At an early stage the project didn’t appear promising.
Today the extraction shooter ARC Raiders enjoys considerable popularity, but during development many doubted the project. Embark Studios recently released a documentary in which the game’s art director shared a story about his child’s reaction to the concept.
Robert Sammelin recalls:
We wanted to build something that was truly our own. Everyone had ideas for fantastical worlds with a sci-fi bent — it’s a comfortable, popular direction — but the real challenge was carving out our own path.
Several sci-fi titles were already on the market. Embark Studios was by no means the first to pitch a shooter in that setting, so Sammelin’s child was unimpressed:
Even my kid, who was twelve at the time, reacted like this: “Oh, a new studio? A sci‑fi game? How ‘original.’”
Nonetheless, ARC Raiders went on to become a hit.
Source: iXBT.games