Epic Weekend Debut for PoE2, Marvel Rivals Stuns Gaming Community

Path of Exile 2 and Marvel Rivals ignited the gaming world with incredibly successful launch weekends. Let's delve into the impressive player numbers achieved.

A Half-Million Strong Player Base

A Weekend of Record-Breaking Launches

The weekend saw the simultaneous launch of two highly anticipated titles: Marvel Rivals and Path of Exile 2. Each game attracted an astonishing 500,000 players on their respective launch days. Marvel Rivals, a free-to-play team-based PVP arena shooter, debuted on December 6th, followed by Path of Exile 2's Early Access release on December 7th.

Path of Exile 2's Early Access launch on Steam alone peaked at 578,569 concurrent players—a remarkable achievement for a paid Early Access title. The game's popularity was further evident on Twitch, where the Path of Exile 2 category boasted over 1 million viewers on launch day. The sheer volume of players even temporarily overwhelmed SteamDB, the database tracking Steam statistics, leading to a humorous acknowledgement from SteamDB themselves.

Prior to launch, Path of Exile 2 had already surpassed 1 million pre-orders, a number that rapidly escalated in the hours leading up to release. This unprecedented surge in players purchasing Early Access prompted a last-minute database upgrade by the development team to handle the influx of traffic. Despite this expansion, some players experienced login issues and disconnections, highlighting the immense anticipation surrounding the game's release.

Read Game8's review of Path of Exile 2's Early Access build!