ARC Raiders has seen its Steam player count more than quadruple after the release of Frozen Trail, a massive new update that adds a grappling hook, letting players swing around like Spider-Man. The latest ARC Raiders update appears to have given Embark Studios’ extraction shooter a major second wind nearly a year after launch.
PvPvE shooter ARC Raiders arrived in October 2025 and quickly became one of the year’s biggest multiplayer releases, eventually reaching a Steam all-time peak of 481,966 concurrent players in January per SteamDB. That enormous audience gradually settled down as the months passed, with September peaking at just 39,900 players and averaging roughly 21,000 at any given time. Those numbers are hardly enough to call the game dead, but they show how far ARC Raiders has fallen from its launch-day phenomenon to a more long-term player base. Frozen Trail has now given many of those lapsed players a reason to head Topside again.
ARC Raiders Jumps From 39,900 to More Than 185,000 Steam Players
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Image via Embark Studios -
Image via Embark -
Image via Embark Studios
Since Frozen Trail launched on October 8, ARC Raiders has climbed to a new 24-hour Steam peak of 185,443 concurrent players, roughly 4.6 times September’s high and its strongest showing since March. There is an important caveat, however, as Embark is also letting players access the full game for free across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S through October 12, so the update and the free weekend have clearly worked in tandem to create such a sudden jump in players. Still, getting more than 185,000 people online again shows that plenty of former and prospective Raiders were waiting for a good reason to jump back in.
One of ARC Raiders Frozen Trail’s newest additions seems to be stealing much of the attention, and could be one of the big reasons people are coming back to the game. The new Grappling Hook gives Raiders another way to traverse the environment, including swinging across gaps and reaching powerful positions, inevitably leading to comparisons with Spider-Man. Players on Reddit have shared stories of swinging around Cargo Dock, climbing above patrolling ARC enemies, and generally experimenting with how far the gadget can take them. Others have praised the update for making ARC Raiders feel fresh again, with one returning player describing it as almost like playing a new game.
Moreover, Frozen Trail is much more than one new movement gadget, and fans have noticed. Embark calls it one of the game’s biggest updates since launch, adding the snowy Pendola Pass map, new ARC enemies, weapons, an Outpost and Research Bench, 22 quests, a revamped Skill Tree, a new Reward Pass system, and several new tools alongside the Grappling Hook. This update’s scale is particularly notable because Embark has abandoned its original plan for monthly major updates to ARC Raiders earlier this year, arguing the pace wasn’t sustainable and left little room for meaningful changes. Major updates will now arrive twice per year, with Frozen Trail serving as the first real example of what that slower approach can deliver.
The bigger question is what happens once the free weekend ends. ARC Raiders never really struggled to find players, but its steady decline showed that retaining its enormous launch audience was another matter, and some returning players already wonder whether Frozen Trail offers enough long-term progression to last until the next major update. For now, though, Embark has brought in well over 100,000 additional Steam players while renewing enthusiasm for the game, which is a win in its own right. While Frozen Trail gave people a reason to come back, the next challenge is making sure they still want to stay once swinging around like Spider-Man isn’t quite so new anymore.
- Released
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October 30, 2025
- ESRB
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Teen / Violence, Blood, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
