Arc Raiders Shifts to Twice-Yearly Major Updates

Embark Studios announced Wednesday a major shift in its update schedule for the popular sci-fi extraction shooter Arc Raiders, moving from monthly major content drops to twice-yearly releases to enable larger, more transformative changes.

The change follows the April release of the Riven Tides update, Arc Raiders' sixth major patch and the completion of its original 2026 roadmap. Launched on October 30, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X/S, the game quickly gained traction, peaking at 459,483 concurrent Steam players in January. Since then, Embark has delivered one major update per month for six months, introducing new maps, weapons, and progression tweaks.

Executive Producer Aleksander Grøndal explained the decision in a studio blog post. "When Arc Raiders launched, we planned to offer monthly updates. The intention was to keep you all engaged, to ensure the game always felt fresh, and to give you reasons to keep braving topside," Grøndal wrote. "But once the game was in players hands, we saw that the kind of longterm experience we want to create for Arc Raiders requires more transformative updates. Over time, we've found that the pressure of a monthly cycle...