Contrary to the beliefs of some fans, there was no unannounced release of the shooter at Summer Game Fest. Some of them complained about this to The Finals.
The big non-E3 weekend saw a slew of new announcements, but games that were already known also made news. Among them was the upcoming shooter Arc Raiders, which announced October 30, 2025 as its release date with a fresh trailer.
That would normally be cause for celebration, but some fans are pretty disappointed because they were expecting a shadow drop. Some of them are now taking out their anger on The Finals, another game from developer Embark Studios.
Negative reviews for The Finals
Among the newer reviews for the free shooter are some negative reviews that have nothing to do with the game:
I understand we are mad, but why do you review bomb The Finals
byu/UsedNewspaper1775 inArcRaiders
Since Arc Raiders has not yet been released, users cannot leave Steam reviews for this game, which is why they are resorting to the next best game from the same developer. In their texts, they write “Arc Raiders should be out today!” and “Release an Arc Raiders beta!”One even mentions that Embark lied to its community.
Why the rumor about the shadow drop?Before Summer Game Fest, a hidden countdown was discovered in the beta data for Arc Raiders. While Embark itself did not share anything about it on social media, some fans assumed that this timer indicated an unannounced release for Summer Game Fest. When this didn’t happen, some of them apparently had to vent their frustration somewhere.
However, disappointed fans also vented their frustration on other social media platformsLuft gemacht This did not go unnoticed by the studio, and Embark issued anapology to the community via Discord:
In the run-up to the reveal of the ARC Raiders release date, we published a countdown to June 6. This gave the false impression that we would be releasing the game as a shadow drop. Instead, you learned that ARC Raiders will be released on October 30, making it a countdown to a countdown.
The frustration and disappointment that followed is 100 percent our fault. The teaser we posted was born out of genuine excitement. We finally have a concrete date! But it’s clear that what we thought was playful and constructive came across as misleading and frustrating to many of you, and we understand why.
We mismanaged the hype, we misjudged the situation, and we’re very sorry that this led to disappointment.
We are developing this game for you, and your reactions to ARC Raiders have been humbling, overwhelming, and motivating.
There are some negative reviews on The Finals’ Steam page targeting Arc Raiders, but this does not seem to have a major impact on the overall rating. Currently, the shooter has a stable rating of 77 percent in both the shortest and all reviews. The number of offended users therefore seems to be limited.
