Arc Raiders Expeditions have been paused until early 2027 to create added fix-it time for developer Embark Studios, which now suggests the game’s soft-wipe system may be redone altogether.
Executive producer Aleksander Grøndal spoke to PCGamesN at Gamescom, commenting on the decision to put Expeditions on hiatus right as Arc Raiders rolled out a patch addressing a longstanding complaint about the system.
“Was the system perfect? No, probably not,” Grøndal says. “We want to make some significant changes to the Expedition system. But I think right now we’re focused on, ‘Yeah, they are what they are,’ but the intent is to have them change.”
Embark has adjusted Expeditions in some shape or other with every major Caravan window, but the needle hasn’t really moved since launch. This time, it seems the devs are properly going back to the drawing board, and that may seemingly include doing away with Expeditions as we know them altogether.
“Maybe we’ll scrap the whole system altogether. That is on the table, too,” Grøndal adds. “Right now, the team is trying to figure out what the next steps for Expeditions are.”
Expeditions represent one of the biggest and most casual-friendly differences between Arc Raiders and more hardcore extraction shooters. As a wipe mechanic, Expeditions are totally optional and positioned as an endgame prestige pursuit rather than an economy balancer. So far, the problem has been making Expeditions rewarding and fun enough to pursue, with a fairly small portion of the player base actually participating in the system.
For now, Embark has all hands on deck for Frozen Trail, the big, wintry update set for October 8. This, too, has been described as a moment for the devs to pause and deliver larger changes after a period of minor seasonal adjustments. Expeditions won’t resume until months after Frozen Trail at the earliest, but we may get some inkling of what Embark has in store this fall.