Marvelous Weekend Launch Ignites Gaming with PoE2 and Rivals

Path of Exile 2 and Marvel Rivals ignited the gaming world with spectacularly successful launch weekends. Discover the impressive milestones achieved by these two titles.

A Half-Million Strong Player Base

A Weekend of Record-Breaking Launches

The weekend saw the highly anticipated releases of Path of Exile 2 and Marvel Rivals, each boasting an incredible 500,000 players on their launch days. Marvel Rivals, a free-to-play team-based PVP arena shooter, launched 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 a remarkable 578,569 concurrent players. This is a significant achievement, especially considering the paid Early Access model. Twitch viewership for the game also soared, exceeding 1 million viewers on launch day. The game's immense popularity even temporarily overwhelmed SteamDB, the popular database site, resulting in a humorous acknowledgment from SteamDB itself.

Pre-orders for Path of Exile 2 exceeded 1 million before launch, a number that continued to climb rapidly in the hours leading up to the release. The overwhelming influx of players purchasing Early Access passes necessitated a last-minute database upgrade to handle the massive traffic. Despite these server expansions, players experienced some temporary disconnections and login issues, highlighting the game's highly anticipated nature and the sheer number of players eager to join.

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