ARC Raiders Ends 2025 With Another Win Over Battlefield 6

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Despite launching between two major titles – Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Battlefield 6 – ARC Raiders has proven surprisingly successful. The extraction shooter ended 2025 by continuing to hold onto 91% of its initial Steam players, while Battlefield 6 lost a significant 85% of its user base. Many predicted ARC Raiders wouldn’t succeed, but it has clearly outperformed its larger competitor.

Following the difficult launch of Battlefield 2042 in 2021, EA and DICE completely revamped their approach and delivered a strong return to form with Battlefield 6 last year. Critics have lauded the game for its refined multiplayer, impressive visuals, and fresh gameplay features. Since its October release, DICE has consistently updated Battlefield 6 with new maps, weapons, and game modes. EA announced that Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025, but quickly, attention turned to the new game ARC Raiders.

Despite facing development challenges and predictions of failure due to its release being scheduled between two major shooters, ARC Raiders has become a significant success for Embark Studios. Currently, the game has “very positive” reviews on Steam and a Metacritic score of 86. Its popularity was even recognized with the award for Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2025, where it beat out titles like Battlefield 6, Split Fiction, Peak, and Elden Ring Nightreign.

ARC Raiders Keeps 91% of Its Playerbase as Battlefield 6 Loses 85%

Despite a strong start in October, Battlefield 6 has seen a significant drop in players. According to data from SteamDB, the game has lost 85% of its Steam users since launch, falling from a peak of over 747,000 concurrent players on October 10th to just 113,000 recently. Meanwhile, ARC Raiders has proven more resilient, retaining 91% of its initial player base after peaking at over 481,000 players in November and recently reaching 439,000. It’s important to note that these numbers only reflect Steam players, and Battlefield 6 may still be more popular on consoles like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

It’s hard to pinpoint one reason why ARC Raiders has become so popular, but its easy-to-pick-up gameplay within the extraction shooter genre and consistent updates are likely key factors. The developers at Embark plan to support ARC Raiders for a decade, and they’ve already had a strong start with two major updates recently. The first, called North Line, added the Stella Montis map, which has quickly become a favorite for player-versus-player combat, though players still need to watch out for dangerous ARC enemies like the Shredder. In December, the highly awaited Cold Snap update arrived, introducing a new map condition, event, quests, and more customization options.

Now that we’re in 2026, fans of ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6 can anticipate a lot of new content throughout the year. While Embark hasn’t shared its plans yet, DICE has given players a preview of what’s coming for Battlefield 6. The studio is already well into planning future updates, focusing on improving gameplay, balance, and overall player experience in Multiplayer, REDSEC, and Portal. They’re working on new maps, weapons, seasons, and even a Solos mode for REDSEC.

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2026-01-01 17:04