In a new interview, Embark Studios has teased a ‘spectrum’ of new maps coming to ARC Raiders this year. Fans have been getting hungry for more information as the festive freeze thaws and Embark Studios gets back into the office for 2026. The major update pipeline has run a little cold of late, and the diehard fans of the extraction adventure want more maps to explore.
Fortunately, we’re not far away from an ARC Raiders roadmap reveal. Embark has teased multiple maps coming out this year, and from what was said, players can expect a range of environments, sizes, and functions from those settings.
When is the Next ARC Raiders Map Coming?
In a recent interview with GamesRadar, design lead Virgil Watkins spoke about the past, present, and future of ARC Raiders, focusing almost entirely on the game’s map pool. The first ‘new map’ to be added to ARC Raiders was Stella Montis, a smaller, denser map focused on PvP battles, but that was already several weeks ago, and fans are chomping at the bit for more.
Watkins advised that new maps aren’t just new maps; they’re opportunities to create entirely new experiences, fresh map conditions, enemy types, and compositions. Each new map also introduces new blueprints, loot, and quests, so that’s something else to consider.
It’s not like Call of Duty, where a new map is simply a different environment to run and gun – ARC Raiders runs much deeper than that.
He said to GamesRadar:
How do we keep – not necessarily escalating all the time, but – giving you a new way of play, a new way to approach, making you make different decisions with things you’ve already been using in one context, and trying to use it in a different way in another context? And providing more options for the player, like, can zip lines now be used in this way? Or now I have a far greater user for things like mines and noise makers because of the way this level is and plays, things like that.
Watkins then teased that multiple maps are coming this year:
There are going to be multiple maps coming this year, and I think it’s going to be across a spectrum of size to try to facilitate different types of gameplay. So you might see some that are smaller, and you might see some that are even grander than what we’ve got now.
This is huge news, especially for players who appreciate the diversity of the maps we have now. From the wide, open environments of Blue Gate and Spaceport to the suffocating corridors of Stella Montis, there’s something for every type of player in ARC Raiders. Embark Studios looks as though it’s trying to expand on that concept, which is amazing.
Watkins also explained what goes into the technical side of creating these new maps:
Those are the practical side of things, and then it’s just getting into the pacing territory. How many spawns can we have? What’s their time to travel? How quickly do they collapse different locations? What’s the density of drones and players in any given spot, and loot dispersion and value concentration? That’s a bunch of stuff that comes into play when we put these spaces together.
What do you want to see from the next ARC Raiders map, or maps? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
They should do a masp inside a big mall that has been se,mi destroyed and looted by now. That could feature a lot of vartiety in size area’s, both indoor and outdoor. Like a Food court that is out doors mostly and then smaller stores mixed with something big and open like a movie theater… I cant wait for whatever this team puts out!