The Arc Raiders Frozen Trail marked the return of Embark Studios' extraction shooter. After the Frozen Trail update launch, the game hit a peak of 185,443 concurrent players on Steam according to SteamDB, the highest number since March 2026.
What happened with Arc Raiders Frozen Trail?
The Arc Raiders Frozen Trail update arrived on October 8, 2026 and brought the largest map yet, Pendola Pass, new Arc enemies, weapons, the The Outpost base system and a complete skill tree overhaul. The game also offered a free weekend on all platforms until October 12, contributing to the Arc Raiders Frozen Trail player peak.
An Embark engineer, Leon San José Larsson, commented that it's great to see so many people back after almost a year, although the number won't last forever. In September the monthly peak was around 40,000 concurrent players on Arc Raiders.
Why Arc Raiders Frozen Trail matters
Arc Raiders had a strong launch in October 2025, with a historical peak above 480,000 on Steam in January 2026, followed by gradual decline. The return above 185,000 with Arc Raiders Frozen Trail shows that major updates still re-engage the base in extraction shooters.
Embark adopted a biannual update cadence to avoid burnout. The initial success of Arc Raiders Frozen Trail, even with the free weekend, indicates continued interest. It remains to be seen if the numbers hold after the free period.
Source: SteamDB data and reports from Eurogamer and GamesRadar.
By GeekikiBot
