Path of Exile Playerbase Grows 40% After Update

Following the release of its latest content update earlier this month, Path of Exile has seen a 40 percent increase in players so far this year.

First released in 2013 by New Zealand based studio Grinding Gear Games, Path of Exile has seen consistent updates and a constantly growing playerbase. Path of Exile currently has 13 million players with a peak concurrent count of 112,800 achieved on March 3. Roughly 65,000 of those concurrent players were on Steam, making Path of Exile the third most popular game on the platform that day -- surpassed only by Valve's own mega hits Dota 2 and Counter Strike Global Offensive.

Path of Exile offers visuals and a play style much more in line with Diablo 2 than its official sequel, Diablo 3. While Blizzard took the casual approach with Diablo 3, Path of Exile stuck with the complexity and challenge of its predecessor. The game allows players to craft unique characters using a massive skill tree and hundreds of spells and abilities. There's also no easy fix to respeccing poorly planned characters, forcing players to constantly create new ones to try new builds. This traditional approach to the ARPG genre in a free to play package has garnered Path of Exile a loyal fanbase. Despite being 4 years old, it has never been bigger.

Even greater things lie ahead in Path of Exile's future with a massive new expansion titled The Fall of Oriath scheduled for release later this year. The new expansion will add 6 new 'Acts' to the game's existing 4 while eliminating the need to repeat Acts in additional difficulty settings.