Embark Studios has revealed that the reason for the Arc Raiders delay is due to a decision to focus on a different first-person shooter codenamed Project Discovery first. The Arc Raiders release date was originally set for some time in 2022, but it has now been pushed to a vague 2023 release window. Given the pressure that comes with releasing a studio’s first game, especially from a developer with a lot of former EA DICE staff, this shows Embark Studios’ confidence in Project Discovery.
Why Project Discovery is worth the cost of a Arc Raiders delay
To put it in simple terms, the release date for Arc Raiders was pushed due to “sequencing,” explains Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund in a post on Medium. The former Chief Design Officer at Electronic Arts says that “the development of Project Discovery has progressed faster” than the studio first imagined, to the point that it could release both Arc Raiders and Project Discovery within the same time period. But given that the developer is still a “relatively small studio,” the development crunch required to do that would understandably be too much.
Embark is celebrating 3 years! So what have we accomplished? We’ve grown to more than 250 game makers, we’ve got big plans for the future, and a few projects we are just itching to share. To celebrate, we thought we’d share a glimpse of *another* unannounced game in the works. 🎂 pic.twitter.com/TdeZQcuvDs
— Embark Studios (@EmbarkStudios) November 9, 2021
So far, we don’t have too much information on Project Discovery, except for the sneak peek posted above that was revealed in early November last year. We know that it’s going to a team-based FPS and the teaser seems to indicate that the game will have vehicular combat, solid graphics, and a focus away from realism as enemies are turned into a shower of coins upon death. Söderlund promises that more news on Project Discovery will be shared “very soon,” which would be good because no release date, let alone the game’s actual title, has been announced so far.
In the meantime, the Arc Raiders delay will allow the developer to focus on a “PvP-focused game mode” that it began prototyping in the spring this year. Once the team is prepared to run the game through its paces with a high number of players, we’re likely hear more about possible alpha or beta tests.
In other news, here is whether Arc Raiders will be coming to Nintendo Switch, and some Apex Legends fans are angry over the nerfs made to Horizon’s Black Hole ultimate for Season 14.
