Path of Exile 2 and Marvel Rivals ignited the gaming world with spectacularly successful weekend launches. Discover the details of these remarkable achievements!
A Half-Million Strong Player Base
A Weekend of Record-Breaking Launches
The weekend witnessed the triumphant debuts of two highly anticipated games, each attracting an impressive 500,000 players on their respective launch days. Marvel Rivals, a free-to-play team-based PVP arena shooter, opened its doors on December 6th. Path of Exile 2, an action RPG, followed closely, launching in Early Access on December 7th.
Path of Exile 2's Early Access launch was a resounding success, peaking at 578,569 concurrent players on Steam alone. This is a significant achievement, especially considering its paid Early Access status. Twitch viewership for the game exceeded 1 million on launch day. The game's immense popularity even temporarily overwhelmed SteamDB, the database site tracking Steam statistics, leading to a humorous public acknowledgment from SteamDB itself.
Even before its release, Path of Exile 2 had already surpassed 1 million pre-orders, a number that rapidly increased in the hours leading up to launch. The unexpected influx of players purchasing Early Access caused the development team to implement a last-minute database upgrade to handle the massive traffic. Despite this expansion, some players experienced disconnections and login issues, highlighting the game's incredible anticipation and demand.
Read Game8's review of Path of Exile 2's Early Access version!
