„They really listen to the community”. ARC Raiders devs impressed players with two major changes

Update (November 13)

Devs have revealed details of the first major update for ARC Raiders – North Line. The update, launching on November 13 at 1:30 am PT, will introduce a new northern region, Stella Montis. First, you'll need to unlock it during the Breaking New Ground community event. Players will work together to restore pathways to the new area and earn special currency called Merits along the way.

Participants can expect new challenges, enemies (Matriarch and Shredder), and equipment. The update kicks off "Staking Our Claim Phase II," and the whole thing is going to run until December. Following this, another update titled Cold Snap will be released.

Below, you can watch a short video showcasing the upcoming features.

Original news (November 12)

The excellent launch and growing popularity of ARC Raiders didn't make Embark Studios sit back and relax. In the latest communication, the creators of the hit extraction shooter announced a series of changes aimed at improving gameplay comfort and balancing the game's economy.

The biggest new feature is the improvement of the matchmaking system. Since the start of the week, Embark Studios has been testing out priority matchmaking for duos in the background, and now it's fully up and running.

In practice, this means that at first, competitions will be held separately for solo players and full teams, and subsequently, duos will begin to be paired with other duos, and trios with other trios. However, the devs note that the system doesn't provide a 100% guarantee, so occasionally you may encounter teams of different sizes.

Cheaper cosmetics and refunds for players

Embark Studios has also decided to lower the prices of cosmetic items in the game's store. As the developers explain:

Revised prices will go live tomorrow, Thursday the 13th, at 1:30 am PT. What's important, players who have already made purchases at the old prices will receive a refund of the difference in the form of tokens. These will be automatically added to their accounts in the coming week.

The earlier pricing (some cosmetic bundles were going for up to 2400 tokens, which is about 20 bucks) didn't really sit well with players—especially since ARC Raiders isn't a free-to-play game.

As you might have guessed, the creators' new decisions were really well-received. Under one of the Reddit posts, there were many comments where players were praising the developers for quickly responding to community feedback. One user admitted outright that they didn't know of any other company that would "lower the prices of cosmetics and compensate [the expenses] for everyone who paid the higher amount."

Raider Decks – Free and Premium, but no pay to win

By the way, the creators also mentioned some updates to the Raider deck, which is basically their version of battle passes. Right now, there is one free deck available in the game, but premium versions will be introduced in the future.

Embark Studios assures, however, that no gameplay elements will be locked behind a paywall:

Finally, the studio assured that this is just the beginning of the changes waiting for the ARC Raiders players.

ARC Raiders

October 30, 2025

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• online shooters
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