Arc Raiders is finally out, and despite the developers acknowledging the “insanity” of launching the game between Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7, those concerns appear to be unfounded. The extraction shooter has debuted to strong early reviews on Steam, and even with a $40 price tag, it has managed to surpass developer Embark’s previous free-to-play title, The Finals, in terms of sheer player count.
According to SteamDB, Arc Raiders has reached a peak concurrent player count of 263,739—a number that is still climbing. In fact, the figure has increased multiple times even as this article was being written. This remarkable player count currently places Arc Raiders as the fourth most-played game on Steam, trailing only titans like Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Battlefield 6.
It’s important to note that this Steam-based player count doesn’t even account for those playing on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, meaning the total audience is likely even larger.
Originally announced as a free-to-play game, Embark made a strategic decision to launch Arc Raiders as a premium title priced at $40. That move appears to have paid off handsomely. For comparison, Embark’s previous game, The Finals, peaked at a concurrent player count of 242,619 on a free-to-play model, slightly below Arc Raiders’ still-growing numbers.
Early player feedback for Arc Raiders remains positive as well. Although the full game has only been available for a few hours, the first several thousand Steam reviews show an 89% positive rating. Most of the negative comments revolve around the game’s cosmetic pricing, which features skins costing as much as $20 each.
As the days follow launch, it will be interesting to see how the community responds to Arc Raiders’ monetization approach and whether the game’s gameplay depth can sustain long-term player engagement. For now, though, Arc Raiders has made a very impressive debut.
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/third-person-shooter/arc-raiders-launches-to-over-260-000-concurrent-players-and-88-percent-positive-early-reviews-on-steam-outdoing-the-finals-even-at-usd40/
