PoE2 and Marvel Rivals Launch Weekend Ignites Gaming World

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

A Half-Million Strong Player Base

A Weekend of Record-Breaking Launches

The weekend saw the triumphant launches of two highly anticipated games, each attracting a remarkable 500,000 players on their respective launch days. Marvel Rivals, a free-to-play team-based PVP arena shooter, debuted on December 6th. Path of Exile 2, an action RPG, followed closely, entering Early Access on December 7th.

Path of Exile 2's Early Access launch was exceptionally strong, reaching a peak of 578,569 concurrent players on Steam alone. This is a noteworthy achievement, especially considering the paid Early Access model. The game's launch also generated significant Twitch viewership, exceeding 1 million concurrent viewers on launch day. The overwhelming popularity even briefly overwhelmed SteamDB, the database tracking Steam statistics, leading to a humorous public acknowledgment from SteamDB itself.

Prior to its release, Path of Exile 2 had already surpassed 1 million pre-orders, a number that rapidly climbed in the hours leading up to launch. The massive influx of players purchasing Early Access caused the development team to implement a last-minute database upgrade to handle the unprecedented demand. Despite this upgrade, some players experienced disconnections and login issues, resulting in lengthy queues. This high demand underscores the immense anticipation surrounding the game's release.

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