ARC Raiders Changes Updates: Two Per Year

Is it better to have large updates spaced far apart, or more frequent but smaller updates? This question is particularly delicate for games conceived as a service, due to the need to maintain high user engagement in the long term. It's no coincidence that titles like Destiny 2 or The Elder Scrolls Online have abandoned the annual update model in favor of a more flexible system. Yet, there are also those moving in the opposite direction.

How ARC Raiders Updates Are Changing

ARC Raiders was designed to receive updates monthly and has so far achieved enormous success: so, why change? Its developer, the Swedish Embark Studios, explains it in a message. The need to release new content every month is too pressing, preventing them from implementing the transformations the shooter needs, and it's not sustainable in the long run. Hence the decision to modify the strategy: ARC Raiders is moving to two major annual updates.

Small patches to fix bugs, balance gameplay, etc., will continue to be released regularly, but for major new features, waiting times will obviously be longer. According to Embark, ARC Raiders will benefit from this change in the long term. The next major update, called Frozen Trail, will be released in October and will be the biggest the game has ever received.

It remains to be seen whether users will welcome the change positively or not: choosing to adopt a less frequent update model, and moreover impacting a successful formula, represents a significant risk for Embark Studios. But regardless of how the updates are structured, the game itself deserves the attention of shooter enthusiasts, as we explain in our ARC Raiders review.