Arc Raiders has introduced that it’ll solely have two huge content material updates yearly, a lot to the dismay of gamers. In a new blog post, Embark Studios revealed that it’ll launch the subsequent huge Arc Raiders replace, Frozen Path, in October. This is not going to solely add new places to discover, but additionally new enemies, new expansions to the story and lore, and updates to the sport’s development programs. It is clear that Embark’s ambition is to ship one thing expansive and deep in a single burst versus drip feeding content material all year long.
The studio confirmed that will probably be on a bi-annual schedule for future content material updates.
“Going ahead, we have made the choice to launch main updates twice a yr – bigger in scale, extra impactful, with the objective to genuinely change the way you play the sport,” reads the weblog put up. “Don’t fear, a devoted dwell service workforce will proceed operating ARC Raiders day-to-day: common dwell updates, plus steadiness fixes, bug fixes, retailer updates, and participant occasions aren’t going anyplace.
“This extra growth area additionally permits us to take a position extra deeply within the well being of ARC Raiders, from development and financial system balancing to truthful play and anti-cheat efforts. We all know these are foundational to the expertise, particularly in a sport the place each encounter and extraction issues.”
Though the thought course of is comprehensible, some followers suppose that is the flawed thought. Given how rapidly consideration can shift to different video games or media, some really feel that Arc Raiders will not have the ability to maintain its participant base’s consideration with rare updates.
“‘Fortnite killer’ they stated, they actually suppose a dwell service sport can survive with solely 2 huge updates per yr,” said one user. “That they had a huge hit, the one constant criticism is lack of observe on content material and their response is to mainly drop it?” asked another user.
Dwell service video games are all battling for the eye of gamers and it is extraordinarily tough. Fortnite had common updates that not solely add new content material, however may even radically overhaul the gameplay with new mechanics and skills. That frequency of change has ensured Fortnite has stayed related for nearly a decade. Different video games, like Battlefield 6, have additionally been criticized for lackluster and rare content material updates, however issues could also be turning round for that sport as Season 5 plans so as to add three maps as an alternative of the same old two.
Arc Raiders nonetheless has a robust participant base backing it, however the numbers aren’t as excessive as they had been when the sport launched. When the sport launched on Steam, the sport persistently had a number of hundred thousand concurrent gamers or extra. This quantity has fallen to hover at round 100k or much less for the reason that begin of spring. It will be attention-grabbing to see how these numbers change with longer gaps between huge content material drops or if these main updates can meet expectations.
Nonetheless, Arc Raiders will proceed to get smaller updates to enhance the sport in-between the bi-annual content material drops. Subsequent week, Arc Raiders will get a model new dealer that provides weekly rotating distinctive and uncommon rewards. The dealer might be out there beginning at degree 25.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s information workforce. He covers all issues leisure, together with gaming, movie, and extra. You could find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.