Path of Exile 2 Enjoys Massive Launch, Becomes 15th Most-Played Game Ever on Steam

Path of Exile 2 looks like a smash hit for developer Grinding Gear Games, with over half a million concurrent players on Steam alone.

Path of Exile 2 is GGG’s action role-playing sequel set years after the original game. Players return to the world of Wraeclast and seek to end a spreading corruption, with six character classes, each with two Ascendancy Classes, available to play at the launch of Early Access. There’s co-op for up to six players, but you can play solo.

It launched across PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on December 6 and immediately ran into server issues that prevented players from logging in. GGG had warned players that Path of Exile 2 might struggle with the influx of players at launch, and so it proved. But over the course of Friday and into the weekend, the New Zealand developer began to get on top of the problems, and its concurrent player count on Steam shot up.

Concurrent players peaked on Valve’s platform at a huge 578,569, which put Path of Exile 2 straight into Steam’s top five most-played games. In terms of all-time peak concurrents on Valve’s platform, Path of Exile 2 is in 15th place, ahead of the likes of Valheim, Call of Duty, and Terraria. Microsoft and Sony do not make Xbox and PlayStation player numbers public, so Path of Exile 2’s true concurrent player peak will be even higher, potentially hitting that million mark GGG had flagged would perhaps cause problems.

Path of Exile 2 has a ‘very positive’ user review rating on Steam, with 82% of the 26,800 reviews flagged as positive. It’s also the top-selling game on Steam by revenue, ahead of NetEase’s superhero PvP shooter Marvel Rivals. IGN’s Path of Exile 2 Early Access review returned an 8/10. We said: “Path of Exile 2’s redefined action and surprisingly fleshed-out endgame have gotten this sequel off to an exciting start, even in its predictably rocky early access state.”

Here’s which class to pick in PoE 2 Early Access, plus an early Mercenary build guide and Sorceress build guide to help you get started. Beyond that, if you’re wondering how to get more Spirit, how to trade, and how to ascend, we’ve got you covered.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].