Arc Raiders developers used the Marathon backlash as fuel

The design director for Arc Raiders has said Bungie's alpha test of Marathon generated a response that enabled the developer to learn from their mistakes.

Arc Raiders developers used the Marathon backlash as fuel
Comment IconFacebook IconX IconReddit Icon
Tech and Science Editor
Published
2 minutes & 15 seconds read time
TL;DR: Arc Raiders, launching October 30, gained valuable insights from Bungie's Marathon extraction shooter test, allowing Embark Studios to compare design choices and player feedback. Its recent free-to-play server slam attracted nearly 200,000 concurrent Steam players, highlighting strong interest and shaping expectations for the extraction shooter genre.

Arc Raiders, the new extraction shooter that recently blew up over the weekend when developer Embark Studios dropped a free-to-play "server slam," is heading to launch on October 30, and now the design director for the title has revealed that the response to Bungie's Marathon gave the studio some guidance.

Arc Raiders developers used the Marathon backlash as fuel 615615
2

In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Arc Raiders design director Virgil Watkins said the Bungie's playtest of Marathon, which is also an extraction shooter, gave the studio information regarding how gamers felt about extraction shooters at the time, with the director saying it was a "very great A/B test for us, because obviously they made decisions that we didn't, and vice versa. So we could kind of compare and contrast how some of those things shook out."

Watkins said that it was "very coincidental that they had their test around the time we did," and to his knowledge, "I don't think any of us knew that was going to happen." For those who don't know what Watkins is referring to, Bungie held a closed alpha test in late April that generated a not-so-good response from participants, which led into stolen art allegations, and then finally, an indefinite delay from its September 23 release date.

"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. It was a very great A/B test for us, because obviously they made decisions that we didn't, and vice versa. So we could kind of compare and contrast how some of those things shook out," said Watkins

Arc Raiders has had quite the opposite reception with its server slam attracting nearly 200,000 concurrent players on Steam over the weekend, making it one of Steam's top 10 most-played titles. According to Watkins, the response for Marathon gave the developer a bunch of information on what players expect out of the genre, what worked for them, what didn't, and how all that information could influence Arc Raiders.

"[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. I'm personally curious to see how that ends up. I hope to see more of that in the future," added Watkins