The next big Arc Raiders update is an experiment in figuring out “what drives players to come back”
Arc Raiders was a smash hit; a runaway success that somehow got derailed. Developer Embark Studios’ job is now to get it back on track. We sat down with Alex Grondal, Executive Producer of Arc Raiders, at Gamescom to talk about the Frozen Trail update for the shooter, as well as what it’s going to take to claw back some of the game’s lost player base, and what the endgame of Arc Raiders looks like, if anything at all.
The cadence of updates to Arc Raiders shifted dramatically back in May of this year, with the monthly additions being culled in favor of a bi-yearly schedule. This was, according to a statement released at the time, a change that was needed for the team to be able to develop more impactful updates that affect how players play the game.
The side effect of that, and perhaps just a general lack of endgame content, is that the Arc Raiders player count began to decline, now sitting at less than 10% of what it was even six months ago. This is an issue that Grondal seems well aware of, and it feels like there is a bit of pressure riding on the Frozen Trail update to recapture some of that popularity.
“That’s our goal. I think we need to figure out what drives the players to come back, what they really want, and what’s enough for them to come back.” Grondal talks about the update cadence changes and delays as “tough decisions that are hard to do, but we always do them with the players in mind.”
Grondal “doesn’t particularly like” the talk around Arc Raiders endgame content, because, for him, Arc doesn’t have an end. “What I would like to try at some point is to create loops that go back and feed back into each other … we’re taking a step [towards that] with Frozen Trail.”
The new map coming with the Frozen Trail update is arguably the marquee draw – players haven’t had anything new to explore for months, so the pressure is on. “It’s pretty large, which is something that the players have been asking for.” Grondal goes on to describe how visually different the latest location is, with it being “a bit further outside from the Rust Belt”.
The ultimate question, really, is: is this going to be enough? With the end of the year being beyond stacked, and then the end-of-days-level gaming event that is GTA 6 in November, does Arc Raiders have what it takes to become relevant again?