ARC Raiders is storming Steam, but not without a few connection casualties.
Arc Raiders has stormed past expectations, reaching over 350,000 concurrent players on Steam over the weekend. But as Embark Studios’ new extraction shooter soars in popularity, its servers are beginning to buckle under the pressure.
According to SteamDB, Arc Raiders peaked at 354,836 players, a new record for the game since its launch. That figure doesn’t include console players, meaning the total number across all platforms could be significantly higher. It’s a massive milestone for Embark Studios, whose debut multiplayer project has managed to attract a huge audience within days.
Players face long queues and matchmaking errors
Unfortunately, the game’s rapid growth has caused a wave of technical issues. Players have reported being stuck in matchmaking queues for extended periods, with some waiting more than 10 minutes to join a match. Others are encountering repeated disconnections and an “IN QUEUE” message that doesn’t seem to progress.
Embark Studios addressed the situation on its official Discord server, saying:
“The team has implemented a login queue as a temporary measure in order to mitigate issues related to forming parties and using voice channels, which will make your matchmaking longer than usual.”
In a follow-up message, the developer added:
“We are sorry for the disruption and we are humbled to see so many of you jumping into the game to the point that we need to temporarily limit the amount of players we can let back Topside.”
Across Reddit and Steam discussions, players have been sharing their experiences and frustrations with the lengthy wait times.
Some like Melissa-May, shared how they were matchmaking “for over 5 min and it was not letting [her] cancel the search. Closed game to reboot and now in a queue to open the game.”
On Steam, one of the more popular threads on the Steam Community hub was from ManCalvo, “When I enter the launcher, it shows the text 'IN QUEUE' and never loads. I've waited almost half an hour several times. What could be the issue and how can I fix it?”
As of the time of writing, players have reported that the servers are back up, but some are still experiencing queueing issues.
Embark Studios has yet to confirm when the login and matchmaking queues will return to normal. The developer continues to post updates on Discord as it works to resolve the connection issues affecting ARC Raiders.
