When will Path of Exile 2 release fully? The developers have answered, but it's not exact

Modified Jan 01, 2025 19:14 IST

explore the full release date of path of exile 2 — Path of Exile 2 is not coming before June this year (Image via GGG)

Path of Exile 2 will be completely free-to-play when it comes out of Early Access, leaving many players to wonder what the full release date might be. In truth, we are far from any exact release date, but there is an official estimation. As confirmed by the developer, Path of Exile 2 will remain in Early Access for at least six months, and up to a maximum of one year.

This means the full release date for Path of Exile 2 should be sometime between June 2025 and December 2025. Of course, there are various other factors to consider, which we will discuss in this article.

When will Path of Exile 2 be out of Early Access?

Path of Exile 2 already has an endgame system in place, but it's far from full release. (Image via GGG)

Path of Exile 2 Early Access went live across three platforms on December 6, 2024. As stated before, it's likely the game will stay in Early Access for at least six months, so its full release will not be before June 2025.

In a pre-release Q&A session in November 2024, GGG Creative Director Jonathan Rogers mentioned that although he believes the game will stay in early access for at least six months, he does not want that phase to exceed a year:

"I don't think it will be any less than six months... I think it could easily end up being more. (...) I really don't wanna be spending more than a year (in Early Access). That would be pretty crazy. I mean, honestly, we have to get all the content finished and all that sort of stuff... you know, we always feel like we underestimate these things."

The Early Access phase is meant to be a road of recalibration for this ARPG. From class balance and economy to endgame systems, there are a lot of things the developer will have to tune in collaboration with the already substantial player base. In the first week of Early Access release alone, more than five Skill Gems were nerfed in Path of Exile 2.

While the developer's ambition of getting things just right is an arbitrary goalpost, the game is only half-finished. Even if we leave the endgame — Atlas, and League mechanics aside — three placeholder campaign Acts will have to get populated with whole new maps and bosses. Taking everything into account, an educated guess of Path of Exile 2's full release date would put it sometime in Q3 2025.

Will Path of Exile 2 Early Access ever be free-to-play?

At least right now, the answer is no. Path of Exile 2 will be fully free-to-play when it gets a full release, but Early Access is pay-gated behind a Supporter Pack purchase of at least $30. That being said, purchasing these packs will also give you requisite Microtransaction Points that you can spend on cosmetics or stash tabs, so it does not price-gouge you by any stretch of the imagination.

Path of Exile 2 touts the same pricing model as the first game, which does not include any pay-to-win elements. Other than cosmetics, all you can get are additional stash tabs, which can be categorized as pay-for-convenience at most.

Check out our other guides on the game:

Edited by Shraman Mitra