You could assume it too early to think about the weekend that lies forward of us, however organisation is an excellent high quality to have.
And now’s the time to set a reminder in your telephone – or write it down in your diary, when you favor traditional strategies – as ARC Raiders will quickly be going free-to-play for a really restricted time.
Embark Studios has confirmed that ARC Raiders might be going free-to-play this upcoming weekend throughout PC through Steam, Xbox Sequence X/S consoles, and PlayStation 5.
The free play interval will kick off on Thursday October 8 at 9am UTC and it’ll draw to a detailed 5 days in a while Monday October 12 at 8am UTC.
This occasion grants new gamers entry to the total sport, so there are not any limitations on how far you may progress all through the period of the free play occasion.
In fact, the hope is that you simply’ll love what you play and pay to select up ARC Raiders for everlasting entry.
The servers needs to be bustling this weekend as alongside the free play interval aimed toward new gamers, current customers will have the ability to dive into the brand new Frozen Path content material.
Frozen Path is described by Embark as its “greatest replace since launch” – and when you’re a brand new participant teaming up with an current participant, you’ll have the ability to entry Pendola Move instantly if that current participant has unlocked the brand new map.
It’s maybe a very good time for ARC Raiders to carry a free play weekend. The third-person extraction shooter dominated the scene when it launched in 2025.
Participant numbers at the moment are falling, nevertheless. There are not any recorded numbers for PlayStation and Xbox, however ARC Raiders sits at a 24-hour peak of simply shy of fifty,000, appropriate on the time of writing.
The sport’s all-time peak was set 11 months in the past when it had just below 482,000 gamers, in line with Steam DB.
All video games witness a sure degree of drop-off over time, but it surely’s of utmost significance that reside service video games stay considerably constant, maintaining these devoted gamers engaged.
Clearly Embark has two plans: to lure in new gamers and recapture the eye of those that might have referred to as it quits.
Frozen Path, the brand new free replace, does look extremely formidable and is filled with new content material for returning gamers.
READ MORE: Arc Raiders pauses live-service feature until 2027 with promises of a huge overhaul
What’s included in ARC Raiders’ Frozen Path replace?
Embark Studios
It centres round that aforementioned new map, Pendola Move.
“Together with your assist, Celeste and Shani have triangulated the supply of the unusual sign that’s been ringing throughout Toledo. All indicators level towards an previous Italian village and Exodus transport hub referred to as Pendola Move,” devs beforehand teased.
“Past the peaks that envelope the Rust Belt, icy air preserves Pendola Move in its eerie grasp. Traditional indicators of an old-world civilisation punctuate the slim stretch: a grocery store, and a dull city sq.. Indicators of the Exodus Challenge loom giant: the observatory and buried practice depot that after served as a serious transit hub.”
There are new enemy threats within the type of the Frigate, Bully, Skulker, and Hydra, plus you may sit up for the brand new outpost Raider Den extension in addition to new weapons and devices.
The latter consists of the Stiletto, Bantam, Grappling Hook, Tether Launcher, and Digicam.
For brand new gamers although, all you could bear in mind is that this: free entry kicks off this Thursday, on October 8.