The gaming world saw no shortage of big-name releases in 2025, sequels to blockbuster revivals. Yet among them, ARC Raiders emerged as the most surprising success. What began as a promising new live-service shooter has grown into something unimaginably successful.
Even after months, it continues to gain momentum. In doing so, it’s quietly embarrassing even one of gaming’s most iconic comeback stories: Battlefield 6. It’s the legacy franchise that everyone wanted to make a return, but despite its strong start, it hasn’t been able to hold players the same way.
Player Loyalty Is the Real Battlefield… and ARC Raiders Is Winning
Credit: Embark Studios
Credit: Embark Studios
Credit: Embark Studios
Credit: Embark Studios
Credit: Embark Studios
For any game, getting a big and popular start is a dream, but that can quickly turn into a nightmare if one of the most important metrics, player retention, is the lifeblood of any live-service game, and this is where most live-service games truly start struggling.
However, if a game is able to maintain that metric, it truly separates itself from the pack. Ever since its release, ARC Raiders has been doing that. The game launched on October 30 with approximately 264,000 concurrent players on Steam (via SteamDB), but has since grown significantly. It reached an all-time peak of 481,966 players on November 16, 2025, and currently maintains around 400,000-428,000 concurrent players daily.
This represents remarkable growth of over 60% from launch, with the game retaining approximately 83-89% of its absolute peak audience. That level of consistency is almost unheard of in the genre and speaks to how well Embark has kept players engaged with meaningful updates, solid progression, and a satisfying gameplay loop.
What’s most surprising is that the game launched when another title was at its peak: Battlefield 6. By comparison, Battlefield 6 launched (via SteamDB) with a bigger player base (Around 750k), driven by brand recognition and goodwill after the disappointment of 2042.
While it’s far from dead, it has lost around 85% of its launch audience, settling into much lower peaks of around 110k players daily. This stark contrast in player retention highlights a hard truth: a famous name can bring players in, but only compelling content keeps them coming back.
Strong Engagement Is Paying Off at the Checkout
Battlefield had the name, ARC had the staying power. | Image Credit: EA
That sustained engagement isn’t just visible in player charts; it’s also translating where it matters most: revenue. According to SteamDB, ARC Raiders was Steam’s best-selling game by revenue during the 2025 holiday period (December 23–30).
This means 2 things: Firstly, it outperformed heavy hitters like Battlefield 6 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Secondly, this showed that the game is entertaining players far from the early stages. And players aren’t just sticking around to learn the tactics; they’re willing to spend on the game.
Strong retention will create good word-of-mouth around the community, which will result in keeping lobbies active and make spending on premium skins and expansions feel worthwhile.
While Battlefield 6 still benefits from its legacy and scale, Embark Studios is demonstrating a more sustainable model: earn loyalty first, and sales will follow. In an era crowded with live-service games fighting for attention, ARC Raiders isn’t just surviving, it’s setting the standard.
Which live-service game are you currently playing? Comment below to let us know.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
