Despite a previous December target, Grinding Gear Games has announced that Path of Exile's open beta will be delayed until January. The team noted that it could potentially launch this year, but it would be so close to the holidays that most of the studio wouldn't be around to oversee the operations.

"A few months ago, we estimated that we would enter Open Beta in December 2012," a note on the forum reads (via Eurogamer). "Although we believe that we can have the build ready by then, we've decided that it's too dangerous to launch the Open Beta over the Christmas period and Southern Hemisphere summer holidays when many of our staff will be away. We have therefore decided to enter Open Beta on January 23, 2013, US time."