In November 2019, developers of popular action RPG Path of Exile announced that fans could expect to see a mobile version of the game coming sometime soon. Unlike previous announcements of mobile games, this one was actually well received. Traditional audiences are often skeptical about receiving diluted versions of their favorite games on mobile, and with good reason. There have been plenty of bad mobile games based on great PC games. Bit things look different this time. Grinding Gear Games are taking a different approach to bringing PC games to mobile, and it’s an approach that has us excited.

We’re now a year on from this announcement, and fans are still eagerly waiting for more details from the developers, Grinding Gear Games. If you’re one of these fans, then don’t worry. We’ve done our research and compiled everything we know about PoE so far. Let’s take a look.

No Microtransactions!

Most mobile games are plagued with microtransactions and pay-to-win elements, much to the frustration of players. Grinding Gear Games want to go a different way here. Why? Because developing mobile games based on PC games is a tricky business. Often, there isn’t a huge crossover between mobile gamers and PC gamers. The biggest problem arises when PC gamers are expecting to get another expansion or a new version of the PC game they love and instead hear they are getting a mobile game. The biggest example of this happened in 2018 with the announcement of Diablo Immortal. Fans at Blizzcon were expecting Diablo 4 to be announced, and instead, they were told they were getting a mobile game. The crowd erupted into boos, causing the Blizzard rep to say “What? Do you guys not have phones?”. Needless to say, this did not go down too well.

Grinding Gear Games has managed to avoid the same reception to its mobile game for a few reasons.

• They announced a new expansion for Path of Exile, pleasing the PC gamers.
• They announced a new PC game, Path of Exile 2, again pleasing PC gamers.
• Their approach to mobile gaming is different.

A Different Approach to Mobile Gaming

Keen to avoid ruining the reputation of the game with shady pay-to-win elements, Grinding Gear Games were careful to reiterate that PoE Mobile will be free-to-play and won’t contain any pay-to-win features. While monetizing the game is likely important to developers, they also understand that letting players pay for Path of Exile Exalted Orbs whenever they hit a roadblock would change the landscape of the game.

Grinding Gear Games said they are developing the Mobile game in-house, which is also a good thing. It likely means that the developers working on the game are passionate about it and feel motivated to create great content for fans. Grinding Gear Games essentially want to bring the core of PoE to Mobile, rather than create a spin-off mobile game just to boost revenue. PoE Mobile is just the original Path of Exile game, but for mobile.

Grinding Gear Games Producer, Trevor Gamon, said, “Our goal is to bring Path of Exile to mobile with absolutely zero compromise,”.

So, how will Path of Exile work on mobile? Well, it will essentially be the same game, only on smaller screens and with shorter play sessions.

However, it’s also worth mentioning that Tencent does have a majority stake in Grinding Gear Games. What does this mean? Well, most of the microtransaction pay-to-win elements that we’re accustomed to were implemented by the Chinese companies, Tencent and NetEase Games. NetEase helped develop Diablo Immortal alongside Blizzard, and that game was widely criticized, despite not being released yet. The reception to the game was so negative that Blizzard stock actually fell 7% following the announcement. It’s too early to say how much influence Tencent will have over PoE Mobile and its monetization, but hopefully, it will be minimal. We can only assume that Tencent has approved the path Grinding Gear Games want to take, otherwise, the developers wouldn’t be making such bold statements.

When Will It Release?

Sadly, there has been no official release date given so far. Shortly after the announcement last year, it was thought that the game would release in late 2020, with a Beta version of the gaming coming in Q4 of 2020. However, it’s hard to know whether this will still happen given the widespread disruption caused to the industry by the pandemic. If we had to guess, we’d say it will probably be released in the first quarter of 2021.