"papers, please" was positively received on its release, and it has come to be seen as an example of an empathy game and a demonstration of video games as an art form. the game was recognized with various awards and nominations from the independent games festival, game developers choice awards, and bafta video games awards, and was named by "wired" and "the new yorker" as one of the top games of 2013. pope reported that by 2016, more than 1.8 million copies of the title had been sold.