Arc Raiders has officially launched, and like several other live-service games, the servers for the extraction shooter game are currently being overwhelmed with people attempting to log in. On Steam alone, the game has currently peaked at 153,919 players at the time of writing (via SteamDB), and that’s not even factoring in players on the Epic Games Store version or console players on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Naturally, a lot of people are getting error connection messages, with the issue being compounded by players constantly trying their luck to gain access. Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios hasn’t issued a formal statement yet, but if you’re one of the people affected by online connection errors, you may want to be patient and wait for things to die down a little.
A rocky start to online games isn’t novel these days, with numerous live-service titles all experiencing these teething pains. Helldivers 2 was an infamous example, with other games like Destiny 2 and World of Warcraft also experiencing surges in player traffic during the launch of new expansions. We haven’t even reached the weekend yet, so Arc Raiders is likely going to see even more players flock to its servers for a few days of post-apocalyptic scavenging.
This launch does bode well for the game, as it’s sandwiched between two of the biggest shooters of the year, Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Embark Studios co-founder Patrick Soderlund was recently quizzed about the launch timing, but he expressed confidence in Arc Raiders and its ability to find an audience.
In the months leading up to its release, Arc Raiders saw some pretty radical changes. Originally envisioned as a free-to-play PvE shooter, development saw Arc Raiders evolve into an extraction shooter priced at $40. The game also posted impressive numbers on Steam for its server slam test, and it looks like that early slice of Arc Raiders has won quite a few people over to it during the busiest time on the gaming calendar.
