“Arc Raiders Developers Aimed to Stand Apart from Rockstar at Launch While Taking on Call of Duty”

After a strategic shift to a $40 premium price tag, largely influenced by Helldivers 2, the developers at Embark faced a tough decision: should they postpone the release? Studio CEO and Battlefield veteran Patrick Söderlund noted that several major titles loomed over their launch plans, with none more significant than Rockstar’s GTA 6, which they wanted to avoid being near.

In a conversation with an outlet, Söderlund reflected on the timing discussions for Arc Raiders. “When we talked about moving the game, the first topic was obviously GTA,” he mentioned.

“We didn’t want to be near them. I don’t think anyone wanted to be near them. We were waiting for their release announcement, and once that was clear, we felt we could set our date. We had a good sense that Battlefield would launch around that time, and we knew Call of Duty would release roughly when it always does.”

GTA 6 was delayed again last November, now set for November 2026.

The presence of former Battlefield talent at Embark adds an interesting twist to the narrative, especially considering that Battlefield 6 outshone Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in 2025. Arc Raiders, which was “intentionally” positioned between these two FPS titans, ended up dominating the end of the year, becoming the top-selling game on Steam during the holiday season.

“As we started to see more of Battlefield 6, we thought it looked promising; we didn’t see much of Call of Duty,” Söderlund added. “But ultimately, we felt the game was ready for launch.”

Positioning Arc Raiders between two established franchises like Battlefield and Call of Duty may have actually benefited the game, according to Söderlund. (That $40 price point likely played a role as well.)

“We also believed we could compete in a different way,” he stated. “We didn’t think it was a Battlefield clone, but that the game had enough uniqueness to stand on its own.”

“We felt the game was offering something very different from those other titles, and we had strong KPIs from our last technical test. We conducted a final test just before launch, which we called Server Slam, that provided us with more data to feel confident about launching.”

“What a ride”: Arc Raiders has just hit an estimated 12 million copies sold and set a new record for active players two months post-launch.