ARC Raiders Dominates Steam Charts as Extraction Shooter Phenomenon Continues
Embark Studios has struck gold with ARC Raiders, the dystopian extraction shooter that won Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2025 and shows no signs of slowing down. The game has sold over 12 million copies worldwide as of January 2026, cementing its status as one of the year’s biggest success stories.
Between December 21 and January 4 alone, ARC Raiders moved 1.2 million copies on Steam, claiming the second-best-selling spot behind only Counter-Strike 2. The game reached a peak of over 3.5 million concurrent players across all platforms in February 2026, demonstrating remarkable staying power months after its October 30, 2025 launch.
The community reception remains overwhelmingly positive. Steam user reviews sit at 86% positive with over 165,000 reviews, praising the game’s tense PvPvE encounters and accessible extraction mechanics. PC Gamer called it “a genuinely enjoyable extraction shooter thanks to interesting weapons, beautiful maps, and unpredictable, action-packed PvPvE encounters”.
The game has received eleven major patches since launch, with version 1.11.0 arriving January 13, 2026, primarily focusing on bug fixes, gameplay exploits, and balance. Embark Studios continues rolling out monthly content updates including new maps, weather conditions, and seasonal events to keep the player base engaged.
Are you raiding topside in ARC Raiders, or still waiting to take the plunge? Share your extraction stories in the comments below.
