ARC Raiders Dev Says Late Spawning Has an Upside

A developer at Embark, the studio behind The Finals and, most recently, ARC Raiders, has explained why spawning into a raid late can actually be a good thing. While ARC Raiders has been a smash hit for Embark, players have still had their fair share of complaints and frustrations. Outside of cheaters and exploits, one common gripe the community has had is spawning into raids with just 17 minutes left, as many believe it can drastically ruin the experience, but Embark says it serves a purpose and has its upside.

Like the many other extraction shooters that came before it, ARC Raiders has a strong focus on looting the best gear, items, and weapons in the game. To achieve this, players can choose to engage in PvP if they wish, which will then trigger the game’s aggression-based matchmaking and place them into more PvP-heavy lobbies, or they can also work with fellow players to take down the likes of the Queen, Matriarch, or the many other AI enemies on the map. But no matter whether your intention is PvP, PvE, or a mix of both, spawning into a raid that is nearly halfway through is a frustration that much of the community shares, but Embark says it does have its upside.

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Embark Acknowledges Frustrations Around Spawning Late in ARC Raiders

With 2026 now in full swing, fans are eager to see what the future holds for ARC Raiders. While Embark has yet to reveal an official roadmap for the next 12 months, the studio has been acknowledging players’ biggest complaints and requests, with the latest being late raid spawns. During a recent interview with GamesRadar+, design lead Virgil Watkins says it’s a topic the studio has been discussing a lot. “It’s another one of those interesting things of data versus perception. We 100% acknowledge the whole thing of, ‘Man, I came in to do that trial and now I clearly don’t have enough time to do that, and that sucks, so I’m just going to leave,’ or whatever. That aspect is definitely not great,” the developer told the outlet.

Watkins goes on to explain how many players’ instant reaction when joining into a raid late is ‘the loot’s all gone,’ but those are the players who “economically profit way more than people who aren’t.” He goes on to explain how a game will get quieter over time, but anybody who joins later will “come across the remnants of fights or can maybe take out bigger drones or hit high-ticket areas more readily than other players.”

The developer also explains why the system of joining late is in place, saying that it is to prevent raids from emptying out after roughly 10 minutes, which would lead to players running around by themselves with no suspense or danger. Watkins also says Embark had hoped players who join late would then think, “Okay, well, my plan A isn’t possible. I’m gonna do my plan B or C now instead.” The studio has also ensured that there is plenty of loot to go around in ARC Raiders. “The amount of loot we spawn, where it’s spawned, where the spawn points are – it’s all set up in a way that there should be plenty of stuff for players to do,” Watkins says.

So, while Embark is seemingly aware of the frustration around late spawns, it looks as though the studio has no intention of making any significant changes to the system. The good news, however, is that it has acknowledged numerous other requests from players, even suggesting that saved loadouts could be added to ARC Raiders as the team is “super aware” of the time it takes to set up new gear between raids. The studio has also heard the cries for a walkable social hub, similar to Destiny 2‘s Tower, saying that it is on its radar, but also acknowledged that there are many fans against the idea.

Released

October 30, 2025

ESRB

Teen / Violence, Blood