Arc Raiders Launches Between Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Battlefield 6 — And It’s Just the Start
With attention splintered, the next move is a jolt—a bold reveal built to stop the scroll and seize the spotlight.
Arc Raiders is finally about to step onto the field after years of delays, and Embark Studios is choosing absolute chaos for its timing: it drops right between Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. They know. They really, really know.
Launching into the crossfire
CEO Patrick Soderlund told The Game Business he is fully aware this window looks bonkers from the outside, but the team weighed it out and decided to go for it anyway.
'I know. The insanity. People may look at that and say, "What the hell are they doing?"'
He says Embark spent a lot of time looking at the launch from every angle and still believes Arc Raiders can survive there.
The Battlefield connection (yes, that one)
A fun industry wrinkle: Soderlund used to run DICE, the studio behind EA's Battlefield series. He says he has been playing Battlefield 6 himself while gearing up for Arc Raiders, and he frames this launch as the start of a long haul, not a one-and-done: this is the beginning, it has to start somewhere.
Early traction is real
Despite the crowded lane, Arc Raiders already has momentum. It is currently the third most-wishlisted game on Steam. Soderlund admits he was worried a couple of years back about whether the game would find its audience, but a technical test earlier this spring changed the mood. The turnout blew past their expectations and spread on its own, even with their marketing push. The team came away humbled.
How they plan to stand out
- No coasting: they do not want to ship something forgettable.
- Make a real dent: they are chasing meaningful impact or some kind of innovation people actually notice.
- Give players a reason to switch: there has to be an 'attraction' strong enough to pull folks away from what they already play.
- Design philosophy: complicated under the hood but accessible on the surface; easy to pick up, with depth if you want to dig in.
About that matchmaking freakout
If you saw chatter about gear score matchmaking, take a breath. The devs say that system is not in the game. The priority, according to them, is keeping solos and squads separated so those experiences do not collide in a bad way.
The date, the risk, the watch
Arc Raiders launches October 30 after multiple delays. Dropping between Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7 is a wild swing, but Embark clearly wants to plant the flag right in the middle of the action. I will be watching this one on day one.