For years, Path of Exile has been considered the biggest competitor to the ARPG classic Diablo. However, for a long time, there was nothing happening with Blizzard’s hack’n’slash until Diablo 4 was announced. Now, the discussion about which game is actually bigger has reignited. One player wants to finally clarify this and is trying to do so with data from Google.
What is the dispute about? Path of Exile was released in 2013, a year after Diablo 3. The action RPG is characterized by stronger core mechanics, dozens of build options, and massive skill trees. The big difference: Path of Exile is free.
At its core, Path of Exile takes what fans loved about Diablo 2, which is still considered by large parts of the community to be the best Diablo. This quickly led to competition, with Path of Exile 2 announced as a counterpoint to Diablo 4.
This competition also spread to players who are now arguing about which franchise may be better. One even bought the website PlayDiablo4.com and redirected it to Path of Exile.
Now, just before the release of Diablo 4, the question of which ARPG is greater is once again relevant.
This is the answer: In a thread on Reddit, the user UsualInitial shows the search queries for Path of Exile and Diablo 4 over the last 4 years. The result is that Path of Exile, even at its peak in 2019, could only reach 60% of the interest of Diablo 4 during the open beta.
Hundreds of users participate in the discussion, with over 970 comments, including critics. They point out that the picture is not accurate. Going further back, Path of Exile is indeed larger, albeit not by much. Even Diablo 3 had more interest.
We have verified the numbers with the appropriate settings and can confirm all three statements:
- Diablo 4 was larger during the beta than PoE in 2019
- The all-time peak of PoE was greater than that of Diablo 4 so far
- Diablo 3 had overall greater interest so far
Nevertheless, many agree: upon release, Diablo 4 will surely be larger. The beta only shows a fraction of what is possible.
You can find some exciting alternatives to Diablo 4 here, and in the video, we show you 5 that are not Path of Exile:
“Diablo 4 will make more revenue in the first month than PoE has in its entire existence”
Astonishingly many users participate less in the dispute but rather state that the two games have completely different target groups. Path of Exile primarily wants to attract core gamers, while Diablo is the absolute casual game.
This would not exclude each other: Path of Exile benefited from the fact that Diablo 3 simply kept running for a long time. People would play both games at the same time, always the one where a new season has just started.
Some agree that they are looking forward to Diablo 4 and are now no longer interested in PoE. They simply need “fresh air”. Those who love Path of Exile will probably not switch or not for long, but the larger part will land on Diablo 4. Even players with thousands of hours in both games agree: Diablo 4 has simply done too much right so far.
It is also important that the two games simply “play in a completely different league”. Diablo 4 could already make more revenue in the first month than Path of Exile has since its release. MeinMMO reader Tronic48 writes:
They can bring whatever they want. PoE was and will never be a competitor; Diablo 4 (just like D3) simply plays in a completely different league. And a good talent tree does not make a good game. PoE simply lacks so much more, and anyone who does not see that has probably never realized it. […]
Path of Exile is not a bad game, just not comparable to the scope that Diablo offers. However, the discussion is carried through many threads on Reddit and also articles on MeinMMO. There will probably never be a definitive answer other than: “Play what you like better.”
Diablo 4 will be released on June 6 for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. You can find all the information here in the overview:
Diablo 4: Release, beta, classes, gameplay, and pre-order overview
