Arc Raider's low price is thanks to Helldivers 2

Before Arc Raiders took over the world, overshadowing juggernauts like Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty Black Ops 7, we had Helldivers 2. Arrowhead's co-op shooter showed that working with other people to bring democracy to bugs, bots and octopuses can be a lot of fun. While consistency has been an issue with the game, everyone agreed that the $40 price tag was well worth it. Embark hoped to follow the same trend with the Arc Raiders.

The extraction shooter is currently bigger than most other shooters and has managed to hold on to its player count unlike any other game. When asked about the $40 price, CEO Patrick Soderlund revealed that the studio followed the same formula as Arrowhead, so the lower price made sense.

Helldivers And Raiders Unite!

Two Helldivers hug in front of an orange sky.

“It's something we discussed when the game went from free-to-play to a traditional business model. We basically looked at games like Helldivers and other games and decided, 'OK, that's where we're going to sit,'” Söderlund said in a conversation with GamesBeat's Dean Takahashi (thanks, Eurogamer).

“We made that decision, whether it was right or wrong is debatable. I like the fact that the game is relatively affordable and that people can come in and try the game,” he added. Obviously, the number of players for the game has proven that it was the right decision. The lower price also played a big role in getting so many players into the game.

An Arc Raiders raider pointing a gun at a red light.

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“We'd rather make people feel like it's worth a total of 40 bucks. I hope that people, given how much time they seem to be spending in the game, feel like we've given them value for money,” Söderlund continued. “That's where we want to be.” It's clear that the game has been worth $40, as the number of players has managed to stay relatively high since launch.

Unfortunately, Helldivers 2 has struggled with performance issues that break the momentum for new content drop. One of the recent updates managed to bring the game's size down to just 23GB, which was welcomed by fans, but most players just want bugs and performance issues fixed for now.