Archers the game has only been out for a day, and it has already surpassed its peak concurrent player count on Steam of 264,673, making it one of the biggest extraction shooters to ever appear on Valve’s platform.
Given Arc Raiders completed its recent “Server Slam” playtest with a enormous number of players on Steamdeveloper Embark Studio has likely prepared for a launch day that will be surprising. And that’s good, because it’s one of the biggest games on Steam right now; only Battlefield 6, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, PUBG and viral hit Escape from Duckov achieved larger 24-hour highs.
This means that in the last 24 hours, more people played Arc Raiders on Steam than free-to-play titles like Apex Legends AND Marvel Rivals.
The real player count for Arc Raiders will obviously be higher than Steam’s player count, as the game also released on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. Neither Sony nor Microsoft publicly share player numbers. It’s also worth remembering that Arc Raiders was released mid-week, so player numbers are expected to boost as the first weekend rolls around. For now, we can say that the launch on Steam is really impressive, with Arc Raiders receiving a “very positive” user rating after over 8,800 reviews.
It will be captivating to see how Arc Raiders fares when perhaps one of its biggest competitors, Escape from Tarkovwill debut on Steam next month. Another key competitor may be Marathon. Arc Raiders’ design director previously said it was coincidental timing for Bungie’s extraction shooter to start testing around the same time as its own, calling it a “great A/B test for us.”
Earlier this week Embark insisted he wasn’t worried about Arc Raiders appearing in between Battlefield 6 AND Call of Duty: Black Ops 7emphasizing, “We believe the game can launch there.”
Vikki Blake is an IGN reporter, critic, columnist and consultant with over 15 years of experience working with some of the world’s largest gaming sites and publications. She is also a Guardian, a Spartan, a Silent Hillian, a Legend, and an eternally High Chaos. Find her on Blue Sky.
