Bungie’s Stumbles, Embark’s Gains: How Rival Feedback Shaped ARC Raiders

In the cutthroat arena of extraction shooters, where every loot drop and player betrayal can make or break a title, timing is everything. Just ask Embark Studios, the Swedish team behind ARC Raiders. Their PvPvE looter-shooter, fresh off a blockbuster “Server Slam” open test that peaked at 189,668 concurrent players on Steam alone, owes a quirky debt of gratitude to Bungie’s troubled Marathon. In a candid chat with PC Gamer, ARC Raiders design director Virgil Watkins revealed that the overlapping playtests earlier this year weren’t just coincidental, they served as an impromptu “A/B test,” letting Embark spy on player reactions to Marathon‘s missteps and refine their own third-person twist on the genre. “It was very interesting,” Watkins quipped, turning what could have been cutthroat competition into a free masterclass in what not to do. With ARC Raiders launching October 30, 2025, on PC (Steam/Epic), PS5, and Xbox Series X/S for $39.99 (Standard) or $59.99 (Deluxe), and Marathon limping toward a pre-March 2026 window after its indefinite delay, the irony couldn’t be thicker: Bungie’s alpha alpha-ugh became Embark’s beta boost.

The “Great Coincidence”: April Playtests as a Genre-Wide Litmus Test

Flash back to April 2025, when the extraction shooter scene was a powder keg. Marathon‘s closed alpha (April 23–May 4) dropped amid high hopes for Bungie’s reboot of its ’90s classic, but it landed like a dud grenade. Testers slammed the first-person affair for feeling “fragmented” and “watered down,” with gripes over unbalanced economies, forgettable “Runners” (hero classes), repetitive loops, and glaring omissions like proximity voice chat, essential for the genre’s tense squad comms. Worse, a plagiarism scandal erupted when indie artist Anni X accused Bungie of ripping off her cyberpunk designs without credit, fueling calls for a delay that Sony heeded by scrapping the September 23 launch. Kotaku’s Ethan Gach called it a “fascinating sci-fi premise wrapped in a forgettable facsimile,” while Reddit threads echoed the frustration: “Why play this over Tarkov?”

Enter ARC Raiders‘ Tech Test 2 (April 30–May 4), Embark’s invite-only bash that ran neck-and-neck with Marathon. While Bungie baked in first-person immersion and hero abilities (like invisibility, which testers called “out of place”), Embark doubled down on third-person accessibility, crafting, and a branching skill tree without overpowered perks. The result? Rave reviews for ARC‘s “clean gameplay” and “insane sound design,” with Reddit users hailing it as a “day-one purchase” for its revolutionary 25.6GB footprint and revolutionary Queen boss encounters that wiped squads 24,137 times across 135 kills. Nexon (Embark’s publisher) beamed that it “exceeded expectations,” catapulting ARC to Steam’s 12th most-wishlisted game, leapfrogging Marathon‘s 55th spot.

Watkins didn’t mince words: “They made decisions that we didn’t, and vice versa. So we could compare and contrast how some of those things shook out.” Marathon‘s hero-shooter vibes clashed with extraction purists craving Tarkov-style grit, while ARC‘s third-person view and procedural Rust Belt maps shone for tactical peeking and squad synergy. Feedback on Marathon‘s missing prox chat? A goldmine, Embark baked it in early, turning whispers into weapons. As Watkins noted, “It was quite interesting to follow what players thought about certain things… what might have worked in ours.” No schadenfreude here; Watkins rooted for Bungie, but the data was undeniable: Embark’s risks paid off.

October Echoes: Server Slam Success vs. Marathon’s NDA Shadow

Fast-forward to October 2025, and history rhymes. ARC Raiders‘ open Server Slam (October 17–19) was a smash: 189,668 peak concurrents on Steam, 30 million rounds fired, 58 million ARCs scrapped, and 108,000 Queens toppled, proving the Dam Battlegrounds’ progression and crafting hooked players hard. It rocketed ARC to Steam’s global top-three sellers, with 88% positive recent reviews and a “perfect the way it is” Reddit chorus begging Embark to resist PvE dilutions. Pre-orders surged, unlocking the Lucky Duck Bundle for all backers, and Embark teased launch tweaks like refined Rocketeer knock-downs (2.3 million takedowns in the test).

Meanwhile, Marathon‘s closed technical test (October 22–28) is underway under NDA lockdown, focusing on three new maps, five Runner shells, prox chat (finally!), solo queues, and retuned combat, direct responses to alpha gripes. Invites rolled out in waves post-October 13 Steam opt-ins, but the hush-hush vibe contrasts ARC‘s open hype machine. Early whispers hint at positives, like leaning into “true extraction” sans hero crutches, but hero abilities still irk purists, and visuals are “cleaned up” yet polarizing. Sony’s fiscal FY2026 deadline (pre-March 31, 2026) looms, but after Concord‘s flop, Bungie’s under the microscope.

Why This “A/B Test” Matters: Divergent Paths in a Crowded Genre

Marathon (first-person, hero-driven, Bungie’s lore-heavy bet) and ARC Raiders (third-person, skill-tree crafting, Embark’s accessible apocalypse) aren’t clones, but their April overlap was a genre gut-check. Marathon‘s alpha exposed pitfalls, repetitive PvP, missing immersion tools, while ARC‘s test validated risks like UE5’s photoreal ruins and risk-reward ARCs that ping your position like a cosmic “you’re it.” Watkins’ takeaway? Player prefs are gold: what flopped in Bungie’s context (e.g., invis perks) might thrive elsewhere, but core extraction tenets, tension, loss aversion, squad reliance, must rule. ARC‘s October slam (190,000 peaks across platforms) vs. Marathon‘s NDA veil underscores the momentum gap, with Embark’s $40 premium model (ditching F2P for polish) paying dividends.

In a year stacked with Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7, this rivalry could redefine extraction shooters. Bungie’s redemption arc hinges on ditching “hero shooter” baggage for gritty runs; Embark’s just needs to sustain the slam’s spark. As Watkins put it, “We were able to compare… what worked and what didn’t.” Coincidence? Sure. But in game dev, serendipity’s the best loot drop.

Stay Tuned for More Updates

For ARC Raiders launch deets, Marathon test teases, and extraction showdowns, follow Embark Studios and Bungie on socials. Hyped4.com’s your extraction point for shooter news, because in this genre, intel saves lives (or at least your loadout).