This game has honestly done so well, Embark has created a game that appeals to so many players, but also allowing the gameplay to be fun for all walks of players. Their Behavioural Matchmaking system has helped a variety of players continue to play and feel included.
Can you do the data until today?
RashestHippo on
Does this chart imply that they had the same release date?
xtr44 on
technically shouldn’t a game have 0 players at launch?
Luddevig on
Would be nice to also include how many players there are at one point for each game, like an arrow pointing to the last point of Battlefield and one for ARC and with the number of players.
tomwhoiscontrary on
What’s the baseline, the “launch” number? People playing on the very first day? I’m not a games statistics expert, but that feels a bit noisy. Wouldn’t it be better to use the median in the first four weeks or something?
Styreta on
% change of what, day to day playercount, week to week?
This is a weird way to show this trend. I dont doubt that arc has had better launch than BF6 succeswise, but this graph tells me little of the actual data
HearMeOut-13 on
I mean duh? BF6 was hyped up but was actual trash because of how much they pandered to the people who cant aim, ARC Raiders is overall a chill game so it wouldn’t have such issues.
gereffi on
Yes, games that are hyped before release lose players after release. Games that get popular after the first few weeks of their launch grow in player numbers. Pretty standard.
MyPizzaWithPepperoni on
Yeah well, if only BF wasn’t a copy-paste since BF1 maybe that’ll help, people only play in the start to satisfy the multiplayer fps itch. Arc raiders, people are enjoying the fresh air, building their chars and enjoying the new events (that are for free on top of all).
Another kick in the balls to the big corpos and im happy about it.
FrIsz4 on
Arc looks interesting but can it be fun if played mostly on my own ?
BluntieDK on
This is a strange graph. What does the Zero mark represent? I assume noone is suggesting BF6 is at NEGATIVE 75% players, and that Arc Raiders is at 0?
mason3991 on
I don’t know if it’s the right sub but the buggy launchers alone is enough for me to not want to play the fact that 3 people trying to take down a helicopter either the launchers kept missing or the flares are up so often it didn’t matter killed the big maps for me.
The_Emu_Army on
I care about Steam the way I care about an Iguana farting in French Guiana.
There are 3 games played more than ARC Raiders. And allegiance to a game is PARTISANSHIP, actually more pathetic than allegiance to the Constitution Party. There’s only one winner, and it’s not you.
As a COD player from the very beginning, BF6 is unplayable for me. Where I normally end up somewhere in the top 25% players every match, with battlefield I end up near the bottom…
ARC is a breath of fresh air. I really enjoy it!
zqipz on
1 has a campaign the other doesn’t. Would be interesting to see who just played for the campaign and jumped off.
Are the spikes weekends. They kinda fit 7 day intervals. Arc Raiders may fit a more working demographic?
Would like to see a b/g overlay of any seasonal holidays too.
It’s only when you start slicing in other dimensions where you can start to tell a story.
pdnagilum on
Does this track for all platforms the games are on, or just Steam?
YouKilledApollo on
Yeah, I guess launching a game with a feature and promising to improve that feature but instead removing it fully, tends to make people leave the game. I had a blast in BF6 with my friends until they removed bots, and since then neither of us played it again…
I bet EA is super surprised and have no idea why people stop playing :shrug:
Vybo on
Did you adjust for sales? If one game has good continued sales number, it will have bigger playerbase as well.
Chrownox on
Much higher spikes on the weekends because it’s played more by adults than schoolkids who can play every day
![[OC] ARC Raiders vs Battlefield 6 change in playerbase since launch](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/wo4ztfauh4bg1-1536x1536.png "[OC] ARC Raiders vs Battlefield 6 change in playerbase since launch")
20 Comments
Source: [https://steamdb.info/](https://steamdb.info/)
Tools: R + ggplot2
Inspired by this recent reporting from Forbes:
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/12/31/arc-raiders-has-kept-91-of-its-playerbase-battlefield-6-has-lost-85/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/12/31/arc-raiders-has-kept-91-of-its-playerbase-battlefield-6-has-lost-85/)
This game has honestly done so well, Embark has created a game that appeals to so many players, but also allowing the gameplay to be fun for all walks of players. Their Behavioural Matchmaking system has helped a variety of players continue to play and feel included.
Can you do the data until today?
Does this chart imply that they had the same release date?
technically shouldn’t a game have 0 players at launch?
Would be nice to also include how many players there are at one point for each game, like an arrow pointing to the last point of Battlefield and one for ARC and with the number of players.
What’s the baseline, the “launch” number? People playing on the very first day? I’m not a games statistics expert, but that feels a bit noisy. Wouldn’t it be better to use the median in the first four weeks or something?
% change of what, day to day playercount, week to week?
This is a weird way to show this trend. I dont doubt that arc has had better launch than BF6 succeswise, but this graph tells me little of the actual data
I mean duh? BF6 was hyped up but was actual trash because of how much they pandered to the people who cant aim, ARC Raiders is overall a chill game so it wouldn’t have such issues.
Yes, games that are hyped before release lose players after release. Games that get popular after the first few weeks of their launch grow in player numbers. Pretty standard.
Yeah well, if only BF wasn’t a copy-paste since BF1 maybe that’ll help, people only play in the start to satisfy the multiplayer fps itch. Arc raiders, people are enjoying the fresh air, building their chars and enjoying the new events (that are for free on top of all).
Another kick in the balls to the big corpos and im happy about it.
Arc looks interesting but can it be fun if played mostly on my own ?
This is a strange graph. What does the Zero mark represent? I assume noone is suggesting BF6 is at NEGATIVE 75% players, and that Arc Raiders is at 0?
I don’t know if it’s the right sub but the buggy launchers alone is enough for me to not want to play the fact that 3 people trying to take down a helicopter either the launchers kept missing or the flares are up so often it didn’t matter killed the big maps for me.
I care about Steam the way I care about an Iguana farting in French Guiana.
There are 3 games played more than ARC Raiders. And allegiance to a game is PARTISANSHIP, actually more pathetic than allegiance to the Constitution Party. There’s only one winner, and it’s not you.
[https://store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed](https://store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed)
As a COD player from the very beginning, BF6 is unplayable for me. Where I normally end up somewhere in the top 25% players every match, with battlefield I end up near the bottom…
ARC is a breath of fresh air. I really enjoy it!
1 has a campaign the other doesn’t. Would be interesting to see who just played for the campaign and jumped off.
Are the spikes weekends. They kinda fit 7 day intervals. Arc Raiders may fit a more working demographic?
Would like to see a b/g overlay of any seasonal holidays too.
It’s only when you start slicing in other dimensions where you can start to tell a story.
Does this track for all platforms the games are on, or just Steam?
Yeah, I guess launching a game with a feature and promising to improve that feature but instead removing it fully, tends to make people leave the game. I had a blast in BF6 with my friends until they removed bots, and since then neither of us played it again…
I bet EA is super surprised and have no idea why people stop playing :shrug:
Did you adjust for sales? If one game has good continued sales number, it will have bigger playerbase as well.
Much higher spikes on the weekends because it’s played more by adults than schoolkids who can play every day