Arc Raiders’ first expedition has already occurred, sending players’ characters out of the Rust Belt for good. Also known as a wipe, players have given up their initial characters for some minor bonuses that will help them become even stronger.
While players have already taken their first expedition, the date for the next expedition has seemingly already been picked by developer Embark Studios. While not officially confirmed by the developer at the time of writing, players have used a Time Travel exploit to discover when the second Arc Raiders expedition is.
By setting your PC time to the future, Arc Raiders fans have been able to see upcoming trials and an upcoming toxic map condition that will turn the Dam Battlegrounds swamp into a very deadly area. Additionally, doing this causes the game to simply reveal what the next expedition date is for the game, something that will likely be patched in the future.
With this in mind, the next Arc Raiders expedition date is currently set for February 22, 2026. This means that each season for the popular extraction shooter is around two months long with every expedition taking around eight weeks before the optional wipe is put in place.
Of course, if you don’t want to give up your stash and upgrades, you don’t have to. One of the best parts about Arc Raiders is that wiping through expeditions is optional, allowing players to choose whether they want to start again for their optional upgrades or if they wish to simply keep on as they are.
Following the first wipe, it’s also expected that the second expedition will give players an even greater permanent bonus to their accounts following backlash by the fanbase. There’s also a possibility that blueprints will be even easier to find directly after the expedition, following the same pattern as the first.
While some players are focused on when the next wipe will be, Embark Studios has big plans for Arc Raiders in 2026. At the time of writing, there is no 2026 roadmap, but we should see more news following the studio’s Christmas break.
