Arc Raiders developers admit: creating a live service game was harder than expected

The developers at Embark have admitted to significantly underestimating the challenges of maintaining a full-scale live service game. Executive producer Aleksander Grøndal told Game Developer that the ambitious plan for monthly updates for Arc Raiders proved unsustainable, leading to team exhaustion and a complete overhaul of their development strategy.

While Arc Raiders has become one of Nexon's top earners and received praise for its engaging extraction shooter mechanics, the initial post-launch period was grueling. According to Grøndal, the team was constantly overshooting its capacity, struggling to keep up with high player demands while simultaneously managing the heavy workload of game maintenance.

The core issue was the sheer volume of tasks required to keep a live service title running. "We were constantly overshooting our capacity, and so it was hard to plan when there's so much to do," Grøndal explained. Beyond creating new content, the team had to dedicate massive resources to bug fixes, addressing exploits, and general technical upkeep.

Consequently, in May, the Embark team officially abandoned the monthly update model in favor of larger, biannual expansions. This shift is intended to allow the developers to focus on quality and iteration rather than the relentless cycle of "shipping, shipping, shipping." The goal is to produce more interesting and polished content by working at a pace more similar to their pre-launch development cycle.

For Grøndal, the struggle is personal. A 15-year veteran of Electronic Arts who worked on the Battlefield and Star Wars: Battlefront series, he has experienced burnout firsthand. He noted that excessive overworking had previously forced him onto long-term sick leave, emphasizing that such unsustainable pressure leads to the loss of talented staff.

Moving forward, Embark is focusing on content quality and is currently testing a new PvE mode to expand the game's offerings.