Arc Raiders’ Server Slam playtest draws a mammoth 190K players ahead of launch

The Arc Raiders Server Slam playtest launched on October 17 was also the final free weekend testing session before the game's full launch on October 30. The free playtest has garnered the attention of gamers worldwide, topping out at 189,668 players.

Embark Studios' PvPvE extraction shooter quickly surpassed 185,000 concurrent players on Steam when it's playtest first went online, with SteamDB reporting an all-time peak of 189,668 players on the first day, and a relatively close 185,137 on Saturday.

These impressive figures propelled Arc Raiders to the number four spot on Steam's most-played games list, outpacing PUBG: Battlegrounds, Rust, Megabonk, Marvel Rivals, Baldur's Gate 3, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Bongo Cat, trailing behind Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Battlefield 6.

What's even more impressive is that these numbers only reflect Steam users; given that the playtest is also accessible on the Epic Games Store and consoles like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X, the total number of concurrent players is significantly higher, potentially even doubling when accounting for other platforms.

Despite the overwhelming surge of players, reaching 100,000 concurrent players within just two hours of launch on Steam, the playtest has proceeded with relative stability, that is, after an initial hiccup.

Embark Studios deployed a hotfix shortly after servers went live to deal with crashes, disconnection errors, and other problems caused by the unexpected player traffic. Unfortunately, this update required players to redownload the entire game. The studio reassured players via their official X account that such extensive downloads "should not be the norm moving forward."

Still, this hasn't deterred players from participating in the Arc Raiders Server Slam playtest, as concurrent player counts still hover over 100,000. However, players are currently talking about the game's mechanics and limited content in the test phase, which some feel makes for a repetitive loop, but others praise it for building hype for the full release.

Suppose Embark can maintain this momentum and ensure server reliability through the playtest's conclusion and upon release. In that case, Arc Raiders may just buck the trend of troubled online launches and position itself as a strong competitor in the extraction shooter niche alongside titles like Hunt: Showdown, Helldivers 2, Arena Breakout: Infinite, and Delta Force.