‘I’m Really Sorry for How This Went Down’ — Work on Path of Exile 1 3.26 on Hold Until Path of Exile 2 0.2.0 Has Shipped, Dev Says

The developer of the Path of Exile games has apologized to fans of the first game after putting a new update on hold until a crucial update for Path of Exile 2 is out the door.

Grinding Gear Games had promised fans that it would continue to update action RPG Path of Exile 1, which has been running for over 10 years now, through the release of Path of Exile 2 in early access and beyond.

However, Path of Exile 1’s 3.26 update, which was originally planned for release late October before the Path of Exile 2 launch, then planned for mid-February this year, is now delayed further, with all hands on deck sorting out Path of Exile 2’s problems. Path of Exile 1’s last league release was Settlers of Kalguur in July 2024.

In a video message, Path of Exile 2 game director and GGG co-founder Jonathan Rogers explained that the studio brought the Path of Exile 1 team across to help get Path of Exile 2’s endgame into shape ahead of the December launch, but thought that they would be able to return to get 3.26 ready for its mid-February launch.

It turned out that was impossible, given the myriad problems Path of Exile 2 has. “We were fooling ourselves,” Rogers admitted. Not only was Path of Exile 2 itself delayed a few weeks, but it suffered from crashes and balance problems that needed to be addressed immediately.

“How could I justify taking some of the most experienced developers we have off PoE2 when it’s on fire?” Rogers said.

The upshot is the Path of Exile 1 team is still working on Path of Exile 2, and will continue until Path of Exile 2 0.2.0 has shipped and probably a couple of weeks after that. “Unfortunately, I just can’t promise a date right now,” Rogers added. Path of Exile 2 is currently at 0.1.1.

“I’m really sorry for how this went down,” he continued. “Honestly, I should have predicted the fact that taking the Path of Exile 1 team off Path of Exile 1 would lead to this outcome, and I probably should have resisted doing it. But at every stage I just kept thinking, we still have time, we still have time. And then we didn’t have time any more.

“We still have a lot to learn about how to run two games simultaneously. We were overconfident. We still need to work out how to structure our studio to make this possible. But we do have a solid plan for what we want to do with 3.26.”

The long wait for the Path of Exile 2 early access launch finally came to an end when it released on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on December 6, 2024. It saw massive success, securing its place as the 15th most-played game Steam game ever.

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 wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.