ARC Raiders has completed a limited-time PvE matchmaking test that Embark Studios says produced over 30 million plays. Embark called the test polarizing and plans to decide its next step through data analysis and player feedback, with a survey opening October 22 and new information planned for November.
ARC Raiders is a PvPvE extraction shooter from Embark Studios, a Nexon subsidiary, set on a future Earth overrun by machines called ARC. Players are Raiders who carry resources back to the underground settlement Speranza, solo or in teams of up to three. By August 2026, cumulative sales had passed 16.3 million units, up from the 16 million reported in July.
Embark moved the game's major content cadence from monthly to twice a year in May 2026. Frozen Trail, released October 8, is the first major update under that schedule. It adds the Pendra Pass map, a frozen region with an old Italian village and a crashed Emperor-class ARC, plus the Outpost hideout, a Reward Pass, and a free Legacy Pass for existing Raider Decks. New enemies include Bree, Skulker, and Hydra, and the update adds the Grapple Hook, the Tether Launcher, the Stiletto battle rifle, and the Bantam hand cannon. Steam concurrent players rose past 100,000 immediately after release and reached 185,443, against a prior peak of roughly 480,000 at launch in October 2025 and a settled level around 30,000.
A free play period ran from October 8 to 12 on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, alongside a 50 percent discount in the Steam Autumn Sale. Embark also reported an 85 percent drop in queue teaming after team-focused penalties, with affected raids falling from about 1 in 50 to about 1 in 300.
A limited-time PvE mode test ran from October 13 to 20 Japan time. Embark called the test polarizing and said it will decide future responses through data analysis and feedback. A survey of sampled players starts October 22, and new information is planned for November. Separately, Nexon signed Chernin Entertainment to develop film and television adaptations of ARC Raiders and THE FINALS, with no directors, cast, or release timing specified.
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Embark Studios reported that the ARC Raiders PvE matchmaking test, held from October 13 to 20 Japan time, produced over 30 million PvE plays. The studio said the test was polarizing and that it will decide future responses through data analysis and feedback, with a survey of sampled players starting October 22 and new information planned for November.
Embark Studios released the Frozen Trail update for ARC Raiders on October 8, billed as the largest since the game's release. Steam concurrent players rose past 100,000 immediately after the update and reached 185,443, back to around March levels. The prior peak was roughly 480,000 concurrent players at launch in October 2025. Frozen Trail adds the frozen-region map Pendra Pass and the Outpost system, and a limited-time free play period on platforms other than the Epic Games Store ends on the 13th.
Embark Studios releases ARC Raiders update Frozen Trail on October 8, 2026, adding the snow-covered map Pendra Pass. The map sits in the northern Rust Belt and holds a supermarket, a huge station, a crashed giant ARC called Emperor, and a rail junction. Localized blizzards trigger Flash Freeze, which drains HP outdoors and turns vision white, so Raiders must shelter in buildings. New ARC include Bree, a large enemy that fires homing projectiles scattering grenades, and Skulker, a small ground unit that fires from range and repositions for line of sight. The update adds the Grapple Hook, a reusable gadget for climbing to rooftops and crossing gaps, and the Tether Launcher, which pins flying ARC to the ground for a short time. Weapons include the Stiletto battle rifle and the Bantam hand cannon. Extraction runs through the Ballistic Gondola, which carries three players.
Nexon announced on October 6 that it has signed a partnership agreement with Chernin Entertainment to develop film and television adaptations of ARC Raiders and THE FINALS, both developed by Nexon subsidiary Embark Studios. Chernin Entertainment will be lead producer on both projects, selected after multiple production companies and studios competed for the adaptation rights. Embark Studios' creative team will work closely with Chernin on the adaptations. Patrick Söderlund, founder and CEO of Embark Studios and chairman of Nexon's board, called it a next big step in growing both titles into transmedia experiences. David Ready, president of film at Chernin Entertainment, said both are global IP with potential to grow into major franchises, and that Nexon and Embark have built worlds with many stories waiting to be told. No directors, cast, or release timing were specified in the announcement. ARC Raiders is slated for a major update, Frozen Trail, on October 8, with a free play period running through October 12. THE FINALS begins a new season on October 20.
Ahead of an October 8 major update, Embark Studios gave an account of its cheat and exploit countermeasures in ARC Raiders. Executive producer Aleksander Grondal said the studio uses Denuvo kernel-level protection, Anybrain detection, and in-house machine learning models, and is weighing Elytra. Team-focused penalties cut queue teaming by 85 percent, and the share of raids affected fell from about 1 in 50 to about 1 in 300.
Embark Studios has announced a limited-time PvE mode test for ARC Raiders starting October 13, and Bungie has announced a PvE mode for Marathon in its December update, Symbiosis. The two announcements arrived back to back, and both titles are PvPvE extraction shooters. Forbes published a piece framing the pair as a pivot, saying interest in high-difficulty PvPvE elements is fading and that both games took the same strategy to acquire players. The Forbes article says Marathon faces a serious player count decline and described its operation as a big bet on sustainability, while ARC Raiders is only running a test. On the ARC Raiders subreddit, a thread citing the article drew over 1,000 comments debating whether the genre is declining or whether the problem is each game's design.
Nexon announced on October 3, 2026 that ARC Raiders will be free to play from October 8 at 18:00 to October 12 at 17:00 Japan time on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. The full release version is playable during that window, according to Embark Studios. The promotion runs alongside the launch of Frozen Trail, which the developer calls the largest update since release, adding the Pendula Pass map, a new base, and skill tree revisions. New players who start during the free period can reach Pendula Pass immediately by teaming with someone who has already unlocked it, since the map normally requires unlocking. ARC Raiders is a PvPvE extraction shooter set on a future Earth overrun by machines called ARC, with players as Raiders who carry resources back to the underground settlement Speranza. It supports solo play or teams of up to three.
Valve started the Steam Autumn Sale at 2:00 AM Japan time on October 2, and the sale runs until 2:00 AM on October 9. Pocketpair put Palworld at 30 percent off for 2,380 yen and Craftopia at 40 percent off for 1,680 yen, with the publisher saying every eligible title sits at its lowest price yet. Capcom's BIOHAZARD requiem is 30 percent off at 6,293 yen and PRAGMATA is 20 percent off at 6,392 yen. Square Enix and Atlus opened their own sales ahead of Valve's start, listing Persona 3 Reload at 70 percent off for 2,303 yen and FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH at 70 percent off for 1,973 yen. 4Gamer.net reported Pocketpair's discounts and Automaton listed titles including ARC Raiders at 50 percent off and Monster Hunter Wilds at 25 percent off.
Embark Studios has detailed Frozen Trail, the major update for ARC Raiders, scheduled to launch on October 8. The update adds the new map Pendra Pass, a frozen region built around an old Italian village and an Exodus transport hub beyond the mountains around the Rust Belt, where one of the giant ARC machines called the Emperor has crashed with rare technology inside. ARC has sent its largest-class vessel, the Frigate, to patrol the area, and players can find a way aboard and fight through its interior. Three new enemies arrive: the charging Bree, the ambushing Skulker, and the three-unit turret Hydra. The Outpost is a second hideout that can be customized with modules and furniture, and a fully upgraded Research Workstation unlocks a fifth weapon quality tier, initially for 15 weapons, allowing changes such as a fully automatic Beretta, a scoped Renegade, and a Rattler with a 64-round incendiary magazine.
NVIDIA announced new RTX Spark support at Gamescom 2026. Electronic Arts, Embark Studios, and Ubisoft will provide titles including EA SPORTS F1 25, Apex Legends, Anno 117: Pax Romana, ARC Raiders, and THE FINALS. EA Javelin Anticheat is being built with native support for the Arm-based SoC. NVIDIA also released DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction.
Microsoft announced a temporary workaround on August 22 for game crashes and other issues caused by the August 12 security update KB5121003 on Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2. Affected titles include ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and THE FINALS. The fix involves disabling a specific driver via the registry editor.
Microsoft acknowledged that the August 12, 2026 Windows update (version 26100.9168/KB5121003) may cause crashes, freezes, and system restarts in some games, including ARC Raiders, The Finals, and MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls. The company is investigating whether the issue is caused by Microsoft and asks users to report problems via the Feedback Hub.
Nexon announced a special dividend of about 324 billion yen, or 415 yen per share, pending board approval in September 2026. The payout follows second-quarter results that beat forecasts, with MapleStory franchise revenue up 63% year-on-year and ARC Raiders cumulative sales passing 16.3 million units.
Embark Studios announced on August 12 that ARC Raiders will receive its largest update to date, titled Frozen Trail, on October 8. The update follows a May 2026 policy shift that moved the game's major content cadence from monthly to twice a year, with Frozen Trail being the first major release under that new schedule. The update introduces a new map set in a frozen settlement at the edge of the Last Belt, featuring abandoned villages, factories, research facilities, and observatories, with greater verticality and exploration opportunities. New high-level challenges are designed for experienced Raiders, demanding meaningful choices, dynamic encounters, and cooperation. The update also adds new ARC machines, ranging from small nuisances to massive threats, plus adjustments to skill trees and the Raider deck system. Additional content includes new weapons, gadgets, cosmetic items, instruments, and improvements to matchmaking, anti-cheat, stability, and quality of life. The story will approach the origins of the ARC machines, as Raiders investigate an unidentified signal from beyond the mountains. The game is available on PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store, as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Embark Studios is running a 25% off Steam sale for extraction shooter ARC Raiders, which has sold over 16 million copies. The studio also detailed the 'Frozen Trail' update, arriving in October 2026 as the largest update yet, following a shift from monthly to biannual major updates. The update adds a new map, enemies, and progression systems.
At NDC26, Embark Studios machine learning lead Martin detailed how the studio uses ML for recommendations, quest generation, and enemy behavior. A key takeaway was that a simple EASE recommendation model increased purchasers by 400% in The Finals, but organizational hurdles nearly killed the project until an engineer physically moved desks to the commercial team.
Japanese game media outlets Game*Spark and AUTOMATON held a collaborative event in the extraction shooter 'ARC Raiders' on May 29, 2026, that ended with a direct competition over in-game duck toys. The event followed a previous co-op session where an AUTOMATON editor betrayed a Game*Spark writer, creating a grudge. For the rematch, the two editors ran solo raids for one hour on the 'Buried City (Bird City)' map, collecting duck toys of varying rarities for points. AUTOMATON won with 77 points against Game*Spark's 35. The loser, Game*Spark's writer, had to donate high-rarity items from their stash to the winner in a subsequent raid, but a mistake left the AUTOMATON editor stranded without an extraction key, resulting in the items being lost to other players. The event was not an official game mode but a self-organized challenge.