Everyone was concerned that ARC Raiders, the hyper-popular extraction adventure title from Embark Studios, would feed into the ‘skin hype’ kickstarted years ago by games like Fortnite. It has become something of a pandemic in recent years, with military shooters generating skins and cosmetics that can be, at times, quite bizarre and out of place.
In a recent interview, Patrick Söderlund, CEO at Embark Studios, confirmed that ARC Raiders will not be getting any inane crossovers or irrelevant skins, out of a fear of diluting the game’s vision and overall image or theme.
ARC Raiders Will Not Get Fortnite-Style Skins
ARC Raiders has a sublime post-apocalyptic vibe that shines through in every skin that Embark Studios has created, even in the skins that might not hit as well with the audience. They’re authentic, grounded, and apply very nicely to the game’s aesthetic, so adding in a collaboration skin pack with another brand might not make sense, unless… Well, unless it does.
Patrick Söderlund recently spoke to IGN and offered up his two cents on the skin debate, explaining that the game’s art director, Robert Sammelin, has the driving control over the game’s cosmetics, and wants things to keep making sense going forward.
I mean, there are other games, very successful games out there – The Finals being one of them – in which the IP is designed so it basically happens to be very elastic. You can do whatever the hell you want, and people are like, ‘That makes sense. It’s completely plausible.’
I can be a pink banana, and you can be whatever, and everyone’s like, ‘That makes sense. It fits the universe. No problem.’ ARC Raiders has a more curated lore, curated world, so we have to stick within boundaries slightly to a different extent than maybe The Finals or Fortnite or another game in which Batman can shoot Bart Simpson.
He said simply, ‘That’s not the vision for our game.’ There are plans to deepen the lore of ARC Raiders, expanding it from what we already know and offering more meat to the post-apocalyptic bones, which fans are eager to soak up. At no point does a cash-grab crossover feed into that concept.
Söderlund explained how he uses ARC Raiders’ customization mechanics quite often, swapping out his gear as new items surface and keeping his appearance fresh, so this is important to him too:
That won’t change. I think that’s going to be very important. I personally never believed that I would care about what I was wearing in a video game. Listen, I’m just being very honest with you, but I’m like a child. Whenever something new comes out, I need to have it. I swap my gear. I swap my backpacks and things and charms.
ARC Raiders continues to be one of the most consistent games to emerge in recent years. It dropped at the end of October and has remained strong since, keeping up a solid player count and deep impressions across all platforms.
Have you ever had an issue with collaboration skins and bizarre outfits in games? Let us know what you’d like to see happen in ARC Raiders on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that xQc was paid $1 million to play Warzone for 12 hours
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.
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