Arc Raiders dev comments on parallel Marathon playtest, calling it an “Unplanned A/B test”

Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders and Bungie’s rebooted Marathon have been a hot topic, owing to recent playtests that have coincided. These playtests are being conducted to collect player feedback. Arc Raiders had a successful Server Slam open playtest of almost 190,000 concurrent players ahead of its October 30 launch, while Bungie is conducting an invite-only NDA playtest to keep things under wraps.

Virgil Watkins, design director for Arc Raiders, spoke in an interview with PC Gamer’s Tyler Wilde that the near-simultaneous testing phases for both games served as an inadvertent but enlightening A/B test, stating:

It was very coincidental that they had their test around the time we did. To my knowledge, I don’t think any of us knew that was going to happen.” This allowed the team to “compare and contrast how some of those things shook out.

This serendipitous overlap came as both studios shift gears for launches in a genre that’s seen explosive growth in recent years, with titles like Helldivers 2, Escape from Tarkov, and indie hits like Escape from Duckov.

Watkins felt that it was a great opportunity to see how players reacted to the two games’ drastically different designs, stating, “It was quite interesting to follow in what players thought about those certain things, or what did work in their context and didn’t, and what may have worked in ours.”

He further mentioned that he hasn’t been able to fully observe Marathon gameplay, considering most of the game’s playtests have been limited-access. Despite this, he wished the game would go on to garner success upon its eventual release, saying, “I found the art style very evocative… I’m personally curious to see how that ends up. I hope to see more of that in the future.”

Embark conducted its Server Slam playtest from October 17 to October 19, 2025, across PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X. The playtest impressively racked up 189,668 concurrent players on Steam alone, despite initial server bugs that prompted players to reinstall the full game, hampering the experience for some.

Feedback for Arc Raiders has been largely positive, although a few have expressed frustration over the lack of a first-person mode —a feature Watkins ruled out due to asset fidelity issues up close. The Server Slam playtest’s monumental success bodes well for Arc Raiders' upcoming full release, making it a potential slam hit in the crowded genre.