Despite stiff competition from some other major titles, the early access release of Path of Exile 2 has blown fans away and racked up hundreds of thousands of players on Steam, including some developers of its ARPG siblings at Blizzard.
Just before its successful launch, Diablo 4 GM Rod Fergusson took to Twitter to congratulate PoE 2 developer Grinder Gear Games on the launch, expressing how excited he was to launch himself. “Before the madness of launch day tomorrow, I just wanted to say 'Congratulations!' “GGG for their early access release of Path of Exile 2. My pre-download is complete and I can't wait to play over the holidays!” he tweeted.
Before the madness of launch day tomorrow, I just wanted to say “Congratulations!” To GGG for the early access release of Path of Exile 2! My pre-download has finished and I hope to play over the holidays. Now to decide which class to play… December 5, 2024
Insanity was certainly the right word for the release of PoE 2, as over a million players attempted to access the servers, resulting in some players having to queue for several hours to get in, a level of popularity that The developers themselves certainly did not expect. In fact, several days after its release, PoE 2 currently sits comfortably as the third most popular game on Steam according to SteamDB, behind only the ever-present Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2.
It's a tremendous achievement for GGG, as the sequel has already managed to double the original game's maximum player count, and it's especially impressive considering that players currently have to pay to play the game in its current state; imagine how high those numbers would be. It would be if I were free to play from the beginning.
Fergusson rounded out his message to the developers by adding a sentiment that is sure to echo throughout the ARPG player base for weeks to come: “Now, let's decide which class to play…” You and the two of us, Rod.
If you're not ready to jump into Path of Exile 2 yet, why not check out some of the best role playing games available right now?