"What a ride": Arc Raiders just hit 12 million copies sold, analyst estimates, and set a new record for active players 2 months after launch

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Embark Studios truly has a hit on its hands

Arc Raiders trailer screenshot of a man's face in red lighting
(Image credit: Embark Studios)

In a time when much of the games industry is struggling, Arc Raiders once again shows it's still entirely possible to attract a healthy audience. According to analysts, the multiplayer shooter has already surpassed 12 million copies sold, peaking at over 3 million daily active players.

This information comes from Rhys Elliot, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics. The outfit estimates that across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, Arc Raiders just crossed the 12 million copies mark, hitting the benchmark this past weekend.

So ARC Raiders passed 12M copies sold over the weekend (Alinea estimates). Yesterday was its biggest day ever by DAUs (3.2M). Daily copies sold started to stabilise by early Dec, but a well-timed 20% discount across all platforms – and the holiday boost – reversed that. What a ride.

— @superhys.bsky.social (@superhys.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-01-05T17:23:31.746Z

Elliot states that it looked like Arc Raiders might plateau in December. Since the game launched late October, this would've been a logical and perfectly acceptable place for sales to stall a little, as review buzz and initial hype wanes and other games take the spotlight.

But, as he points out, a holiday discount helped keep players dropping in. "What a ride," he opines.

It helps, too, that Embark launched a massive update, Cold Snap, that put a chill in the air over the festive season, demonstrating the kind of vibrancy people can expect if they choose to stick around. Arc Raiders is evolving at considerable pace.

The devs just confirmed "aggression-based matchmaking" is now well and truly happening, and the roadmap expands ever onward. Whatever's coming next for the human-versus-robots skirmish, there are going to be plenty of players around to check it out.

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Anthony McGlynn
Anthony McGlynn
Contributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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