ARC Raiders Developers Discuss Burnout From Live-Service Support

Embark underestimated the strain brought by the popularity of ARC Raiders.

The popularity of ARC Raiders proved to be a serious challenge for Embark Studios. In an interview with Game Developer, Executive Producer Aleksander Grøndal admitted that the team underestimated the workload associated with continuously supporting a live-service game:

“I mentally prepared myself for it being hard, but I wasn’t prepared for how hard it would actually be.”

Aleksander Grøndal

According to Grøndal, following the release, the developers tried to maintain a monthly schedule of major updates and constantly took on more than they could handle. At the same time, players still lacked new content, and a significant portion of time went toward fixing bugs, exploits, and handling other technical tasks. As a result, fatigue and dissatisfaction grew within the team.

“Eventually we asked ourselves: ‘Why are we doing this?’ Everything pointed to the fact that we worked better before release, so we need to lean into our strengths.”

Aleksander Grøndal

"Why are we doing this?" ARC Raiders creators discuss burnout from live-service game support — Image source: Embark Studios

Back in May, Embark decided to step away from that rat race and shifted to two major releases per year. The first major release under the new schedule will be Frozen Trail, the largest update for ARC Raiders, which will launch on October 8, 2026. On October 13, the studio will also launch a playtest for a separate PvE mode. If players show interest in it, the mode may be kept on a permanent basis.

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