Arc Raiders Developer Reflects on Successful Launch and Plans for 2026

It's impossible to deny the success of Embark Studios' extraction shooter Arc Raiders. Now, as 2025 comes to a close, the studio is reflecting on the momentous launch, which was recently capped off by the title's win for Best Multiplayer Game at the 2025 Game Awards, and what's to come in 2026. If you're to believe Embark, which seems on top of the world right now, the work is just beginning.

In a post to Arc Raiders website, the shooter's executive producer Aleksander Grondal writes, We had a feeling that Arc Raiders was something special. Internally, we were having a blast playing it before release, and your reaction to the tech test in April gave us an inkling of what was to come. What we didn't count on was the sheer scale of love and passion you guys were going to show this game.

Arc Raiders, which was released in late October, became a smash hit right out of the gate, selling millions of copies within days and solidifying itself as one of the most-beloved multiplayer games of the year. Though many multiplayer games enjoy a surge of popularity that eventually relents, Arc Raiders has held on impressively long. As of this writing, its Steam numbers alone are still in the six-digit realm.

Embark Studios seems intent to keep the ball rolling too. Arc Raiders has received consistent updates, addressing quality-of-life issues while simultaneously rolling out new features and even maps. The latest major update to the game, called Cold Snap, adds a new frosty map condition, in-game event, and more. It's just the first of many significant updates which the team has already outlined.

We're here for the long term, to build a game that continues to excite and surprise, we hope you stick around for the journey, reads the blog post. In addition, Embark is doling out a free 1,000 Raider tokens, an in-game currency, to anyone who plays the Winter event before it ends on January 13th.

The studio's commitment to long-term support demonstrates their confidence in the game's future. With consistent content updates and community engagement, Arc Raiders appears positioned to maintain its momentum well into 2026 and beyond.