After the huge success of Diablo 4, some of those players would finish the game’s campaign or get bored with its systems, so there’s no better time than Path of Exile 2 to do so.
The Competition Between Blizzard And Grinding Gear Games
Developers at Blizzard and Grinding Gear Games have always been at odds. With the latter being the beneficiary of the former’s incredible size, and surprising capacity to Fumble both their products and communities. In particular, the relationship is so tight and competitive due to the initial uncanny resemblance between Blizzard’s Diablo series and GGG’s only game, Path of Exile.
This is only more true now that Diablo 4 has been revealed. Blizzard, on the other hand, refuses to fully recognise the sizable, devoted community and captivating gameplay of POE 3.22, while Chris Wilson and company aren’t scared to make fun of Blizzard and Diablo 4, even though they are currently their biggest rivals.
We, the community, and GGG, the developers, can only gain from Diablo 4’s enormous presence and likely success. Let’s examine why Path of Exile and its largest planned expansion in history will benefit from Diablo 4’s success, particularly in the early going. The Original King Of ARPGs
Diablo is the progenitor of action role-playing games, in Diablo 1, Blizzard engineered the basic Loop of kill monsters get loot, increase power, go again. In POE, you also have many ways to get POE Currency. Then, with the release of Diablo 2 and its expansion, Lord of Destruction, they got a lot of people around the gaming world excited. This included the three founders of Grinding Gear Games, Chris Wilson, Jonathan Rogers and Erik Olofsson, who built their company to create the definitive spiritual successor to Diablo 2. that game became Path of Exile. While it’s definitely similar to Diablo 2 in many ways, it has evolved into a realm of its own over the past decade, and completely split from Diablo 2’s actual successor, Diablo 3.
What D4 Had Accomplished?
Blizzard’s latest release Diablo 4 might be an ARPG, but it’s not looking to swallow POE whole, instead it’s aiming to amass a new following. Bringing swaths of new players to ARPG genre while lightly appealing to the core values of ARPG veterans.
Diablo 4 will be simpler than Path of Exile, especially at launch, this simplicity has led to great commercial success. Diablo 4’s two betas in March 2023, witnessed historic player numbers. With 2.6 million players hitting level 20 and earning the special wolf backpack cosmetic, the game is sending to the number one spot on Twitch and playtime attaining over 61.5 million hours, that’s stupefying. As it currently Diablo 4 reached a massive milestone in success, passing $666 million in just a few days.
Players Will Be Hungry For More Depth
Developers of Path of Exile do have proved the steadiness and substantiveness of their own content machine many times over. They know know their game is deeper, richer and some folks who are introduced to ARPGs through Diablo 4 will be hungry for more.
Because of past events, they knew that a large number of refugees was coming. For a concrete example, we can zip back to the distant past with the disappointment and Diablo 3’s Endgame, and the flocking to the in beta Path of Exile or we can swiftly Glimpse at a much more recent incident. And the season series of Diablo 4 will also be officially launched this week.
As already mentioned, numerous folks participated and even more people consumed Diablo 4 content, they were primed for ARPGs. But Diablo 4 was unavailable, so what did these voracious individuals do they looked for other options. Many discovered three Diablo 3 was in the midst of its 28th and final new content season, last Epoch was growing closer to the end of its beta and receiving praise from a sizable chunk of content creators, and ARPG fans and Path of Exile released its expansion Crucible on April 7th 2023, people swarmed to it.
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Also Read: Where Does POE 2 Differ From The POE 1 Campaign?
Diablo 4 Bump For POE
Despite adding a minimalist League mechanic, Crucible League set a new concurrent Player record for Path of Exile, on its launch day. 321180 Exiles washed up on the Twilight strand to fight hillock, not only that one week in Crucible League had more day 7 concurrent players than any other Path of Exile league in history. Edging just over 124 000 concurrents, of course, Path of Exile as a core game was and is in its best state ever. But this wasn’t normal this was the Diablo 4 bump. People played Diablo 4 couldn’t anymore, and sought to scratch ARPG itch as soon as possible. This influx of players will not be the last, Blizzard can reach a much wider audience with their games.
Blizzard’s Long Reach
They have the budget and the Diablo name behind them, their marketing campaign alone for Diablo 4 must have caught lost Millions. Between huge ad buys on every social media channel available, Partnerships with KFC and actual gaming companies, deals with content creators of all sizes and much more. People brought in by this campaign, Word of Mouth from friends or just because they played Diablo 2 in 2001 and are curious about Diablo 4, will not all stay with Diablo. Briefly after its launch, or the many seasons it will likely boast, they’ll look for other similar games either out of curiosity or frustration and boredom with Diablo 4.
How GGG And POE Are Capitalizing On D4’s Success?
They understand Diablo 4 is huge, but will not satisfy a set of players. Those players could find a home, and have their souls stolen if they discover a Path of Exile, however the next expansion is not due out until August 2023, what could GGG do in the meantime? Well, they was appearing at the summer game Fest on June 8th, seven days after Diablo 4’s Early Access launch, perhaps they leakd a bit of POE 2 or POE 3.22 then. I’m skeptical as Exilecon 2023 occurs on July 29th and 30th, and that’s not so far away.
Even considering Path of Exile’s official 10th anniversary is October 23 this year, which could be a big event in the game, it’s too far away. Historically, Grinding Gear Games has outmaneuvered Blizzard intelligently and quickly. At Exilecon 2019, about a month after the momentous Diablo 4 reveal they showcased Path of Exile 2 and played a live version of it in front of the crowd. Upstaging the well-rehearsed, Blizzard plus they jabbed Blizzard with their POE mobile announcement right after that.
How Us Exiles Can Welcome Travelers From Sanctuary?
Both us totally sane Exiles and GGG can be welcoming to Diablo refugees. To other Exiles, I ask you to assist those in need as they flop onto the beach in the final stretch of Crucible League, answer questions in global chat, don’t annihilate newbies on the POE subreddit, help our community grow and flourish with this boost. From Blizzard, to GGG continue doing what you’ve done in the past. Make humble steady updates, release news and content when you know it’s ready, kindly pounce on Blizzard if they make a mistake it’s all the better that they don’t even admit Path of Exile as a significant rival.
Outro
This is Blizzard’s first truly new game release since 2016’s Overwatch. It’s bound to be a tremendous hit and as in the past, the creators of Path of Exile can leap on the opportunity to politely enrapture a bright-eyed wave of Exiles washing up on the shores of Wraeclast, from the hellish world of Sanctuary. As a community, we can ensure they enjoy their stay, we’ll discover the truth in Path of Exile’s next expansion 3.22, and Path of Exile 2’s eventual release, I’ll see you there.
