Path Of Exile Studio Let Paid Streamers Skip Server Queue, Apologizes
Grinding Gear Games admits it shouldn't have given streamers preferential treatment.
Path of Exile 2 is on the way, but the first game's latest expansion, Ultimatum, launched this week. It was a bit of a mess, to put it mildly, with players stuck waiting in server queues and unable to play. However, the problems were amplified because of Grinding Gear Games' decision to let paid streamers skip the lines and start playing right away.
As spotted by Eurogamer, Path of Exile producer Chris Wilson explained on a Reddit thread that the Ultimatum Challenge League, which is a risk/reward trial players are essentially competing against each other in, was letting players in far too slowly. "Human error" resulted in the normal trickle migration process not being run, and players continued being dumped out of the realm until an eventual fix was made several hours later.