No one at Embark could describe Arc Raiders before its extraction shooter pivot, leading to 'playtest battles' of competing directions for the game

No one at Embark could describe Arc Raiders before its extraction shooter pivot, leading to ‘playtest battles’ of competing directions for the game | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these FPS Marathon’s aura-farming NPCs show just how bland and lifeless Arc Raiders’ AI-voiced characters really are FPS The Marathon server slam consumed my weekend: 21 hours later, I’ve gone from ‘meh’ to believer FPS Marathon ignores extraction shooter ‘rules’ and is better for it Adventure Making Dispatch was motivated by ‘a mix of arrogance and stupidity,’ its creative directors say FPS Highguard’s failure is emblematic of something that has tormented videogame investors for years now: past live service hits do not equal future live service hits FPS Is Marathon’s time-to-kill too fast, or am I too Arc Raiders-pilled? Third Person Shooter Everything that happens when you do an Expedition Project in Arc Raiders FPS Highguard didn’t flop FPS If you’re hoping to make friends in Marathon like you can in Arc Raiders, expect a knife in the back Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ matchmaking isn’t ‘binary’, says design lead: ‘There’s no such thing as a friendly lobby or an aggressive lobby’ Third Person Shooter Embark explains why it jacked up the cost of crafting Wolfpacks in Arc Raiders, concedes some players aren’t happy about it Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ contentious ‘aggression-based matchmaking’ isn’t just smart, but absolutely necessary Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders roadmap: All upcoming content and updates Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ Shrouded Sky added lots of cool new toys, but my favourite part is the new quality-of-life features that have flown under the radar FPS Laid-off Highguard developer cuts loose on the reaction to the infamous Game Awards reveal trailer: ‘We were turned into a joke from minute one’ PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!MarathonArc RaidersBest PC gearQuizzes Games Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders No one at Embark could describe Arc Raiders before its extraction shooter pivot, leading to ‘playtest battles’ of competing directions for the game News By Rory Norris published 12 March 2026 “A lot of games would have been cancelled at this point.” When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Embark) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Embark has not shied away from discussing its original plans for Arc Raiders, which were drastically different from what ultimately emerged. It was supposed to be a more PvE-focused game before it became the extraction shooter hit it is today.We stopped forcing the game [or games] we wanted, and we looked at the game we had.Caio BragaIn a GDC talk, Arc Raiders production director Caio Braga went into more detail about the direction—more accurately, directions—the team explored early on. Braga explained that when he joined the team in 2020, no one could give him a clear idea of what the game actually was.”You’d ask someone who would say it was a battle royale versus Arc, or it’s a co-op Shadow of the Colossus game, or it’s a hero looter shooter…our Arc developers thought the game was a co-op Souls game.” For Braga, he saw it as a boss fight race with obstacles.Article continues below You may like Arc Raider’s defining feature, according to Embark’s CEO, is all the odd player interactions: ‘We did not expect people to take on roles of Defender of the Swamp’ Arc Raiders full interview: ‘Nobody whatsoever thought we’d have this many players’ Embark admits Arc Raiders’ bosses are dying too fast because ‘they’re not intended for the full server to go up against’ and ‘we gave players too effective abilities’ Because of Embark’s structure and philosophy during development, the team was very autonomous: “Everyone in the team could do what they believed the game was”. Of course, with so many different ideas about what Arc Raiders was, the project was pulled in many different directions at the same time. It sounds like the proverbial ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’. THE GAME AWARDS 2021: ARC Raiders World Premiere Gameplay Trailer – YouTube Watch On Braga recalled playtests where they’d try out a feature, only to have the next test undermine it. The weapons team would make weapons that could melt Arc, and the team behind the machines’ intricate AI would up the Arc: