Path of Exile 2 and Marvel Rivals ignited the gaming world with exceptionally successful launch weekends. Discover the remarkable achievements below!
A Half-Million Strong Player Base
A Weekend of Record-Breaking Launches
The weekend saw two monumental game releases, each boasting an impressive 500,000 concurrent players on launch day. Marvel Rivals, a free-to-play team-based PVP arena shooter, launched on December 6th. Path of Exile 2, an action RPG, followed in Early Access on December 7th.
Path of Exile 2's Early Access launch on Steam alone peaked at a staggering 578,569 concurrent players. This is a remarkable achievement for a paid Early Access title. 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 acknowledgment from SteamDB itself.
Prior to launch, Path of Exile 2 had already surpassed 1 million pre-orders, a number that rapidly climbed in the hours leading up to release. The overwhelming influx of players purchasing Early Access prompted a last-minute database upgrade by the development team. Despite this, players experienced some initial server issues, including disconnections and login queues, a testament to the game's high anticipation.
Read Game8's review of Path of Exile 2's Early Access build!
