Content Kings: Path of Exile Has Claimed the ARPG Crown
Guest Contribution
It’s been a busy few years for Grinding Gear Games, online developers of free-to-play action RPG, physician Path of Exile. The New Zealand-based studio recently revealed an Xbox One version of their increasingly popular title?—?and topped it off with details of an upcoming expansion containing a whopping six acts to accompany the game’s existing four. Meanwhile, competition in the genre is no-where to be seen.
Grinding Game Games’ development cycle is rigorous and unprecedented. New leagues, containing brand-new mechanics, are introduced to the game every three months, while whole expansions are released twice a year. It’s this commitment to providing regular, significant content updates that has left Path of Exile unchallenged within the ARPG genre.
By all accounts, Diablo III?—?Path of Exile’s biggest contender?—?has entered a kind of development stasis. Significant additions to the game seem unlikely given the game’s chequered reception among gamers, a lack of a revenue to justify further development, and the departure of several key figures from the Diablo III team, with some leaving Blizzard entirely. Josh Mosquiera, the game director who helmed Blizzard’s attempt to salvage Diablo III’s reputation with the release of Reaper of Souls, announced in July that he was leaving his position to join Bonfire Studios, a new studio founded by industry veteran Rob Pardo. After an initial flurry of promising content updates, Diablo III has settled into a more muted routine of balance patching from season to season.
Last BlizzCon, Blizzard did reveal plans to add a new character class to Diablo III, but the revelation was dampened by an admission that the Necromancer was in its early design stages and would not see a release until late 2017.
Meanwhile, Path of Exile’s consistent content releases have kept players coming back for more. Recently, Grinding Gear Games divulged that the average play session duration was around five hours long?—?and reported that active player numbers had exceeded a million for the first time. The game is also a popular Twitch mainstay, with streamers drawing in an audience of thousands on a daily basis?—?enough to keep the game ranked on Twitch’s front-page directory, a coveted spot for any online title.
Path of Exile’s latest league, Legacy, is due to launch on the 3rd of March. It features a “best-of” collection of the game’s previous league mechanics, enabling many new players to experience a wealth of past content for the first time.
Content Kings: Path of Exile Has Claimed the ARPG Crown was originally published in The Cube on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
