Embark Studios’ upcoming extraction shooter Arc Raiders kicked off its Server Slam weekend with a massive start, pulling in nearly 190,000 concurrent players on Steam within hours.
Embark Studios’ long-awaited co-op extraction shooter, Arc Raiders, just proved there’s serious hype behind it. The game’s “Server Slam” test went live earlier today, and within hours, it completely exploded on Steam, hitting a peak of 189,668 concurrent players (per SteamDB). That’s nearly 190,000 people jumping into a test build before the full release even lands later this month.
For those catching up, Arc Raiders is a third-person PvPvE extraction shooter set in a dusty, sci-fi world where players, called Raiders, scavenge the surface for resources while battling both alien machines and other squads.
You can drop in solo or with up to two friends, fight off the mechanical Arc enemies, and haul your loot back to base. It’s been a long road for the project since its first reveal years ago, but this weekend marks the final big test before launch on October 30, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S.
Arc Raiders Server Slam Steam Player Count
That’s a huge milestone for Embark, the studio led by former DICE veterans (best known for The Finals). This weekend’s test marks the final public play session before Arc Raiders’ full release. The Server Slam is open to everyone and will run until October 19. Progress from this test won’t carry over to launch, but players who take part will earn an exclusive in-game backpack once the game releases.
While those numbers are undeniably impressive, the real test will come at launch. The Server Slam is free and open to everyone, but the full version of Arc Raiders will be a paid release priced at $40, which naturally changes how many people will stick around. It’ll be interesting to see if the official launch later this month can reach, or even surpass, this weekend’s massive player count.
There’s also stiff competition waiting on the horizon. Escape From Tarkov continues to dominate the extraction shooter space, and Bungie’s upcoming Marathon, which begins its own closed playtest next week, could pull attention from the same crowd. Whether Arc Raiders can hold its momentum in a now surprisingly crowded field of extraction shooters remains to be seen, but for now, it’s clearly made a strong first impression, sitting comfortably at #3 on Steam’s Top Sellers chart.
What do you think of Arc Raiders’ explosive debut? Have you tried the Server Slam yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
