You likely remember when Arc Raiders was initially announced as a free-to-play PvE game, with massive robotic mechs wandering post-apocalyptic battlefields in which scavengers would venture to the surface and fight. Well, that game evolved. It’s now a PvE and PvP extraction shooter, but is Arc Raiders still free to play?
Will Arc Raiders Launch Free to Play?
Unfortunately, sometime during that quiet period, developer Embark Studios went silent, working on the game in the background and turning it into an extraction shooter, which removed the free-to-play aspect of the game. It’ll now launch with a price tag, though don’t expect to pay $70 for Arc Raiders.
Related: How to Sign Up for the Arc Raiders Playtest
How Much Will Arc Raiders Cost?
While it’s undoubtedly rough news to hear a game you were excited to play and expect to enjoy for free is no longer going that route, at least it’s not an “AAAA” price tag. Arc Raiders will launch at a $40 price tag, making it more accessible than most new releases but still out of reach for some players who were previously on board.
When Does Arc Raiders Come Out?
While we don’t currently have a release date beyond “2025,” which is a rather large year with approximately 12 months, the extraction shooter may launch somewhere between January and December, if I had to guess.
For now, you can sign up for the game’s playtest on Steam. There’s no guarantee you’ll receive access, but the studio seems to host regular playtests, with the most recent ending in late October.
Will the price tag for Arc Raiders kill your hype for the game? Let us know your thoughts on the upcoming extraction shooter—and the genre as a whole—on our community forums!
If you need more big-name shooters in your life, you might like to hear about recent claims pointing toward Halo, Doom, and Gears of War collabs coming to Black Ops 6!
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