POE2 player numbers have been dwindling in recent weeks. This happens to many games after their initial launch and hype. But players have flooded back to Path of Exile 2 to make player count numbers blow up—thanks to the ‘Third Edict’ update and free weekend incentive.
Arguably, Diablo 4‘s biggest competitor is Path of Exile 2. The ARPG launched to great success in December 2024. Over half a million of you flooded the Path of Exile 2 servers to see what the fuss was all about. Peak numbers were still close to the 200K mark by January 2025, and things have tailed off a bit—save for the April 2025 update.
However, a free weekend opportunity combined with a huge new content update has revitalized the ARPG sequel once more.
Path of Exile 2 Third Edict Update & Free Weekend Boosts Numbers
Path of Exile 2 was free-to-play for everyone from August 29 to September 1. Whether you own the game or don’t, everyone was entitled to download the game and try it out.
This was to get as many eyes and hours on the game’s Third Edict content update as possible.
According to the POE 2 website: “You will get access to all the content currently available in Path of Exile 2, including the newly released Third Edict Content Update. There are no limits to character leveling, and all progress made during this period will be saved to your account. When the Free Weekend ends, you can continue playing by purchasing an Early Access key or by waiting until Path of Exile 2 becomes free to play at full release.”
For reference, Steam Charts says Path of Exile 2 achieved around 8,000 players on average in July 2025, with a peak of around 14,000. Whereas August 2025 saw an average of about 25,000 users, but a peak of over 352,000! The average would’ve been low throughout the whole month, up until the free weekend right at the end of the month.
Did you get a chance to play Path of Exile 2 during the free weekend? Are you going to continue to play it? It seems to be a bold strategy that paid off for Grinding Gear Games. If you agree or disagree, let us know through the Insider Gaming forum.
If you’re hooked on Path of Exile 2, check out our best build guides: Best Ranger Build, Best Mercenary Build, Best Huntress Build, Best Warrior, Best Sorceress Build, Best Witch Build, and Best Monk Build.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
More from Andrew Highton
They paid people off recently to play it that’s why