Towards the end of December, ARC Raiders’ first ‘Expedition Project’ went live, allowing players to leave the game’s map behind and reset their accounts in search of a fresh playthrough. It’s a balancing mechanic that allows players another go around at the game, and it’s set to recur once every two or three months.
The optional mechanic was explored by more than one million players, Embark Studios recently revealed. Given the game has sold an estimated 12 million copies, that means just 8% of players carried out the optional account wipe.
Embark Will Evolve The Expedition Project
ARC Raiders is still sitting at the top of the extraction table, for now. It dropped back in October 2025 and quickly became a stellar, award-winning game adored by millions of players. The exposure the game received on streaming and social platforms was unparalleled, and it’s still beating some of the traditional games in the space at the time of writing.
In December, ARC Raiders players everywhere were invited to complete the game’s first Expedition Project. This optional step requires players to collect scores of specific items to build an ‘escape caravan’, migrating away from the game’s safe zone and walking off into the sunset.
They’re then handed a fresh character and must go back through the game again, this time with a few buffs acquired via the Expedition Project process.
In a recent interview, Embark Studios revealed that ‘a little over a million players’ completed that first Expedition. That represents a relatively small minority, per sales estimates. There were a few issues with the Expedition Project, such as the grind required to get there and tick the final boxes to unlock all the benefits, so that likely explains why so few players completed the task.
Many players had an issue with the hefty requirements to unlock the five free skill points handed down upon the launch of a successful Expedition. They were charged with collecting a whopping five million credits in stash value, translated into one free skill point per one million credits.
This is one of the areas that Embark is working on, per the recent interview with PCGamesN:
One of the bigger topics of feedback was the requirements for the final stage to get the skill points, and probably going out a bit too late with that information, because we wanted to hold off until we could calibrate it around the actual economy of the player base, rather than trying to guess really early on.
So then, when we chose the number, which was the five million credits for the full thing, we set that as an aspirational goal that some players might achieve. But then I think a lot of players took that as like, ‘Well, now I have to do that to get it.
It was then confirmed that around 35% or 40% of players running the Expedition Project received the full allotment of free skill points. The team also confirmed that they’re examining the Expedition process from every angle, scrutinizing the data and looking for opportunities to improve it.
Did you manage to wipe your account in ARC Raiders with the full allotment of bonuses? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the recent drama with Fallout 76 in Japan
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
I didn’t even bother with it. Having to grind 5 million in asset value while dealing with rats in every session wasn’t worth it in amy way shape or form. I was basically grinding that value 1 item per session, whatever I could shove in my safe pocket before getting sniped.
I might try the next one now that it seems behavior matchmaking is real, since I prefer shooting ARC over fighting other players over scraps.