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It is no secret that Embark Studios' Arc Raiders was a massive success with players, released to critical acclaim just over a year ago. Embark seemed to be on top of the world, with their other big game – The Finals – also performing relatively well. The fledgling studio seemed on a blessed trajectory.
This unstoppable beast, however, did run into a few hefty roadblocks along the way, which, I have to say, were handled fairly well on Embark's part in hindsight; however, I was also left wondering what the fate of the game would have been had they made slightly different choices.
In a recent interview with The Game Business, Embark's Patrick Söderlund and Aleksander Grøndal outline the struggles that came with launching a live service game in 2025 – and with an all-new IP at that – along with the difficult decisions that had to be made along the way.
"The game took off in a way that we didn’t anticipate," Söderlund says, before adding:
"We became a victim of our own success to some extent. We had like 80% day-one retention, which meant everyone that played the game decided to continue playing, which is what you want as a game maker. But it meant we got an incredible demand for more. People just wanted more Arc Raiders. And at about 100 hours, they were kind of done with what we had given them. I said, ‘Listen, if you pay $40 and you get 100 hours’ worth of playtime, I think it’s a reasonable return.’ But at the same time, we built something that became more than we anticipated. We were reasonably prepared, but obviously not prepared for what happened."
Throughout Arc Raiders' lifespan, ups and downs have affected the game in different ways and on different fronts, but the one that stands out most to me is a decision on Embark's part rather than an issue beyond their control: the update schedule.
In the aforementioned interview with The Game Business, Söderlund said that despite the urge to pursue a monthly or even bi-weekly update schedule, the team instead made the difficult decision to take a slower approach, stop monthly updates, and go "back to the drawing board".
Söderlund emphasised the difficulty of this decision, saying he had to give himself time to "digest" the choice to slow down on updates, which is understandable given the height that Arc Raiders had reached, along with the intense pressure from the community – which he reassured is listened to, and that they "read everything" but simply just need more time between maintaining the game and building future content, assuring the players that "people need to build everything" and "it's not like we're sitting here ignoring what's being said."
Söderlund adds:
"The decision that was made was to slow down, to go back to the drawing board, and to stop monthly drops. We realized that would have an impact on our sales numbers and on engagement. But we had to live with the fact that the team and the product, and the integrity of the game, needed that breathing space, to be able to make a comeback.
That’s a difficult decision to make when you’re sitting on top, to say, ‘slow down. Pull the handbrake. Let’s not do this right now’, when your instinct may be, ‘no, you have to do more, push harder, and get more stuff out. We should go to bi-weekly drops instead of monthly cadences.’ That’s just human reaction."
This is one point that I always think about regarding Arc Raiders, as I often wonder what it would have been like if bi-weekly updates had been pushed out, like what we see with many live service successes (cough cough, Fortnite), but then I also recognise the strain that places on developers, especially ones making two, quite frankly, AAA-quality live service games, as Söderlund says there was even "a little bit of panic" at times during Arc Raiders' early months.
I think Embark do well when given time and information from players, as seen recently with the Frozen Trail update, and, time and time again, with constant The Finals updates, so I think pulling the metaphorical handbrake on Arc Raiders at its height was a good time as any to do it (despite my, and many others', dismay). But even with all of this, the question still echoes in my head from time to time: was it the right choice? I think only time will answer that.
Another issue touched upon during this same interview was the infamous cheating problem that plagued Arc Raiders for a fair amount of time, and how it is actively being tackled, but sadly there may never be a full solution, with Grøndal saying: "Is it ever going to be fully solvable? Probably not. But I feel like we are on a good path right now". I think I can speak for the whole player base when I say that action being taken to solve the cheating issue is much appreciated, and I am glad Embark is listening to the community.
This interview, I think, perfectly highlights the struggles of what it can be like managing a live service volcano that erupted so fast, akin to Arc Raiders, and that perhaps we, as a community, should cut the developers some slack when it comes to updates; let them cook up good, meaty content drops like Frozen Trail for us to sink our teeth into, rather than rushing them. I would recommend you read the full interview, too, as there is lots I haven't covered here.