According to recent document filings, Path of Exile Co-Director Chris Wilson has quietly left Grinding Gear Games, the studio that was co-founded in 2006 and has recently released Path of Exile 2 in Early Access. This information is public in the New Zealand Companies Office, where it says that Wilson "ceased" his role as Managing Director on January 21, 2025. Despite his quiet exit, it hasn't been officially announced by Grinding Gear Games.
While the company has not publicly announced his departure, there have been questions from Path of Exile players about his whereabouts, as they have noticed that he has been absent in the forums and asked where he had gone. Players feel that Path of Exile 1 is on a downward trend without him being around and feel that the developers are failing those who still play the original with their recent announcements regarding updates to the predecessor of Path of Exile 2.
Chris Wilson was a huge part of the team, as he co-directed the first game alongside Mark Roberts. However, he did not join the co-directing of Path of Exile 2. His focus remained on the first game, and he remained a public figure regarding the development, updates, and marketing of Path of Exile. Whenever there were issues in the original game, such as streamers getting access to expansions before the rest of the players, he would dive in and give a statement as necessary.
Path of Exile was first released in 2013, and Wilson spoke about the plans for the ARPG to be "played forever" at GDC 2019, and the decisions that went into crafting the game to be accessible and enjoyable for the long term.
Since then, Grinding Gear Games has been hard at work on Path of Exile 2, which entered Early Access in December 2024 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Thus far, the game has been highly successful, with the game breaking records on Steam alongside games like Marvel Rivals. Since its release, the game has received a multitude of updates and fixes to ensure that the game is well on its way to the full release that is planned for May.
Path of Exile 2 was originally meant to be a new storyline that could be played separately from Path of Exile, but it then expanded so much that it turned into its own game, which seems to have worked out for Grinding Gear Games thus far.
Whether the announcement of Chris Wilson's departure will be made public by Grinding Gear Games or the man himself remains to be seen.
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