Arc Raiders has announced that it will only have two big content updates every year, much to the dismay of players. In a new blog post, Embark Studios revealed that it will release the next big Arc Raiders update, Frozen Trail, in October. This will not only add new locations to explore, but also new enemies, new expansions to the story and lore, and updates to the game's progression systems. It's clear that Embark's ambition is to deliver something expansive and deep in one burst as opposed to drip feeding content throughout the year.
The studio confirmed that it will be on a bi-annual schedule for future content updates.
"Going forward, we've made the decision to release major updates twice a year – larger in scale, more impactful, with the goal to genuinely change how you play the game," reads the blog post. "Don’t worry, a dedicated live service team will continue running ARC Raiders day-to-day: regular live updates, plus balance fixes, bug fixes, store updates, and player events aren't going anywhere.
"This additional development space also allows us to invest more deeply in the health of ARC Raiders, from progression and economy balancing to fair play and anti-cheat efforts. We know these are foundational to the experience, especially in a game where every encounter and extraction matters."
Although the thought process is understandable, some fans think this is the wrong idea. Given how quickly attention can shift to other games or media, some feel that Arc Raiders won't be able to sustain its player base's attention with infrequent updates.
"'Fortnite killer' they said, they really think a live service game can survive with only 2 big updates per year," said one user. "They had a massive hit, the only consistent complaint is lack of follow on content and their response is to basically drop it?" asked another user.
Live service games are all battling for the attention of players and it's extremely difficult. Fortnite had regular updates that not only add new content, but can even radically overhaul the gameplay with new mechanics and abilities. That frequency of change has ensured Fortnite has stayed relevant for almost a decade. Other games, like Battlefield 6, have also been criticized for lackluster and infrequent content updates, but things may be turning around for that game as Season 5 plans to add three maps instead of the usual two.
Arc Raiders still has a strong player base backing it, but the numbers aren't as high as they were when the game launched. When the game launched on Steam, the game consistently had several hundred thousand concurrent players or more. This number has fallen to hover at around 100k or less since the start of spring. It'll be interesting to see how these numbers change with longer gaps between big content drops or if these major updates can meet expectations.
Still, Arc Raiders will continue to get smaller updates to improve the game in-between the bi-annual content drops. Next week, Arc Raiders will get a brand new trader that offers weekly rotating unique and rare rewards. The trader will be available starting at level 25.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
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