Grinding Gear Games changes Path of Exile II product during sale period

Path of Exile II: Early Access Supporter Pack was changed during a 2026 Steam sale by its base value being reduced and then advertised as a discount while abusing the Steam sale system, resulting in misleading customers.

Background

Path of Exile II (colloquially known as PoE 2) is an action role-playing game (ARPG) developed and published by Grinding Gear Games. It entered early access on 6 December 2024 and is scheduled for full release sometime in 2026. The early access version costs $29.99, but will be switching to a freemium model upon leaving early access.

Incident

Screenshot of the "discount" sale starting 29 May 2026.

On 29 May 2026, both the Path of Exile II and the Early Access Supporter Pack were advertised "On Sale, 50% off!", with the former accompanied by a Free-to-Play weekend. A 50% discount was showcased, however the DLC offered ("Path of Exile II: Early Access Supporter Pack (Special)") was not the same product that had been previously offered at the original price ("Path of Exile II: Early Access Supporter Pack"). The special version was in fact half the value, effectively resulting in a 0% discount.

The original Steam advertised price of NZ$51.39 (US$29.99) included:

• Path of Exile 2 Early Access Key
• 300 Points (premium currency)

At the time of the -50% "sale", the price was reduced to NZ$25.69 (US$14.99) but the underlying product had changed to:

• Path of Exile 2 Early Access Key
• 150 Points (premium currency), introduced specifically for this sale

The -50% is calculated on the reference pricing of the original product, misleading customers into believing they are receiving a discount when, in fact, the contents of the product has been diminished and they are paying regular rate (ignoring the game key). The original 300 Points product itself is no longer available for purchase during the "sale" period via Steam, though it is still present on the Path of Exile website. The 50% saving is further reiterated on the official Path of Exile II website and Steam announcement.

Grinding Gear Games' response

As of 3 June 2026, while further news items have been published on the Steam page, the issue has not been publicly acknowledged by Grinding Gear Games.

Consumer response

User reaction is mixed, with long-time players of the original Path of Exile defending it as "the currency has always been $1 spent = 10 Points", with critics countering that the premium points currency is not the issue per se — a prospective customer looking at the Steam store page is given a very obvious impression that they are saving money (50% discount), when in reality they are paying full price.

This controversy could have been avoided by simply adding another bundle to the Steam page:

• Path of Exile 2 Early Access Key + 300 Point Supporter Pack - NZ$51.39 (US$29.99)
• Path of Exile 2 Early Access Key + 150 Point Supporter Pack - NZ$25.69 (US$14.99)

Doing so however, would mean that the publisher would not reap the benefit of posting it as a "sale", which it clearly is not. It is therefore apparent that Grinding Gear Games intentionally and knowingly bait-and-switched the base product and abused their Steam publisher tools to push a false 50% discount in order to drive sales ahead of going Free-to-Play upon leaving Early Access.