Arc Raiders is a very rare Steam special case, because instead of declining, player numbers are continuing to rise in the third week after launch. What’s behind this hype?
In an autumn that sees the release of both a new Battlefield and a new Call of Duty, a new shooter brand should actually have a tough time. However, Embark’s new extraction shooter Arc Raiders is currently proving impressively how such hasty assumptions can be misleading.
While most new releases see player numbers gradually level off after a strong launch weekend (see Battlefield 6, for example), Arc Raiders has been steadily climbing the Steam charts since its release on October 30. Last weekend, the game broke its own record for the most concurrent players for the third weekend in a row.
According to the tracking portal SteamDB, more than 482,000 players were online at the same time – and that’s just via Steam. If you add other platforms such as Epic, Xbox, and PlayStation, the player base of Arc Raiders is likely to be even higher. charts/”>according to the tracking portal SteamDB online at the same time – and that’s just via Steam. If you add other platforms such as Epic, Xbox, and PlayStation, the Arc Raiders player base is likely to be significantly larger.
But why is Arc Raiders currently so successful, when other new shooters have failed miserably in the past? And why is a game that many people didn’t really know much about until shortly before its launch, such as Arc Raiders, doing so well?
Our experts believe that several factors are contributing to Arc Raiders’ current wave of success:
- PvPvE: The combination of realistic, threatening AI opponents and the human risk factor makes every round fresh, exciting, and adrenaline-fueled. The Arc are always out to get us, while human players can become allies – or pump us full of lead.
- Unique setting: Italy after the collapse of human civilization. Although dangers lurk everywhere on the expansive maps, the landscapes with their olive groves, winding villages, and bright colors somehow convey an irresistible vacation feeling.
- Fascinating robot enemies: The eponymous robots are not just
dumb
AI enemies like the zombies in Hunt: Showdown, but a real threat. First, the robots communicate with each other and develop strategies against you; thanks to training using machine learning, the monsters also move really convincingly and have wonderfully crisp hit feedback.
- Low price: Compared to other shooter heavyweights such as Battlefield 6 or the new Call of Duty, Arc Raiders presents you with a significantly lower financial barrier to entry at a price of only around 40 euros. In return, you get a finished game that is constantly being expanded with new content.
- Accessible gameplay: Unlike the tough Escape from Tarkov, this game is more forgiving of mistakes. Features such as free loadouts and secured loot bags ensure that dying on screen doesn’t mean complete ruin, which noticeably reduces the frustration factor. Especially in solo queue, many players behave peacefully.
- The social media factor: Arc Raiders is incredibly
instagramable
. Thousands of clips are posted on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and other platforms, showing funny interactions between players or the latest tricks against the Arc AI. The game has thus become a meme and is a hot topic in the internet community. - Clean technology: Rarely has an extraction shooter appeared so problem-free and technically cleanly implemented. Even on older computers, Arc Raiders looks great and achieves a stable 60 FPS. There is virtually no lag.
So it’s not a single factor that makes Arc Raiders so successful right now, but rather a combination of factors. People who weren’t aware of Arc Raiders before are becoming aware of the game through social media or friends who are already playing, and are motivated to buy it because of the low entry price.
The unique setting and accessible gameplay mix convince players to stick with it in the long term and enable the sustained upward trend on Steam. Currently, Arc Raiders is not far off breaking the threshold of 500,000 concurrent players on Valve’s platform, and we expect the shooter to succeed in doing so.
Developer Embark has already announced its intention to continue providing its shooter with new content such as events and maps over the coming years. The first of these, Stella Montis, was launched last weekend. The next content update is scheduled to follow in December.
What reasons convinced you to play Arc Raiders? Let us know in the comments!
