Extraction shooter from The Finals studio follows Helldivers 2 and Concord by ditching free-to-play ahead of 2025 launch: "We can give out more rewards" this way

Arc Raiders was revealed in 2021 as a free-to-play, third-person co-op shooter from the former Battlefield and Battlefront folks at new studio Embark. After multiple delays it has now evolved into a full-fat, premium model extraction shooter blending PvPvE and eyeing a 2025 release date. 

Once positioned as Embark's debut title, Arc Raiders is now the game that will follow The Finals, a free-to-play PvP shooter that was praised for fast gunplay and detailed level destruction following its 2023 release. Embark says it's coming to PC (Steam, Epic, and streaming via Nvidia GeForce Now), PS5, and Xbox Series X|S next year, with the first tech test coming to Steam on October 24 - 27 this year. 

It's nice to have a new release window at long last, and the expansion into a more extraction shooter-standard mix of PvP and (three-player) co-op play may intrigue fans of games like Escape from Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown 1896. But the headliner here is arguably the jump to a premium model, with Arc Raiders echoing the likes of Helldivers 2 and Concord by jumping right over free-to-play. 

Embark discussed this decision at a presentation attended by GamesRadar+. Executive producer Aleksander Grondal reasoned that "that different business models are suitable for different types of games," and free-to-play didn't feel right for Arc Raiders. 

"For the game we're building, we looked at that game and we felt that it became clear to us that it operates much better in a premium model than a free-to-play model," he said. "It's a better game for it. This is not just a pure business decision. It's also something that the developers on our team have been telling us. They feel like it's more of that type of game. That's one part of it. The other part is that free-to-play games have 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 and fun and the impact and choices