ARC Raiders shifts to live-service updates every three weeks

Embark Studios has shifted ARC Raiders to a live-service model. The developer confirmed a regular cadence of patches arriving about every three weeks and said the studio will deliver fewer but larger expansions.

Smaller updates between those larger releases will add new content, live events, balance adjustments and bug fixes. Patch size will vary, with some updates limited to fixes and others delivering noticeable content drops.

An update released last week added an in-game trader named Ermal and the Rascal grenade launcher. Because that patch went live recently, the studio indicated a more visible update could arrive in roughly two weeks, possibly around June 9.

Datamines and leaks have pointed to upcoming map conditions, additional weapons and live events that could appear in interim patches before the larger expansions.

Major expansions will arrive on a longer cycle described internally as six months. Frozen Trails, the first of those larger expansions, is scheduled for October and is expected to include more content than previous expansions.

A new roadmap is expected soon. Following criticism from some players about the previous roadmap after the Riven Tides update, the studio plans to provide clearer timing and content details in the upcoming roadmap.