ARC Raiders Will Expand Beyond The Rust Belt With Brand-New Maps (Exclusive)

ARC Raiders Will Continue Adding New Maps, Even Beyond The Rust Belt

Following its launch last October, ARC Raiders has been on a diligent schedule, releasing a major content update each month (now moving to bi-annual update schedule). Only two of these have included a new map, which "are some of the most requested features for ARC Raiders," says Grøndal. Embark will "continue to add them," in part because they're the most transformative type of new content. "That's something we're continuously discussing in the team, how to create interesting challenges that invite the players to think and strategize a bit differently than they are used to."

The new Riven Tides map is a perfect example; it "is different from the others as it both presents itself with more challenging ARC presence," says Grøndal, "as well as new types of locations to explore like the Harbor and Hotel." New locations and enemies leverage ARC Raiders' sandbox gameplay to introduce novel experiences without sacrificing the game's identity.

Riven Tides, for instance, was an exciting moment for Grøndal to see "the interplay between the new Turbine ARC and the other ARCs to see if players are being challenged in new ways."

New locales and expansions to the game world beyond the Rust Belt are considered cornerstones to ARC Raiders' continued success. As the extraction genre continues to see new entrants, like Bungie's Marathon, "[Embark's] focus is to make ARC Raiders the best game it can be, and while we look at the competition, we want to make sure that we keep improving upon what's good and fixing what isn't," Grøndal says. Continuing to build out the roster of maps seems to be the main way ARC Raiders will receive "engaging new content that feels fresh, unique, and distinctly ARC Raiders."

Embark Studios Is Preparing ARC Raiders For The Long Haul

Live service games must contend not only with competition, but simple waning interest and player dissatisfaction. As a highly requested feature, new maps are at the forefront of Embark's long-term plans for ARC Raiders. "Player feedback is very much part of our decisions here," Grøndal notes about keeping existing players on board. "Rather than chasing competitors we're committed to making ARC Raiders great and we're excited about its future."

One edge ARC Raiders has enjoyed over its genre peers is relatively short queue times, something that could conceivably become an issue as more maps are added and there are fewer players around to fill them. While Embark is confident this will not be a problem in the near future, "this is something we'll continue to monitor," Grøndal says. "Currently, it does look good, but if, for some reason in the future it does not, our backup plan is to rotate map availability like we do with conditions currently. However, this is not something we need to address at the moment."

ARC Raiders was one of 2025's biggest hits, and has enjoyed rather impressive sustained success, which Embark hopes to fuel with regular injections of new maps, though work also continues on refining existing systems, including blueprints and expeditions. The extraction shooter excels as a sandbox, letting players dictate how they engage with the game, and the prevailing design philosophy seems to be that simply adding more variety is the key to keeping players entertained. Stella Montis and Riven Tides were the two most momentous additions to ARC Raiders, but many more such occasions are on the way, and maybe one day they'll even take us beyond the Rust Belt.