After months of declining player numbers, ARC Raiders launched the "Frozen Path" update on October 8 and recently opened up for free play. Since then, the game's concurrent player count on Steam has noticeably rebounded, reaching a peak of 185,443 during the following weekend.
According to SteamDB data, on the day the update went live, ARC Raiders saw over 125,000 concurrent players on Steam. The weekend peak of 185,443 was the highest the game had seen since March, though it still fell short of its all-time high of 481,966. Before this resurgence, the game hadn't broken the 100,000 concurrent player mark since May, dropping to just over 30,000 in September.
Embark engineer Leon San José Larsson shared a screenshot on social media when the player count hit 150,000 again. He said he was happy to see many players returning, while acknowledging that this surge in interest won't last forever.
Some players have asked whether adding PvE content could further boost the player count. Larsson expressed hope but made no promises about the outcome. The relevant matchmaking toggle will undergo a week-long test.