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Any hope of an official Arc Raiders release date has seemed on rocky ground for some time. Originally announced in 2021, the third-person survival shooter has now been on the wind for a while. But if you’re a gamer who wants a title offering hope, resistance, and PvEvP, then the latest news is more encouraging.
The Gamescom 2024 teaser trailer for Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders game launched it back into gaming consciousness. And it also gave a bit of a push to a timeline for the project. So when can you help to bring hope and “resist” the Arc? Here’s the information we have on the expected Arc Raiders release window, platforms, news, gameplay, and more so far.
Arc Raiders Expected Release Date
Expected in 2025 with the exact date TBA
While there’s no official Arc Raiders release date at this moment, we do know when its release is intended. The teaser trailer from Gamescom shows Embark Studios is shooting for a 2025 release. That at least pins down the year, while the extra information is that playtesting starts “this fall”.
Beyond this information, only speculation can point to a month or a potential release date. Previous releases don’t provide any insight either: Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios has three projects listed on its website, and only one of those has so far been released, with The Finals released in December 2023.
With Arc Raiders releasing in 2025, it could be December that it emerges. However, there’s nothing to even suggest Arc Raiders’ expected release date at this point. Embark Studios is the team behind The Finals, with the destruction-based team shooter still going strong. We’ll keep you posted on any new information that comes to light as soon as it’s hot off the press.
Arc Raiders Pre-orders
Pre-orders are not yet live for Arc Raiders at this time
Arc Raiders pre-orders aren’t available at the current time. We’ll only get a pre-order program for the title once a release date and price are confirmed. That information traditionally arrives together once a production and release schedule has been set. Once we have information about pre-orders for Arc Raiders, we’ll bring that information to you, along with any bonuses that may be available.
Arc Raiders Price
Arc Raiders is rumored to cost $40
As with Arc Raiders pre-orders and release date, pricing will only become official once a release schedule has been set by the publisher.
However, there have been suggestions from reputable sources that the Arc Raiders base price will be $40 (via Sports Illustrated). Further, at Gamescom Opening Night Live, Embark updated that the previously free-to-play focus for the game had shifted to a premium model.
Embark Producer Aleksander Grøndal actually explained the change at a press briefing in early August, explaining, “You may remember that we first intended for Arc Raiders to be a free-to-play game. After careful assessment, we decided the premium business model is a great fit for the experience that we’re building.”
As reported by PCGamer, Grøndal explained, “For free-to-play games, they need to strike a careful balance between providing engaging content and encouraging players to make purchases. For Arc Raiders, this shift will allow us to focus more on the engagement, fun, and impact on choices with regards to how the game evolves over time. So we can optimize differently in this game, and give out more rewards as the player progresses, as an example.”
Arc Raiders Platforms
Confirmed for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
Arc Raiders platforms list includes consoles and PCs, with the title coming to Microsoft Windows computers, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. This can clearly be seen on the homepage of the official Arc Raiders site, and is similar to Embark’s title, The Finals, with the exclusion of GeForce Now. The title is not coming to Xbox One or PlayStation 4 consoles.
Arc Raiders Trailers
Several trailers have been released showcasing setting and gameplay
To date, we’ve had three official Arc Raiders trailers. The first, the reveal and gameplay trailer, was released on December 10, 2021. It shared some lore and showed a dystopian version of the future Earth, where resistance against the threat of the ‘Arc’ was the core focus of the title.
With the background music of the iconic ‘Dancing On My Own’ by Swedish artist Robyn, Arc Raiders gameplay seemingly prioritized Battlefront-esque explosive, gun-toting shootouts with players racing across debris-strewn battlefields. This made sense for the then free-to-play co-op shooter. But we’ve since had Helldivers 2, and perhaps that impacted a change in tack.
The second trailer, focusing on the Arc Raiders closed alpha, arrived June 16, 2023. This trailer developed the lore around the now extraction-shooter elements. Telling a story of survival through community resistance, wariness of machines, and warning of unscrupulous raiders, it showed pre-alpha footage and glimpses of the supply-gathering and gameplay choices to be faced.
The Gamescom 2024 teaser trailer arrived on August 20. At less than a minute long, it opens with the question, “Where do we go from here?” While cinematic and possible in-game engine footage look very sharp, it offers us an epic, understated but almost unsettling musical score alongside a series of exploratory and uncertain scenes facing raiders.
Towards the close, almost wild-west element surfaces as two raiders face-off, pistols drawn. Yet Arc Raiders’ core ‘resistance-focused hope’ lore in the game appears to have survived the journey. The full monologue throughout the trailer says:
“Where do we go from here?
You’ve told us nothing of this place.
Look at us now.
Raiders…playing with fire.
Everything to lose.
Even more to gain.”
Latest Arc Raiders News
Confirmed release year of 2025 and change of genre
Having been in quiet development since 2021, the latest Arc Raiders news is its official release year of 2025. The Gamescom 2024 teaser trailer re-launched the title into the collective games community consciousness, also bringing a big change or two with it.
Arc Raiders gameplay loop is no longer a co-op shooter but rather a survival extraction experience. Additionally, it will no longer use a free-to-play model. Instead, it is to be a ‘premium’ title, arriving with an expected $40 price for the base game.
While a release date or window is not yet known, a playtest will take place in the Fall of 2024. More information about the game, including the potential for new Arc Raiders leaks, may come to light soon.
Arc Raiders System Requirements
The system requirements are yet to be announced
Arc Raiders’ system requirements for PC are currently unknown. The Steam page for the game has “TBD” across minimum and recommended specifications, so there’s only speculation available. However, initial system requirements for the title may become available during the upcoming Arc Raiders playtest – if that information isn’t subject to NDA.
However, we can use The Finals as a rough idea of what to expect from Arc Raiders, as it is likely that the two games will require a similarly powerful system for optimal play. Below are the listed system requirements for this older game as an indication of the tech you could need to power Arc Raiders.
| Component | Minimum Settings | Recommended Settings |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-6600K / AMD Ryzen R5 1600 | Intel Core i5-9600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti / AMD Radeon RX 580 | Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 / AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT |
| RAM | 12GB DDR4 | 16GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 17GB HDD | 17GB SSD |
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
What is Arc Raiders?
Arc Raiders is the second project by Embark Studios, creators of The Finals. It is described as a premium-priced, third-person PvEvP survival extraction shooter set in a dystopian future version of Earth. Players play as human raiders, survivors in the colony of Speranza, seeking vital supplies as well as hope among the ongoing threat of the mechanized ‘Arc’ also roaming the planet.
Not all survivors are to be trusted in the game, adding an extra level of threat while seeking supplies. And while the full lore and Arc Raiders gameplay elements of the title are yet to be fully detailed, the playtest (and future official releases) are sure to add to the little that is known of the existing world in-game.
The Bottom Line
While there are few concrete Arc Raiders details at this time, everything that’s been shown of the game has been positive from the worldbuilding to the character design and how the title function. It definitely looks like a step up from the world of The Finals, hence the premium price tag instead of the free-to-play model. We’re looking forward to playing this one when it drops sometime in 2025.
