ARC Raiders CEO reveals that games like Helldivers 2 inspired them to move away from free-to-play to a more traditional model.
Embark Studios’ new extraction shooter, ARC Raiders, has cemented itself as one of the top dogs in the multiplayer shooter genre, doing so without pursuing a free-to-play model. The title’s success is apparent, with the game recently hitting 12 million sales within 2 months of release.
ARC Raiders Devs Wanted to Make the Game “Feel Like It’s Totally Worth 40 Bucks”
During a new interview with GameBeat’s Dean Takahashi (via PC Gamer), Patrick Söderlund, Embark Studios CEO, revealed why they ditched the free-to-play model for ARC Raiders. Söderlund stated that they “looked at games like Helldivers” and realised that’s the same space they want to be in, rather than releasing a free-to-play game. Söderlund adds that he is unsure whether this was the right or wrong decision, but is happy about the fact that the game is “relatively affordable”.
Söderlund then spoke about how they arrived at $40 as the game’s price point. The dev team knew that the game didn’t have a campaign, so they didn’t want the price to be a “offender for someone”. Therefore, they decided to “rather make people feel like it’s totally worth 40 bucks.” The hope is that players feel that they got value for their money, “given how much time they seem to spend in the game.”
In other news, the CEO of Embark Studios has stated they don’t want to promote PvP because “the game isn’t about shooting other players”. Additionally, ARC Raiders TV show and movie ideas are being pitched to the developers. What are your thoughts on ARC Raiders ditching free-to-play due to Helldivers 2? Leave your thoughts down in the comments, and join the official Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more information from Insider Gaming, read about Detroit: Become Human selling one million copies in two weeks. Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
