One of the biggest games coming out this fall is ARC Raiders, a third-person PvPvE extraction shooter from Embark Studios — a developer you may recognize as the team responsible for 2023's popular free-to-play FPS The Finals that wowed players with its frenetic pace and fully destructible environments.
ARC Raiders has gone through a series of public, but closed playtests over the course of the past year, with each familiarizing the community with its mechanics and generating quite a bit of hype for the game. That steady build-up is culminating with an open beta "Server Slam" that kicks off in mid-October, with the shooter's full launch scheduled for October 30.
As a result, there are thousands of fans excited to finally jump into the title once it releases across Xbox Series X|S, Steam and Epic Games on Windows, and PS5. But as it turns out, there's actually another platform it's coming to: the Xbox app on Windows, officially referred to as Xbox on PC.
Though Embark hasn't announced this officially, it became apparent when the Xbox store page for ARC Raiders went live, as it shows that it will be playable on PC as well as Xbox consoles. Previously, PC availability was only confirmed for Steam and the Epic Games Store, so this development is a welcome surprise.
Another exciting revelation from the listing on the Xbox store is that ARC Raiders will also support Xbox Play Anywhere — a special feature that gives you ownership of a game on both Xbox and the Xbox app on PC, provided you're using the same Microsoft account on both.
Xbox Play Anywhere also encompasses cross-progression, which means that any progress you make on Xbox carries over to PC, and vice-versa. For extraction shooters like these where the gear you're able to take into the field is highly dependent on what you extracted with in previous matches, that's hugely beneficial.
Xbox Play Anywhere also encompasses cross-progression, which means that any progress you make on Xbox carries over to PC, and vice-versa. For extraction shooters like these where the gear you're able to take into the field is highly dependent on what you extracted with in previous matches, that's hugely beneficial.
ARC Raiders' availability on the Xbox PC app also means that it will be in an excellent position if it ever makes its way onto Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft's buffet-style gaming service isn't compatible with Steam or the Epic Games Store and only works on the Xbox app; with the game on that software, Game Pass users on both console and PC could play it with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
To be clear, there's no information out there right now that suggests ARC Raiders will come to Game Pass at some point, so that's not something you should expect or get your hopes up about. Still, there's nothing to suggest that it can't, either, and it's not uncommon for multiplayer titles to release on the service months or years after launch to bolster player counts.
Overall, it's great news that Embark's highly anticipated extraction shooter is coming to Xbox on PC. Xbox Play Anywhere is an amazing feature that saves players money and enables smooth multiplatform play without loss of progress, and hopefully, more developers will hopefully start to support soon. The option for Game Pass availability on both console and PC stands to serve as many subscribers to the program as possible, also.
ARC Raiders itself is also poised to soar as an alternative to games like Escape From Tarkov, and almost completely overshadowed Bungie's upcoming extraction shooter Marathon during its beta earlier this year. So far, players have fallen in love with its colorful sci-fi aesthetic and its post-apocalyptic world overrun by mysterious robots, and I have no doubt it's going to enjoy a huge open beta as well as a gigantic launch next month.
The Server Slam playtest will give everyone a chance to try the game out ahead of that release without having to pay, though if you'd like to preorder it now, you can. You can pick ARC Raiders up for $40 across Xbox Series X|S, all of its Windows PC platforms, and on PS5, with a special backpack and rubber ducky cosmetic available as a preorder bonus. There's also a pricier $60 Deluxe Edition with several bonus unlocks.
