Path of Exile 2's early access launch has been delayed by three weeks as developer Grinding Gear Games perfects some infrastructure work to ensure a smooth release, with its new launch date set for December 6.
Back in August, during Gamescom 2024, it was announced that Path of Exile 2's early access would begin on November 15, but now, with little over two weeks to go until that target, game director Jonathan Rogers has released a video to explain why the team has pushed things back. "It turns out it isn't really the game itself that we're behind on, it's a bunch of server-side infrastructure work that has taken us a lot longer than we expected," the director begins.
Rogers explains that one of the "key promises" made to fans was that their microtransactions would work across both Path of Exile 2 and its predecessor, but to enable that, the team has to integrate the account systems from the two action RPGs and their console realms. This has meant creating "a bunch of new systems" and ensuring that all of the existing data is compatible, which has seen a whole load of problems emerge, with the team finding that, somehow, some accounts have the same names, emails, or even Steam IDs.
In order to ensure a smooth launch, Path of Exile 2's Early Access will be delayed for 3 weeks. The new date is December 6th PST. Statement from Game Director Jonathan Rogers below. pic.twitter.com/Bk8Ti8u94dOctober 29, 2024
On top of making sure no one ends up with a broken account, the devs are doing a lot of load testing "to make sure that the whole thing doesn't fall over with the huge number of players that we're expecting at launch." These are obviously all huge potential problems, so you can understand the team taking extra caution around them.
"I actually believe that we could possibly have made the original launch date, but I'm no longer confident we could do it without making mistakes, and these are the kind of mistakes that we just can't let happen," Rogers continues. "So with that in mind, we've decided to delay. Now, this one's totally on me – I just didn't leave enough time to make sure we could get it done, and I'm really sorry, this one really hurts."
In the meantime, fans can look forward to a livestream in around four weeks that will detail all of the content available in early access. "I'm really looking forward to telling you about the endgame content that the team has been working hard on," Rogers adds.
