Path of Exile 2 players are finally getting into the game: 'What we are doing right now is letting in players in batches so that we can make sure to monitor the backend and not overload it'

A Path of Exile 2 sorceress wearing robes and conjuring hourglasses with her hands on a purple and blue background

(Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

Recent updates

Update 2, 5:10 pm ET: It looks like progress is being made, as players are finally starting to get into the game. "For those still in queue, what we are doing right now is letting in players in batches so that we can make sure to monitor the backend and not overload it," Grinding Gear Games said in a message posted to X. "Thanks once again for your patience and hopefully it won't be too much longer." The concurrent player count on Steam now stands at just under 460,000.

For those still in queue, what we are doing right now is letting in players in batches so that we can make sure to monitor the backend and not overload it. Thanks once again for your patience and hopefully it won't be too much longer. — (Image credit: Grinding Gear Games (Twitter))

Recent updates

Update: At around 4:25 pm ET, two and a half hours after Path of Exile 2 was set to go live, Grinding Gear is still struggling to make it work. In its most recent update, the studio said it's encountered a new problem with its database and is working on another fix. More updates will follow as they become available.

We've run into the same symptom again with a different problem. We are working on fixing it again but regrettably every time this happens we have to restart and wipe the databases to prevent them getting into bad or corrupted states. We'll have a fix out as soon as we can! Thank you once again and more updates will follow as we learn more. — (Image credit: Grinding Gear Games (Twitter))

Original story:

Grinding Gear Games warned us that Path of Exile 2's early access launch might be rocky. The developer hadn't expected more than a million players, but pre-sales of the action RPG surpassed that.

"There are probably going to be some queues during the launch weekend," said game director Jonathan Rogers. "Before the launch, when we were ordering [server] capacity, we really didn’t expect to have more than a million people online at the same time."

Sure enough, within 30 minutes of Path of Exile 2 going live, the concurrent player count on Steam exploded to more than 286,000. But everyone's stuck staring at the login screen while Grinding Gear Games works on updates to the backend.

Path of Exiles 2 concurrent user graph on SteamDB — (Image credit: SteamDB)

Grinding Gear Games said on X just ahead of the launch that it was "doing some last minute database upgrades to try help handle the overwhelming amount of Exiles getting ready to LOGIN to Path of Exile 2." It also warned that there may be a "short delay" in servers going live. And so it seems to be.

The original Path of Exile is a popular game, but those of us who've been able to play its sequel early have been so impressed that we're expecting more than just existing PoE players to flock to it, the crowd of new and old ARPG players who've been invested in Diablo 4 for the past couple years being the game's prime target. It's also drawing comparisons to FromSoftware games, which might extend its reach even further: "I hate the cliche, but Path of Exile 2 really is the Dark Souls of isometric dungeon crawlers," Fraser wrote.

Lest there be any doubt about the level of interest, there are also currently more than one million people watching Path of Exile 2 streams on Twitch.

Grinding Gear Games said in its most recent update on X that it has now deployed the new database configuration, and estimates that access will be available within the next half-hour. We'll keep an eye on things and let you know when things start to get better.

We're still working on deploying the database improvements and will keep you updated as soon as we know more. The moment we can provide a precise timeline we will. Thank you very much for your patience. We've deployed the new database configuration and are working on getting everything back up and running. Our current time estimates should have access opening within the next half hour. Thanks again for your support, we'll continue to provide updates as they come. — (Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.