Grinding Gear Games has just launched the Settlers of Kalguur expansion for its free-to-play action RPG Path of Exile. The new update has led to a significant increase in the number of concurrent players.
As GGG announced in a blog post, Path of Exile reached a new all-time high of 350k concurrent users (CCU) across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. The player count could likely have been even higher, but Settlers of Kalguur launched on consoles with several major issues that made the league unplayable (the studio has since fixed them).
On July 26, right after the servers wet live following the patch, Path of Exile peaked at 229,337 CCU on Steam (via SteamDB). The previous record on the platform, 211.6k CCU, was set in April 2023, when the studio launched the Crucible league.
Settlers of Kalguur not only contains a new challenge league, but also adds a city-building mechanic to Path of Exile. Players can now build the town of Kingsmarch, manage the city, create trade routes, and hire workers to do jobs such as mining, farming, and smelting.
In addition, GGG introduced the new ascendancy class (Warden), a currency trade market, a balance overhaul related to various skills, and endgame improvements.
Path of Exile currently has a “Very Positive” rating on Steam, with 89% of the 222.9k user reviews being positive. The reception of the Settlers of Kalguur expansion has also been warm so far.
In April, Path of Exile entered the top 20 highest-grossing titles on Steam, moving up 63 positions after the launch of the Necropolis expansion. So Settlers of Kalguur will also drive in-app purchases, so it will be interesting to see where the game lands on the Steam charts this week.
Grinding Gear Games has been working on PoE for over 10 years, constantly supporting it with new content. Right now, the team is also developing Path of Exile 2, with the first closed beta scheduled for late 2024.