"It would be so unfair to the rest of the world": Tencent wanted to make Path of Exile 2 F2P in China, GGG refused

In a recent interview, Game Director for Path of Exile 2, Jonathan Rogers, said that the game is still not officially available to Chinese players. This comes as a surprise considering Grinding Gear Games is owned by Tencent. While the reason wasn’t revealed, Jonathan did say that Tencent was keen on making the game free-to-play in China.

GGG rejected the idea, saying it would be unfair to those who paid for early access. PoE2 reached a concurrent player count of around 890,000 at launch, with the Steam user count alone reaching over 570,000. All of these players paid for early access.

Elaborating on this, he said:

“I'm kind of like, look, it would be so unfair to the rest of the world if in China it was free, and in the rest of the world it wasn't for this (early access) period. So, yeah, basically I was like, okay, it just has to be pay to play.”

GGG refused Tencent’s idea to make Path of Exile 2 free in China

Making PoE2 free in China would be unfair for players globally (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Most popular online games in China follow a free-to-play model, with microtransactions, which could be why Tencent wanted the PoE2 release to be free. Doing so will also likely boost the player count significantly. However, GGG turned down the idea, calling it unfair to others.

Jonathan stated that early access will remain paid, with the game going free-to-play at full release. As for the release date for Chinese players, that is yet to be determined.

“It'll be exactly the same, exactly the same thing. The price will be a bit different you know because different markets have different prices. Tencent were ultra keen for it to be free there because they're like, in China people don't like to pay to play games,” Jonathan said.

Releasing PoE2 in China can further boost player count

China has many gamers (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

The launch numbers for PoE2 were very impressive. With a China release, these numbers could exceed one million. Many Chinese gamers are already playing PoE2 on international servers using VPNs, indicating interest in the game.

Jonathan also mentioned that the pricing will be slightly different, which can further encourage players to try the game. Since the devs are targeting a China release soon, the next PoE 2 League, which is expected to be held sometime in late July or early August 2025, seems like the best time to maximize the player count.

Read our other guides on PoE 2:

About the author

Mayank Singh Rathour is an MMO writer at Sportskeeda. He graduated from college with a degree in Business Administration and has over two years of experience as an esports journalist.

Mayank was introduced to gaming at an early age and played Contra, Double Dragon, Castlevania, etc., on his Nintendo DS. When he was a little older, Counter-Strike — a title that majorly helped develop his passion for gaming — became his favorite pastime. Though he's played a bunch of games since then, his love of CS has remained strong. Shroud, a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro, is an inspiration to him. He's also a fan of series' esports scene, following teams like Vitality, NAVI, and The Mongols closely.

When Mayank has some free time, he plays basketball and helps people build PCs.

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Edited by Dinesh Renthlei