ARC Raiders Used a Massive Amount of Data Per Day to Track Player Behavior

During the Nexon Developers Conference, Embark Studios dives into the player tracking system it uses for ARC Raiders, how it influences changes, and just how much data was required to run it at the game’s peak. For a while, ARC Raiders was the definitive extraction shooter for many, finding a way to bridge the gap between the hardcore fans as well as provide an entry point for those who wanted to see what the genre was all about.

After launching on October 30, 2025, ARC Raiders became an instant hit, providing a pathway into a genre which many believed was too unforgiving and difficult to become mainstream. Although the ride wasn’t always smooth, Embark was able to sustain that success for quite a while thanks in large part to rapid-fire updates and a monthly cadence of releasing new content for players to dig into. Part of that was thanks to a tracking system that allowed Embark to see how players were interacting with the game, both good and bad, and making changes based on the data.

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ARC Raiders Reveals New Player Tracking Details

In order to keep up with the large player base, Embark built and utilized a massive data pipeline called BigQuery, that allowed the studio to track all sorts of information at a very granular level. In fact, during the game’s peak, Embark would be using around 30 terabytes of data per day when ARC Raiders was at its height of popularity, largely when the game was getting its monthly updates from October 2025 through February 2026. Developers could track more than 100 billion events with less than 2 seconds of latency. As data engineer Mattias Andersson puts it, the tool allowed developers to run a query two seconds after a player fired a bullet to find out if it hit or not.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
possible.

The tool could be used for all sorts of purposes, including for bigger issues like cheating or tracking bugs, but it could also be used to examine player behavior. There’s been plenty of debate surrounding how ARC Raiders match players in a round, and part of that decision-making came from the data the studio was seeing. They could find out which player shot first in any encounter, who took damage and evenything in between, but the system couldn’t assume intent. Still, Embark also developed a custom round viewer that is able to replay player actions and offer a heatmap to show where players move, die, and fight the most. This data allows Embark to make changes or tweaks based on what it is seeing.

Two characters in a forest in ARC Raiders.

These days, Embark isn’t likely to use that much data as ARC Raiders isn’t pulling the same level of players that it once was. Still, Embark has big plans for 2026 and is hoping that once the new content rolls in, players will return to check out the massive update. The studio has since moved away from monthly updates, choosing to release 2 major updates per year, bigger than anything that has been added previously. In October, Embark is releasing the Frozen Trail update for ARC Raiders, teasing the largest map the game has ever seen along with new enemies, loot, and other big enhancements.

Find the odd one out before the timer hits zero.

In addition to the change to the game’s cadence of releasing content, Embark continues to try and improve the anti-cheating methods. Previously, Embark confirmed a big change to ARC Raiders‘ anti-cheat methods and, as of the June 30 update, the studio has completed work on integrating Denuvo into the game. In fact, Denuvo Anti-Cheat is already a big part of Embark’s other game, The Finals, and the studio promises to keep an eye on things to ensure the transition remains smooth.