Arc Raiders was announced back in 2021 as a free-to-play co-op third-person shooter, and has been delayed several times since. That's partly because Embark Studios' other in-development game, The Finals, progressed faster than planned and stole its momentum. It's also because it was re-tooled at some point as a PvPvE extraction shooter.
Now it's back again, aiming for release next year, and it's been re-tooled a little more: it's no longer free-to-play. In Arc Raiders - or ARC Raiders, if I'm feeling generous - you're a survivor in an underground colony. The ARC are deadly machines who rule the surface.
As a scavenger, you go on sorties in search of supplies at the behest of traders and quest givers back home, working with or against other players to make it back home with the goods. It's now a "$40 premium title", according to Embark. "There are many reasons for this change, and they all boil down to our conviction that a premium business model is a better fit for the type of game we’re building.
A premium model allows us to create a more focused, balanced, and engaging action-survival experience." Embark are also planning on running a couple of beta tests in the near future, beginning with a tech test between October 24th and 27th. You can sign up for that now via its Steam page .
I'm glad of the change away from free-to-play. I truly love The Finals , but its business model makes its continued existence feel perilous given its inevitably dwindling player numbers. For mor.