Path of Exile is Enjoying Another Huge Player Count Spike

Highlights

• Path of Exile’s latest update, Settlers of Kalguur, is drawing in a record number of players on Steam.
• The update introduces a city-building mechanic, enhances melee combat skills, and introduces several improvements for a fresh gaming experience.
• Anticipation for Path of Exile 2 remains high, despite a delay in the beta launch and tough competition from Diablo 4.

Path of Exile is experiencing a significant surge in player numbers on Steam, thanks to its latest update, Settlers of Kalguur. This latest expansion brings one of the most significant overhauls in the history of Grinding Gear Games’ decade-old free-to-play action RPG Path of Exile, renowned for its substantial seasonal updates.

Launched on July 26, Path of Exile‘s 3.25 update brought extensive content and changes with the Settlers of Kalguur challenge league. This update introduces a new city-building mechanic where players gather resources and manage workers to develop the city of Kingsmarch. The melee combat system received significant overhauls, with major damage increases to nearly every melee skill and enhancements to defensive options like block passives and Life Leech. The Raider class was replaced by the Warden, focusing on elemental attacks, while the Gladiator class was reworked to emphasize dual-wielding weapon combinations. Quality-of-life improvements include automatic unlocking of waypoints, easier item pickup, and auto-refreshing of reservation effects upon death.

Before the release of this update, Path of Exile‘s highest concurrent player count on Steam was 211,637 users, achieved during the Crucible league in April 2023. However, with the release of Settlers of Kalguur, this number saw a substantial increase, reaching a new peak of 229,337 players, according to SteamDB. This remarkable surge highlights the growing enthusiasm among the player base for the new content and mechanics introduced in the 3.25 update. It’s important to recognize that these figures only reflect the Steam player base and do not encompass the entire Path of Exile community. A significant number of long-time players prefer to use Grinding Gear Games’ standalone launcher, meaning the actual number of active players is likely to be even higher.

Path of Exile’s Highest Concurrent Player Count on Steam

This update seems to be a welcome development for fans eagerly awaiting Path of Exile 2, which was first unveiled at ExileCon 2019. Originally scheduled to commence on June 7, 2024, the Path of Exile 2 beta has been delayed and is now expected to launch later in the year. The increased player engagement suggests that the community’s anticipation for new content remains high, and the upcoming beta is likely to draw even more attention and participation.

However, Path of Exile 2 may face tough competition from Diablo 4, whose Vessel of Hatred expansion is slated for release in October 2024. As Diablo 4 currently leads the top-down ARPG genre, it will be interesting to see how Path of Exile 2 performs against this strong rival.