Path of Exile 2: GGG adds its own stream on 27 August — 0.5.5, a Q&A with Jonathan Rogers and the final ExileCon qualifier

Grinding Gear Games added a date to its calendar on Sunday evening, and it stacks on top of the one everybody was already waiting for. After the reveal scheduled for gamescom's Opening Night Live on 25 August, the studio will hold its own livestream on 27 August. And it is there, not in Cologne, that the information Path of Exile 2 players actually care about will land.

The Steam announcement runs to three lines, but it packs three appointments into the same evening.

27 August at 12:30 PM PDT

Official text: "On August 27 PDT, we'll preview some new information about Path of Exile 2 and 0.5.5! Watch the livestream at 12:30 PM August 27 PDT at twitch.tv/pathofexile."

12:30 PM PDT is 19:30 UTC, which is 21:30 in Paris. The slot is therefore perfectly workable for a European viewer, which is not always the case with a New Zealand studio that sets its clocks by the US west coast.

The word used is "preview", and it covers two distinct things: "new information about Path of Exile 2" and about 0.5.5. Those are two different registers — the game's direction on one side, the contents of a numbered patch on the other — and GGG does not say which will take up more of the running time.

What follows the stream: a Q&A, then the last qualifier

The rest of the programme is what makes the evening interesting. Again from the announcement: "After that, we'll have a short Q&A session with Game Director Jonathan Rogers and ZiggyD, followed by the final ExileCon qualifier, so get ready!"

• A "short" Q&A with Game Director Jonathan Rogers and ZiggyD. In previous formats of this kind, that is where the details the presentation skips tend to come out — balance, scheduling, trade-offs owned up to.
• The final ExileCon qualifier follows straight on. This is the end of the circuit: the third qualifier ran on 20 August, and this one decides the last ticket to the finals.

The studio adds its usual line: "As per usual, co-streaming is welcome." So you can follow the stream on your regular creator's channel without GGG taking issue.

Twitch Drops: what has not been announced

Watch out for a reflex that could cost you a reward. Previous ExileCon qualifiers came with Twitch Drops — the Lightbringer Hood from the second qualifier, for instance, took thirty minutes of viewing. For the final qualifier on 27 August, GGG has announced no drop at this stage.

The right reflex is not to assume there will be one, but to do the only thing that takes time right now: link your Twitch account to your Path of Exile account. GGG announced the drops for the previous qualifier the day before the race: if the studio repeats the exercise, you will be eligible immediately. If not, you will have lost nothing.

Where this all leads: ExileCon on 7 and 8 November

It is worth placing this stream inside the wider calendar GGG published itself. The third ExileCon will be held on 7 and 8 November 2026 in Auckland, New Zealand. The studio promises "new playable content" and "major announcements" there.

The programme announced by the studio is broad: "Play new content, watch major announcements, meet our team and your favourite content creators, and more!" Playable content, major announcements and meet-ups — that is the usual shape of an ExileCon, and traditionally where GGG unveils its expansions rather than in a late-August stream.

The qualifiers currently running, including the one on 27 August, exist to fill out the field for the final that will be played there. Put another way: the 27 August stream is not the year's big appointment, it is the last step before it. If you are wondering when GGG will really lay out its roadmap, November remains the most likely answer.

One practical consequence for how to read 27 August: the more factual the presentation stays about 0.5.5, the more it should be taken to mean the rest is being kept for Auckland. A patch preview is not an expansion reveal, and GGG has never suggested otherwise.

A deadline not to confuse with the others: the fan art contest

On the same Sunday, GGG published the second selection from its fan art contest devoted to the latest expansions for Path of Exile and Path of Exile 2. The date to note is different from all the previous ones: "Submissions close on Wednesday, 2nd September at 10PM PDT".

10 PM PDT on 2 September works out to 7 AM on 3 September in France. So if you were planning to hand in your piece on the evening of the 2nd, French time, you actually have one extra night — but not two extra days.

The recap, in local time

1. 25 August — GGG reveal at gamescom's Opening Night Live.
2. 27 August, 12:30 PM PDT — GGG stream: Path of Exile 2 and 0.5.5, on twitch.tv/pathofexile.
3. 27 August, straight after — Q&A with Jonathan Rogers and ZiggyD, then the final ExileCon qualifier.
4. 3 September, 7 AM CEST — fan art submissions close.
5. 7 and 8 November — ExileCon 2026, in Auckland.

Only one thing to do today: link your Twitch account. The rest is a matter of blocking out a Thursday evening.