Grinding Gear Games Delays Path of Exile 1 Update Due to Focus on Path of Exile 2

Grinding Gear Games (GGG) has issued an apology to fans of Path of Exile 1 after delaying the highly anticipated 3.26 update. The delay comes as the developer has shifted its focus entirely to resolving issues with Path of Exile 2, which launched in early access in December 2024.

The 3.26 update for Path of Exile 1, initially set for late October 2024 and later scheduled for mid-February 2025, will now be further delayed. GGG had originally planned for the update to be released alongside Path of Exile 2, but as the studio dedicated resources to the second game's ongoing development, it became clear that Path of Exile 1’s update would have to be postponed.

In a video message, Path of Exile 2 game director and GGG co-founder Jonathan Rogers explained the situation. With the launch of Path of Exile 2's endgame hitting unexpected challenges, the studio moved Path of Exile 1’s team to assist with critical fixes for the new game. However, these issues proved more demanding than anticipated, leading to further delays and the team remaining focused on Path of Exile 2.

“We were fooling ourselves” Rogers admitted, acknowledging that the studio had underestimated the scale of the problems facing Path of Exile 2. He explained that while the studio had originally planned to return to Path of Exile 1's update after PoE2's launch, the ongoing issues meant that resources couldn’t be diverted. The Path of Exile 1 team will continue working on PoE2 until the release of PoE2's 0.2.0 update, with no set date for the 3.26 update yet.

“I’m really sorry for how this went down” Rogers added. He acknowledged the studio’s overconfidence in trying to juggle the two games simultaneously and expressed regret over the decision to pull resources from Path of Exile 1.

Path of Exile 2 officially launched on December 6, 2024, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, receiving widespread praise and reaching 15th place among the most-played games on Steam. However, despite the success of PoE2's early access, the studio is learning valuable lessons about managing two major titles at once.

GGG has assured fans that the 3.26 update for Path of Exile 1 will eventually be released, with a solid plan in place to continue supporting the game once PoE2's major issues are resolved.