



[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]

Auckland, New Zealand -- September 26, 2014 -- In partnership with leading Asian publisher Garena Online, Grinding Gear Games today announced that its critically-acclaimed action RPG Path of Exile has seen unprecedented success following the launch of the game's second expansion, Forsaken Masters, and its official release in Taiwan. Exceeding expectations of both Grinding Gear Games and Garena Online, Path of Exile has reached a new level of success. Less than one month after the game's official release in Taiwan, Path of Exile saw over one million new Taiwanese account registrations -- a number steadily growing after an incredibly successful Open Beta and launch. Published by Garena Online, the Taiwanese version of Path of Exile features traditional Chinese language support as well as a number of Taiwan-exclusive microtransaction options. Path of Exile went live in Taiwan on August 14, 2014. Much of the game's ongoing success is due to the acclaim of its latest expansion, Forsaken Masters, as well as Grinding Gear Games' steadfast devotion to keeping Path of Exile updated with new content, which includes a new expansion every few months. Boasting a wealth of new and engaging content, Forsaken Masters has been "extremely well-received" by both new and existing players of Path of Exile, bringing the worldwide total of registered players to well over seven million. Path of Exile also saw a record-breaking number of concurrent players within the past month, reaching a peak of 154,000 players online simultaneously. In Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters, players cross paths with the seven Forsaken Masters, who aid Exiles in their own specialized way. Each Master offers unique quests, training, mission variations, item crafting and modification options, secret and customizable towns known as Hideouts, tiers of Hideout decorations, and more in exchange for an Exile's help. New Challenge Leagues, revamped boss fights, new lore, new Unique items, new skill and support gems, a PvP Spectator Mode, and dozens of other additions have also been implemented as part of the Forsaken Masters expansion. Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters was released as a free content update on August 20, 2014. Interested gamers can download and play Path of Exile via Steam, or by registering on the official Path of Exile website at www.pathofexile.com. Further information about Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters can be found on the Path of Exile website at www.pathofexile.com/masters. Grinding Gear Games regularly releases videos to expand on and complement updates, including patch previews, upcoming gameplay trailers, Developer Diaries, featured community content, and Build of the Week segments directly from Chris Wilson. Interested players should check out the Path of Exile YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/grindinggear. About Path of Exile Path of Exile is an online PC action role-playing game set in a dark fantasy world. Featuring ethical microtransactions, the game is free-to-play, but never pay-to-win. Playing as one of seven character classes, players find themselves banished for their past misdeeds to the dark fantasy world of Wraeclast. There, they encounter hundreds of species of opponents laden with loot and mysterious artifacts as they explore the abandoned continent. Key features include: A dark and deep action RPG

Unlimited character combinations with the game's gigantic skill tree

Combine skill gems to create unique combat strategies

Explore a dark and gritty world rendered from a fixed 3D perspective

Download and play for free, but never pay-to-win

Explore randomly generated levels for nearly infinite replayability

Craft weapons, magic items and even end-game maps to become more powerful

Cooperate or compete with thousands of other Exiles in a persistent online world

Ascend online ladders in every game mode

Battle in PvP tournaments for worldwide recognition

Steam and Twitch integration About Grinding Gear Games Grinding Gear Games is an independent game studio founded in 2006 and based in Auckland, New Zealand. Its team members come from various countries and have a diversity of backgrounds ranging from artificial intelligence and software security to industrial design and professional tournament gaming. GGG recently released its flagship title, Path of Exile, and is committed to ongoing expansion and new content releases for the critically acclaimed game. You can find more information about Grinding Gear Games at www.grindinggear.com. About Garena Online Garena is a leading online game service provider. Its flagship online game platform, Garena+, is the largest social platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, designed for online gamers to meet, chat and play games with each other. Garena has introduced the latest premium online games on Garena+, including the award-winning League of Legends and other premium game titles, such as first-person shooter game Black Shot, real-time strategy game Heroes of Newerth and massively-multiplayer-online football game EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 3. For more information, please visit www.garena.com. ###