Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders is entirely designed around the fact that any player should be able to scrape by with few resources if they’re skilled enough. If you’re a great player, you can get through a large number of runs with just a free loadout, although that would throw off the progression Embark is seen to keep at the core of the game.
Nevertheless, fans have notice that the maintenance cost of some weapons are almost extortionately expensive. With the best Arc Raiders weapons usually resting in the rare and epic rarities, upgrading them to higher tiers can be a major hassle, and Embark Studios agrees that the balance of cost versus the benefit to the player is hard to justify.
Speaking to GamesRadar, the game’s design lead Virgin Watkins explained that “any given weapon in capable hands should be capable of winning a fight if you’re playing smartly”. While the game isn’t designed to foster PvP, with future updates likely focusing on social aspects instead, players with a basic Ferro should be able to cinch a win against a player with high-end gear if they’re good enough.
“I think that has to remain true,” Watkins said. “But I think we’re definitely a bit off on some of the cost to benefit ratios, certainly on those [higher-tier] weapons. It was trying to follow a curve of, by spending more and more money, you’re gaining an edge. Not a clear one, like, I’m using a purple weapon, therefore I win this fight, period. We don’t want that.”
Watkins explained that “cost should not inherently fill a skill gap or a tactical awareness gap”, otherwise players would simply be able to grind their way to victory instead of having to pay attention to the game. For Arc Raiders, the team doesn’t want grinding to become an instant-win against new players. In fact, that’s probably why aggression-based matchmaking exists instead of gear-based matchmaking.
The design lead revealed that Embark is looking at balancing the game to “probably make that cost-benefit ratio feel a little better, certainly on the high end, because we do want people to be excited to get a Tempest or a Bobcat or things like that”. While major balance shifts likely won’t occur, the developer did tease “some adjustment” to make progression feel better.
Additionally, Embark isn’t “previous about” the current rarity of weapons in Arc Raiders with Watkins explaining that guns can move up or down the scale whenever they like. “If it makes sense to buff it [a weapon] to live up to that implied potential, or if it makes sense to drop the rarity so it stays where it is because it’s performing that role well, then we’ll do that too”.
After a massively successful launch with over 12 million players, Arc Raiders has a huge year ahead of it. Right now, we only know about the upcoming Toxic Swamp map condition coming to the game, but hopefully Embark will release a sizeable roadmap for 2026 in the coming weeks.
