me in all the right places, a general sense of integrity that’s rare to find online or off…RPS is the greatest website ever.
*hugs*
09/05/2012 at 23:07 Hydrogene says:
On the same day, I learn that RPS is enormously successful, and Quinns is back!
This is a good day!
Thank you RPS for all the top notch (not this one, sheesh!) game journalism. You guys are the best in business!
09/05/2012 at 23:43 Jengaman says:
And I thought pc gaming was dead….
10/05/2012 at 11:30 SwiftRanger says:
And you would have had more if you reported about Company of Heroes 2.
10/05/2012 at 11:31 smndrk says:
Well, I am not surprised honestly.
High quality articles, garnished with some great humor and a bit of personal opinion…
I love reading your stuff guys! RPS forever!
11/05/2012 at 11:40 davonaytor says:
I just want you guys to know, I totally disable ad block for rps.