Path of Exile 2 is still pulling a launch-sized audience on Steam several days after Return of the Ancients went live. SteamCharts, which says its player data is powered by Steam, listed 303,403 people in-game and a 333,425-player 24-hour peak on Wednesday evening.
That keeps Grinding Gear Games' action RPG far above its pre-update April level, when SteamCharts recorded a monthly peak of 11,791 players. Gamers Now's own Steam trend snapshot at 17:50 UTC also saw Path of Exile 2 above 300,000 current players, slightly below the comparable Tuesday evening reading but far beyond its pre-update baseline.
The movement comes after two clear player-facing hooks. Return of the Ancients launched on May 29 as Path of Exile 2's biggest early access update so far, and the game also ran a limited free weekend through June 1. Gamers Now covered the free Steam access window when it opened, but the current figure shows the game has not simply vanished from Steam's upper crowd once the promotion ended.
Return of the Ancients gave players a full reset
Grinding Gear said in its Steam announcement for Return of the Ancients that the update adds six endgame storylines, new pinnacle bosses, new crafting systems, new Ascendancy classes and the Runes of Aldur challenge league. The studio called it the game's biggest update ever.
For Path of Exile players, the fresh league is the main reason the update can behave like a new launch. Runes of Aldur gives players a clean economy, league challenges and new crafting options, while the endgame changes add new map mechanics and bosses to chase after the campaign.
The update cycle had already pushed Path of Exile 2 back into Steam's most-played top 100 before release day. In mid-May, the game returned to Valve's lower chart while Grinding Gear was still previewing the league, campaign changes and endgame reset.
A bigger post-launch read than the free weekend alone
The free weekend gave curious players a short no-cost route into the update, while the Early Access Supporter Pack was discounted by 50% during the same period. SteamCharts' public data now makes the stronger follow-up visible: Path of Exile 2 is still sitting around the 300,000-player mark after free access expired.
Concurrent-player numbers are not sales figures, but they do show one of Path of Exile 2's strongest Steam weeks since early access began. SteamCharts lists a 420,409-player May peak and a 578,562-player all-time peak from December 2024.
Grinding Gear is already treating the update as an active tuning period. A June 3 community announcement on Steam is titled "What We Are Working On", pointing to follow-up work after the opening weekend. If those numbers hold into the next few days, Return of the Ancients will have done more than spike a free trial. It will have pulled Path of Exile 2 back into Steam's busiest live-service conversation.