Big Path of Exile 2 delay sets the action-RPG sequel on track to release "towards the end of the year"

Path of Exile 2's beta has been delayed from June 7 and will now release "towards the end of the year."

In a refreshingly upfront announcement, Grinding Gear Games starts out plainly, "Path of Exile 2's beta is going to be delayed." I've covered enough of these things to know that's a rarity in the industry, and I applaud their candor. Basically, the beta has been delayed because it needs more time in the oven. Grinding Gear says the content itself is ready to go, but the gameplay needs some polishing before it's ready for release.

"We previously said that we would get the beta out on June 7th and while we think we would be able to get the game's content ready in time, we underestimated how long it will take to get gameplay polished to a standard we're happy with," the announcement reads. We're still going to be doing alpha testing in June, but we are going to be delaying the beta until later in the year. We don't have an exact date for you yet, but it should be towards the end of the year."

Path of Exile 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the acclaimed free-to-play action-RPG released in 2013. It was first announced back in 2019 and a beta was then tentatively set for "very late 2020." That obviously didn't happen, surely at least in part due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and it wasn't until last July that Grinding Gear set the June date for the beta, conspicuously timed with the backlash that Diablo 4 was facing at the time with Season 1.

Coincidentally, Diablo 4 season 4 was just delayed so that Blizzard can have more time to implement feedback from the game's first PTR run.