Marvel and PoE2 Ignite Gaming with Blockbuster Debut

Path of Exile 2 and Marvel Rivals ignited the gaming world with incredibly successful launch weekends, each boasting over 500,000 players. Discover the details of these remarkable achievements!

A Weekend of Record-Breaking Player Counts

The weekend saw a double dose of gaming success with both Path of Exile 2 and Marvel Rivals welcoming a massive 500,000 players each on their respective 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 Triumph

Path of Exile 2's Early Access launch was nothing short of spectacular, reaching a peak of 578,569 concurrent players on Steam alone. This is a significant achievement, especially considering the game's paid Early Access status. Twitch viewership for the game also soared, exceeding 1 million viewers on launch day. The game's immense popularity even temporarily overwhelmed SteamDB, the database tracking Steam statistics, leading to a humorous acknowledgment from SteamDB itself.

Pre-launch sales surpassed 1 million, with that number rapidly climbing in the hours before launch. This unprecedented demand forced the developers to implement a last-minute database upgrade to handle the influx of players. Despite this proactive measure, some players experienced login issues and disconnections due to server strain, highlighting the game's highly anticipated nature.

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