The number of players on Path of Exile’s Steam platform has increased by roughly 10 times since the release of Crucible, the latest installment in the action RPG game’s continuing narrative. Path of Exile Crucible has a lot to adore, including the brand-new Crystalline Geodes, updated Atlas Trees, Breach Stones, and Abyssal Depths, among many other things. But you don’t have to take it from me; the number of players that are now playing the game speaks for itself.
On April 7, the PC release date for Crucible, Path of Exile’s Steam stats increased tenfold (or nine-and-a-half-fold), surging from 23,324 at 9am PST / 12pm EST / 5pm BST / 6pm CEST to 211,637 when Crucible launched. While the hype has died down a little, the stats sit at 96,189 at the time of writing, over four times April’s base peak.
The game also hit a new record for concurrent players, dwarfing their original stats of 50,000 with an impressive 321,180 concurrents. As I said before, even with the hype dying off the stats are still up on the original record by 46,189 – not bad at all.
A SteamDB graph showing the player count for Path of Exile in April 2023
Path of Exile has struggled to really compete with Diablo over the years – after all, Blizzard’s saga of strife is the father of the ARPG genre. With the Diablo 4 release date on the horizon and the beta over and done with, Grinding Gear’s timed Crucible’s release perfectly. It scratches that Diablo 4 itch post-beta weekend, and is the fresh new life PoE needed.
Those Diablo 4 beta withdrawals have hit pretty hard, huh? I can relate, but equally Grinding Gear has knocked it out of the park with Crucible, so its success is the perfect mix of good timing and awesome new content.
If you’ve been inspired to dive into Crucible, we have a list of all of the Path of Exile Crucible Gems that accompanied PoE patch 3.21 so that you can get to grips with all of the new systems. If you’ve already taken Crucible for a spin, we also have a list of the best games like Diablo to keep you busy, as well as a rundown of the best free PC games if you’re looking for something new.