Arc Raiders launches to over 260,000 concurrent players and 88% positive early reviews on Steam, outdoing The Finals even at $40

Arc Raiders is finally out, and while the devs have acknowledged the "insanity" of launching between Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7, it seems those worries might be for naught. The extraction shooter has launched to strong early reviews on Steam, and even with a $40 price tag it's managed to outdo developer Embark's previous, free-to-play title The Finals in terms of sheer player count.

As SteamDB shows, Arc Raiders has reached a peak concurrent player count of 263,739. That figure is still rising, and I've already had to go back and update it multiple times as I continue to write this story. That makes it the number four game on Steam right now – not bad when the top three is made up of titans like Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Battlefield 6. That's not even the full Arc Raiders player count, since it doesn't account for players on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S..

Arc Raiders was announced as a free-to-play game, but Embark changed that approach in favor of a $40 premium launch. Clearly, that decision has worked out. Embark's previous game, The Finals, launched as a free-to-play title to a peak concurrent player count of 242,619, somewhat below Arc Raiders' still growing record.

Early player reviews are looking strong, too. With the caveat that the full game has only been out for a matter of hours, the first few thousand Steam reviews are sitting at 89% positive. The few negative responses largely seem to be focused on the game's cosmetic pricing, which is offering skins at a pretty steep $20 apiece. We'll see how the community responds to the monetization – and the long-term depth of Arc Raiders' gameplay – as the days after launch roll on.

Arc Raiders is the first extraction shooter to reach Escape from Tarkov's highs, and the secret is making it feel like an RPG that you can "almost play as a single-player game."