ARC Raiders can change its most iconic feature for the better

Embark Studios confirms that they are currently experimenting with the current team sizes in ARC Raiderssuggests that future plans may involve larger groups to overcome challenges. After a steady and predictable stream of content following the launch of ARC Raiders in August 2025, Embark Studios is preparing a number of major changes for the game going forward.

There is no debate about the success of it ARC Raiders have seen since the original launch. While the extraction shooter genre has typically been seen as more niche and often associated with hardcore gamers, Embark has seemingly defied those labels and expectations. While softening typical extraction features like seasonal wipes while adding content every month, ARC Raiders has become a smash hit for Embark, passing many sales and player milestones. Although the journey has not always been smooth, the developer wants to continue to develop the world ARC Raiders through some big changes for 2026.

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Arc Raiders: Riven Tides interactive map

Our interactive map for Riven Tides in Arc Raiders. All the main locations, weapon cases, items and ARC types found in the game.

Embark Studios is experimenting with larger ARC Raiders squad sizes

Embark has continued to press on ARC Raiders forward every month after new updates, but the studio has plans to take things even further. ARC Raiders currently supports group sizes of up to 3 players, but that seems to be about to change as executive producer Aleksander Grøndal recently confirmed in an interview with ScreenRant that the studio has been experimenting with larger team sizes. However, Grøndal quickly mentioned that nothing is official and there are no commitments at the moment. However, he went on to mention that the team is constantly thinking of new ways to “create interesting challenges that invite players to think and strategize a little differently than they're used to.”

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For now, players are left to speculate what this might mean, whether it will simply be an option to have 4 or 5 players and potentially risk upsetting the balance, or perhaps create the ever-demanding PvE experience in the form of a raid or boss fight against some massive ARC unit. The latter could refer back to ARC Raiders' previously development built as a PvE shooter. Regardless, Grøndal makes it clear ARC Raiders thrives in a sandbox environment that supports multiple ways to play, so the team prefers to keep it that way even with whatever may happen with this squad size change.

arc raiders players targeting each other while a queen looks on

This news is also part of a larger effort to develop ARC Raiders Forward. Earlier this month, Embark announced a regional pricing initiative for ARC Raidersa policy of adjusting the game's price based on the market in specific areas rather than setting a general price that is then converted to another currency.

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The biggest news about this change, however, came when Embark announced it ARC Raiders would no longer see monthly content updates. Instead, the developer is planning two major content releases per year because the previous monthly release cycle was simply not sustainable. To help Embark achieve its goals and ambitions for ARC Raidersthese updates will be much larger in scale, with October's Frozen Trail already set to be the game's biggest release yet. In addition to these major content releases, Embark has a dedicated live team that will continue to release patches, in-game events, and minor updates such as the new end-game vendor Trader launching this month.