ARC Raiders player count keeps falling — major Frozen Trail update arrives October 8

Almost a year after launch, ARC Raiders has lost a noticeable share of its Steam audience. According to SteamDB, the game’s all-time peak hit 481,966 concurrent players in November 2025, while daily peaks now hover around 25,000–30,000.

Comparing the current player count directly with the all-time record isn’t quite fair: peak figures are heavily influenced by launch, major updates, weekends and time of day. Average monthly trends are more telling. According to Steam Charts, ARC Raiders averaged about 171,000 concurrent players in February, 61,000 in May, 28,700 in July and around 23,200 in August. Over the past 30 days, the average has been roughly 21,500.

These figures cover Steam only. ARC Raiders is also available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and the Epic Games Store, so they don’t reflect the game’s full audience across all platforms.

Frozen Trail will be the biggest update since launch

Amid the gradual decline in players, Embark Studios is preparing Frozen Trail, which launches October 8. The developers call it the biggest ARC Raiders update since launch.

The main addition is a new snow-covered map on the outskirts of the Rust Belt, featuring villages, industrial sites, research complexes and an observatory. Embark promises more pronounced verticality, underground and surface routes, and more space to explore.

Frozen Trail will also add a major new ARC Operation aimed at experienced players, new ARC machines with distinct behavior models, additional weapons, gadgets, cosmetics and other items.

The studio is also expanding long-term progression. The game will get an Outpost that players can develop and decorate, and the skill tree is being reworked to give players more character build options.

In May, Embark dropped its original plan to ship major updates monthly. Large content updates are now set to arrive roughly twice a year, with balance changes, events, fixes and smaller live updates in between.

Catch an early glimpse of ARC Raiders' biggest update yet.

The Frozen Trail First Look premieres on YouTube Sept 23 at 10am PDT (7pm CEST). pic.twitter.com/w4wPMDvVIi

— ARC Raiders (@ARCRaidersGame) September 18, 2026

Expeditions put on hold until 2027

The changes will also affect Expeditions, the optional progress-reset system. The fifth Expedition will be the last before an extended pause.

Embark explained that the current system needs a deeper rework. The developers cite short departure windows, the reward structure and too high a barrier to entry for new players among the problems. After the fifth Expedition, the system will be switched off until early 2027, while consecutive bonuses already earned will be preserved.

Executive producer Alexander Gröndal also suggested the team might go beyond a simple rework and replace the current system entirely if it can’t find a way to make it appealing enough.

That makes Frozen Trail a particularly important moment for ARC Raiders. The game still holds tens of thousands of concurrent users on Steam alone, but the trend of recent months remains downward. The October update should show whether a shift to less frequent but much larger content releases can bring back some of the audience and stabilize interest in the game.