Path of Exile 2 is Already One of the Most Popular Steam Games Ever

Path of Exile 2 has already cracked Steam’s top 15 for most concurrent players at any one time, registering more than half a million players in only its second day. Despite a very rocky early access launch, Path of Exile 2 is proving incredibly popular, surpassing beloved games like Call of Duty and Fallout 4 and becoming only the 16th game in Steam’s history to pass the half-million mark.

After a slight delay from its original November date, Path of Exile 2 held its early access launch on December 6. Though not the full launch of the complete game, the early access version still boasts a three-act campaign, a deeply intuitive character customization system, and six classes for players to choose from as they seek out epic loot.

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According to data gathered from SteamDB, the action-RPG had a concurrent player count of 538,027 players at 8 p.m. UTC on December 7. That places the action RPG in the 15th spot among the games with the highest-ever concurrent player counts on Steam, wedging it right in between battle royale hero shooter Apex Legends and survival crafting game Valheim, with the possibility that it could climb even higher in the rankings. The success isn’t totally unexpected, as some had been anticipating serious queues for Path of Exile 2 based on early reports of more than 1 million early access redemptions.

All-Time Highest Steam Peak Player Counts

• PUBG: Battlegrounds – 3,257,248
• Black Myth: Wukong – 2,415,714
• Palworld – 2,101,867
• Counter-Strike 2 -1,818,773
• Lost Ark – 1,325,305
• Dota 2 – 1,295,114
• Cyberpunk 2077 – 1,054,388
• Elden Ring – 953,426
• Banana – 917,272
• New World: Aeternum – 913,634
• Hogwarts Legacy – 879,308
• Baldur’s Gate 3 – 875,343
• Goose Goose Duck – 702,845
• Apex Legends – 624,473
• Path of Exile 2 – 538,027

What’s remarkable about the action-RPG’s success story is that it’s seeing such high player numbers despite Path of Exile 2‘s rough launch on Steam. Although it’s generating very positive fan reviews, with 82 percent of the more than 13,000 players who have weighed in giving it their approval, the early access launch was bogged down by a series of technical issues. Many of these issues may actually be tied to the game’s unexpected popularity, as the development team at Grinding Gear’s official early access launch live updates made note of the “overwhelming amount of Exiles” flooding and, consequently, crashing the game’s servers. The development team has been monitoring the situation and approving login attempts in batches to try to curtail the issues, but they don’t seem to be driving away too many players.

While its player count numbers are already impressive, the game’s popularity is likely to only go up once its full release arrives. The features in Path of Exile 2‘s full version will double both the length of its campaign and the number of playable classes available, with 12 different classes and the full story planned for six acts, along with more areas, monsters, and bosses. Additionally, while the early access version costs between $30 and $100 to access, with three different supporter packs available, the game is likely to bump up its player numbers with the planned free-to-play nature of its full release. There is no set date for the game’s full release, but the development team expects the early access period to last six months at a minimum.

Path of Exile 2 is a next generation free-to-play Action RPG created by Grinding Gear Games. Journey across the deadly continent of Wraeclast, meeting multiple immersive cultures while facing off against evil in many forms. Path of Exile 2 features twelve character classes, 240 Skill Gems, hundreds of equipment base types, a six-act campaign, more than a hundred unique boss fights, a deep endgame system and so much more. Play with your friends without losing any progress with couch co-op, cross-play and cross-progression.

Franchise

Path of Exile

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer , Online Co-Op

Engine

Proprietary Engine

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Nudity, Violence

Early Access Release

December 6, 2024

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