Like so many other games, Path of Exile 2 is being slowed down by the pandemic. First announced back in 2019, some ARPG fans were hoping for Grinding Gear's Path of Exile sequel to launch this year, but studio head Chris Wilson now says that's unlikely.
During a phone interview about the upcoming endgame expansion for the original Path of Exile, studio head Chris Wilson got to talking about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the New Zealand studio.
"I hate to blame COVID for stuff, but that is a big part of it at the moment," Wilson said. "We have had difficulty hiring internationally because the borders to New Zealand are closed, so that has curtailed the exponential growth of our asset creation team a little bit. The progress of development hasn't been as fast as we wanted, and so our goal is to bash as hard as we can during 2021 on Path of Exile 2 stuff and see how much headway we make. Trying to get as much done as possible, and that'll give us a better idea of a good release date we can estimate, which should be towards the end of the year."
When asked for clarification about whether Path of Exile 2 would probably launch sometime in 2022, Wilson said, "Yeah, I think that's accurate." He also mentioned that working from home during lockdowns had slowed production on the past few major updates. Nothing catastrophic, but it was one factor in the upcoming expansion being delayed slightly.
Of course, Path of Exile 2 is more of an expansion of the first game than a traditional sequel. "Path of Exile 2 is a new seven-act storyline that is available alongside the original Path of Exile 1 campaign," Grinding Gear explained back when it was announced. "Both the old and new storyline lead to the same shared Atlas endgame. Path of Exile 2 retains all expansion content that has been created over the last six years and introduces a new skill system, ascendancy classes, engine improvements and more."
Still, it's not all doom and gloom for Path of Exile fans. The Echoes of the Atlas expansion (launching January 15th) is set to bring a bundle of new environments to the game's expansive endgame, several using assets from the sequel, along with some new bosses evoking Path of Exile 2's new aesthetic.
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