Embark Studios is gearing up to launch the shooter ARC Raiders. The team has been watching other genre entries closely—especially Bungie’s playtest. Design Director Virgil Watkins discussed what the studio learned from player reactions to Marathon and how those lessons shaped ARC Raiders’ development.
Watkins described the Marathon playtest as “an excellent A/B test” that offered a clear point of comparison between Embark’s choices and Bungie’s.
“As far as I know, none of us anticipated it happening. For us it served as a terrific A/B test, because they made some decisions we didn’t, and vice versa. That allowed us to compare how certain approaches manifested. It was enlightening to observe what players thought of those elements—what succeeded in their context, what didn’t, and what might have worked for us.”
Watkins also praised several facets of the game he’d seen, noting, for example, that the visual style is particularly expressive.
Source: iXBT.games