Path of Exile, the free-to-play Action RPG by Grinding Gear Games, has been rated for the PlayStation 4 in Taiwan as reported by Gematsu. This is the first hint of the game getting near a point where it's ready to launch on the PS4.
If you're a fan of Action RPG franchises like Diablo and Torchlight, then Path of Exile has surely popped up on your radar at some point. This inaugural title by New Zealand-based Grinding Gear Games is a grimdark tale of classic ARPG fun with a complex skill system centered on a free-to-play model. Our review from all those years ago called it "a game worth buying" - a rather ironic take considering that it's a free-to-play title.
Originally debuting on the PC in 2013, it has since made its way to the Xbox One in 2017. However, Grinding Gear Games had said as recently as last year that releasing the title for PlayStation 4 wasn't on their minds:
“We haven’t made any plans [to release the game for the PS4] at the moment. Our decision to launch on the Xbox One was because we have a great relationship with Microsoft and their platform is Windows-based, making the conversion straightforward. The benefits of adding DirectX 11 support to Path of Exile (to facilitate and Xbox One launch) were immediately applicable to the existing Windows PC version of Path of Exile. If we had chosen a different platform, then we wouldn’t have been able to improve the PC version in the same way for free.” -Chris Wilson, Grinding Gear GamesIt seems that something might have shifted in the last year. The Taiwan Digital Game Rating Committee - the Taiwan equivalent of the ESRB or PEGI - has posted a page for the game with the PlayStation 4 listed as the platform. As we most recently saw with the Castlevania Requiem release, a rating page being created for a game is typically a very good indication that it's in the works and likely nearing an announcement.
Searches for the ESRB, PEGI, CERO, and GRAC have not yet brought up a platform listing for the PlayStation 4. In the past, we've seen a game like Path of Exile get a page popping up on one site with other organizations following suit in the days and weeks afterward. (After all, it's not as if these separate agencies all operate on some kind of coordinated schedule). Suffice to say, it seems that Path of Exile is coming to the PS4. Keep your eyes open for more ratings and a (likely) official announcement from Grinding Gear sometime soon.
If you'd like to take a crack at one of the most interesting modern Action RPGs, you can get Path of Exile for free on Steam for the PC and via the Microsoft Store for the Xbox One.
What do you think of the possibility of Path of Exile coming to the PlayStation 4? Do you think the platform will lend itself well to the genre? What's your favorite platform for playing ARPGs? Let us know in the comments below!
