The PvPvE retro-futuristic extraction shooter ARC Raiders has been a gargantuan success for developer Embark Studios, with the game remaining a best seller and one of the most-played games across Xbox, Steam PC, and PS5 since it launched in late October last year. Just this week, estimates had it crossing two huge milestones, and it's barely lost any players at all in the past four months.
To say that the title has performed well would be an understatement — and according to Patrick Söderlund, former CEO of DICE and the current CEO of Embark, its dominance in the gaming market has brought the development team significant "long-term security."
"Well, you don't have to be a math professor to realize that the game has done well for us and that we're obviously incredibly happy with the performance from a financial perspective," Söderlund told IGN in a new interview. "So, of course, it's been very profitable for us. What does it mean for us?"
"Well, first and foremost, it means that — unfortunately, it's not something that I'm happy about, but our industry has been riddled with layoffs and studio closures for the past, I would say, 24 months," he continued. "At some other time, we can discuss what I believe is the root cause of that, which is going to take far longer than what we have today, but for us, it means stability, long-term security."
That stability effectively shields the devs at Embark from the prevalent and ongoing waves of video game industry cuts, he says, and the "financial security" given by ARC Raiders' success is also fueling the creation of two new games, along with growth at the studio.
"We can live for a long time on the money that ARC Raiders has been generating, and that does give financial security and employment stability for the people that work there," Söderlund explained. "We're growing our studio, we're hiring people, we want to build more of ARC Raiders, we want to build more of The Finals. We also have two new games in development that we hope to finish someday."
"So for us, it's a sigh of relief, obviously, for any developer, and we're incredibly happy for that, of course, and thankful for everyone that's been supporting us by buying the game. It feels great," he added. "Obviously, hopefully, we can have competitive salaries, good bonuses for the people that have done all this hard work and deserve to be taken care of adequately."
Söderlund didn't provide any details about what those games actually are or what they might be like, but given that both ARC Raiders and Embark's free-to-play gameshow-themed 2023 FPS The Finals are shooters, it's likely that these titles will be, too. Then again, perhaps we'll see the developer explore new ideas and genres, instead.
Regardless, fans of Embark's existing games will be happy to hear that the studio is eager to create more content for them, and that its growing the size of its team as it works to do so. With the resources ARC Raiders has pulled in, the devs can pursue their ambitions much more safely.
As for what's next for ARC Raiders, Embark released a new "Escalation" roadmap for early 2026 last month that shows fresh map conditions, map updates, new ARC PvE enemies, quests, types of gear, and more are headed to the extraction shooter between now and the end of April.
Are you a fan of ARC Raiders? How about The Finals? Are you excited to see what Embark Studios has in store for fans of both games, as well as what its next projects will be? Hit me with your takes in the comments.
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