The extraction shooter Arc Raiders has experienced a resurgence in player activity, achieving its highest player count in six months. This surge follows the release of the "Frozen Trails" update and a promotional free weekend, strategies employed by developer Embark Studios to re-engage its player base.
The "Frozen Trails" update, which launched on October 8 and upgraded the game to version 2.0, introduced a new map, new weapons, and new enemy types. This content drop was accompanied by a free weekend event, which aimed to attract new players to the game's player-versus-environment-versus-player (PvEvP) format.
According to data from Alinea Analytics' Rhys Elliott, player numbers across all platforms peaked around October 14, with approximately 1.7 million daily players. While the free weekend, which concluded on October 12, brought in around 150,000 new players, the player count continued to climb after the trial period ended. The update and free weekend also coincided with the game's largest discount to date, offering a 50% price reduction to $19.99. In the three days following the free trial, Arc Raiders sold an additional 150,000 copies, generating approximately $3 million before microtransactions.
Embark Studios has also indicated openness to splitting the game's core PvEvP gameplay into separate PvE and PvP modes, a move that could potentially foster further player engagement. This discussion follows a PvE test event held between October 13 and October 20.
Separately, the production company behind the film "Backrooms" is working on film and television adaptations of both Arc Raiders and Embark's other title, The Finals, with the developer involved in the projects.