I honestly think that POE1 will not be developed further (though I really hope it does)

Since GGG prioritized POE2 above everything else, they moved the entire POE1 development team to work on POE2. This was a huge mistake—one that might even kill POE1.

Here’s why.

Software engineering is hard — especially when working on a brand-new project. POE2 has a new engine, new features, new mechanics, and new controls. This means that a lot can go wrong at launch—and a lot did. So, allocating all company resources to push POE2 out as fast as possible might have seemed like a good idea, but in reality, it was the worst possible move.

There’s an old saying in software management: “The management gave us nine pregnant women and expects a baby in one month.”

In other words, adding more people to a team doesn’t instantly increase productivity. New members need time and support to learn the new engine, which means senior developers have to spend their time training them instead of working on the game. Over time, these new members do become productive, but here’s the catch: GGG planned to remove the POE1 developers right when they finally became useful.

And it gets worse.

POE1’s last league was released in July, and shortly after, its developers were reassigned to POE2. This means they’ve now spent over seven months working on POE2. If a POE1 developer was tasked with debugging a specific component of POE2, they are now likely the biggest expert on that system. Losing them would set POE2’s development back by weeks—or even months.

And that brings us to the present.

GGG just announced that the POE1 development team cannot return to POE1 until POE2’s next patch, version 0.2, is released. This means they admit that the POE1 developers have become irreplaceable for POE2’s development.

The most likely scenario? POE2’s 0.2 patch launches in about three months. Only then can development on the next POE1 league begin, meaning we won’t see any new POE1 content for at least six months.

But there’s a high chance it will take even longer.

I don’t doubt that GGG intends to return to POE1 development, but the reality is that they may never be able to. The POE1 dev team is now too valuable to POE2. If they are essential for 0.2, why would that suddenly change for 0.3?

And it gets even worse.

By that point, the POE1 dev team will have spent an entire year working on POE2. No matter how skilled they are, people forget things they don’t use. The team will struggle to return to POE1’s outdated engine and old development pipeline—especially since POE2’s systems were designed to streamline everything. Going back will be slow and painful.

The most likely outcome? The POE1 dev team will struggle to produce a half-baked league while delivering high-quality POE2 content quickly. Will GGG still push for a POE1 league in that scenario? And even if they do, will the POE1 community even survive a year with no content?

I have no doubt that GGG doesn’t want to abandon POE1. But the truth is… right now, it’s looking more likely than not.

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djuq4l#1584 wrote:

The most likely outcome? The POE1 dev team will struggle to produce a half-baked league while delivering high-quality POE2 content quickly. Will GGG still push for a POE1 league in that scenario?

Yup. At this point, a new league will be a net positive no matter how bad it ends up being. They've already passively caused more damage than a bad league ever could.

The enthusiastic response to Pohx' paid private league (which filled all slots almost immediately) speaks volumes to the hunger for new PoE content. But Jonathan insists on getting all hands on deck for his personal vanity project, leaving money on the table which PoE Deuce just ain't gonna be able to replace in the long term. ='[.]'=

Bad management as usual. Just another day in the GGG office.

POE1 could still get more development. That development will come through POE2 becoming more and more like POE1. This is GGG's only chance of salvaging POE2. Make it basically POE1+. As it is, POE2 is a slightly better version of D4, at best. Basically, POE1 to POE2 is the same as if Blizzard went from D2 directly to D4. POE2 still has a chance to right itself and thereby POE1. They just need to swallow their pride and accept the fact that their ideas for POE2 were mindbogglingly bad and reverse itself. This way both POE1 and 2 players will be satisfied. The alternative is death for both games.... and GGG.