Embark wants bigger ARC Raiders updates, but is it a mistake?

For a lot of live service games, the usual routine is easy to predict. A patch drops every few weeks, a few balance tweaks land, maybe a new item shows up, and players jump in for a couple of days before moving on again. Embark now wants to take ARC Raiders in a different direction. The studio has confirmed that the game is moving away from monthly major updates and switching to a new schedule: two big updates per year.

According to Embark, monthly releases started becoming a problem. The team felt the short turnaround wasn't giving them enough time to create updates that actually changed the experience in a meaningful way. Smaller fixes, events, balancing, and live support are still staying around, but the major content drops are now becoming much larger expansion-style updates instead of smaller monthly releases.

The first test for this new plan arrives in October 2026 with Frozen Trail, and Embark is making some pretty big promises around it. The update is expected to bring the largest map in the game's history, fresh ARC enemies, expanded progression systems, improvements to the skill tree, more gear and weapons, plus new story details about the origins of ARC itself. On paper, it sounds more like a mini-expansion than a regular seasonal patch.

Bigger drops or dangerous waiting periods?

Now comes the big question: is this actually a smart move from Embark, or could it backfire?

There are good arguments on both sides. Plenty of players are tired of live service games dropping tiny updates that barely move the needle. A bigger patch every six months could give people real reasons to return. Instead of logging in for a small event and leaving a day later, players might come back for something that feels substantial.

But there is another side to it too. Six months is a long time in gaming. If Frozen Trail lands and turns out massive, packed with content and reasons to grind, Embark could look like it made the right call. If players log in and find something that feels too small after waiting half a year, people may start getting that dangerous feeling every online game wants to avoid: that the game has gone quiet.

The pressure is now fully on Frozen Trail. It doesn't just need to be good. It needs to feel worth the wait.

If you're planning to jump into ARC Raiders or return when Frozen Trail launches, use our price comparison tool to find the best deals on ARC Raiders and save some cash before heading back into the fight.