Arc Raiders finished its “Server Slam” test with a high peak in concurrent players on Steam, suggesting a forceful launch is coming.
The open game Server Slam took place over the weekend on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. It offered the last chance to play Embark Studios’ extraction shooter before its October 30 release date.
On Steam, Arc Raiders reached a peak concurrent player count of 189,668, making it one of the most played games on Valve’s platform over the weekend. That’s enough to make Arc Raiders the biggest extraction shooter in Steam history. However, Escape from Tarkov may have something to say about it when it finally arrives on Steam in November.
The actual maximum number of concurrent players for Arc Raiders on all platforms will be higher than the number of players on Steam, but neither Epic, Sony nor Microsoft have made these numbers public.
Still, 190,000 on Steam for an open beta is a lot. Battlefield 6 isn’t forceful – over half a million players took part in its open beta in August – but it’s certainly forceful enough to suggest that Arc Raiders has a good chance of making an impression on the gaming market at the end of the month.
Server Slam allowed players to test out the Dam Battlegrounds map to gain hands-on experience with the game’s progression, crafting, and questing system. It’s designed to aid Embark “challenge and strengthen the game’s servers ahead of launch,” which hopefully means everything will work as it should on launch day. All participants earned an exclusive cosmetic reward in the form of the “Server Slammer” backpack, unlocked after launching the full game. However, progress from a server attack does not carry over.
Embark Studios’ previous free-to-download shooter The Finals is still available, although the number of concurrent players on Steam is significantly different from its explosive December 2023 launch.
Wesley is the news director at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wy100@proton.me.
