Players Are Losing Their Minds Over Path of Exile 2 Doubling Its Price

Immediately after Grinding Gear Games showcased Path of Exile 2’s upcoming early access release, the game’s early access was also made available on Steam. Players rejoiced and started buying the game. It does make sense, as Path of Exile 2’s showcase was absolutely jaw-dropping and plans to take over the ARPG genre by a mile. However, there are still some players who choose to wait until the last minute to buy the game. These players don’t have the fear of missing out – but they now feel like they’ve missed out.

Path of Exile 2’s Price Increase Explained

Technically, they didn’t really increase the price of Path of Exile 2. It only seemed like it for a majority of the player base because of Steam’s regional pricing. The way Steam’s regional pricing works is by making the game more affordable for countries with weaker economies or currencies. This is one of the main reasons why most consumers love Steam, as they take this into account.

However, it isn’t really up to them, as the pricing is up to the developers, Grinding Gear Games. When Path of Exile 2 was finally available on Steam, it followed regional pricing. Some countries can get enormous discounts depending on their location.

Some even get the early access supporter pack for less than $10 (originally $30). After a couple of days, when Path of Exile 2 hit the Steam store, the page still showed regional pricing. On 24 November, users got an “error code 2” when adding the PoE2 to the cart.

A few hours later, the game suddenly had a fixed price’s prices seemingly changed, following the main price points of each supporter pack being converted to local currencies. As someone who has been following and supporting the game for almost a decade, I honestly didn’t expect them to follow regional pricing but was shocked to see it. Even though it does follow some specific region pricing in some countries on the official Path of Exile website, like Brazil and Russia, most of the world uses the USD price.

Related: What Are the Path of Exile 2 Classes? – Answered

Is Path of Exile 2’s Early Access Worth It?

Once Steam’s price tag no longer followed regional pricing, I felt hesitant to buy the early access supporter packs because I knew many players got the discounted price, and they might change it back. However, this isn’t the case, and it is also unlikely to change. I already plan on buying the packs just for the points since my account is already eligible for an early access key from several purchased supporter packs through the years.

I just wanted to get those “discounts” as the prices were more than halved in my region. I scoured the discussion pages on Steam to check on inputs from other players about what happened. It seems that thousands of players complained when this happened because it really is a terrible feeling – missing out on a big discount for something you are hellbent on buying.

Most players, especially if you are in the US, wouldn’t even see this problem. However, current circumstances aside, Path of Exile 2 will most likely be worth it. As someone who has followed Path of Exile for nearly a decade, I can safely say that Grinding Gear Games will do whatever it takes to push out the best game, even if they have a rough start.

Players will remember certain leagues where it wasn’t exactly a crowd-favorite, like Lake of Kalandra. However, the developers have a history of listening to their player base and pushing out improvements immediately after. They love experimenting with innovative ideas, and for that, you should expect them to try out new stuff that isn’t fully fleshed out, making the game a true “early access.” Knowing the developers have a history of always striving for new heights, you can expect the game to be worth it for years to come.

Players can still opt out and wait for the full release since it’ll be a free game, after all. However, the game’s learning curve is so steep that it is best to start early, along with everyone else in the upcoming early access.