Arc Raiders reaches 166,670 concurrent PC players after Frozen Trail update
Arc Raiders hit 166,670 concurrent PC players after the Frozen Trail/2.0 update and a free weekend, with later reports citing a higher Steam peak.
- The spike followed the Frozen Trail/2.0 update on October 8, 2026 and a free weekend running at the same time.
- Later coverage cited a higher 24-hour Steam peak of 185,443 players for the same period, but the figures were not measured in exactly the same way.
What happened
Arc Raiders saw a clear rise in concurrent PC players in early October 2026. IGN reported on October 10 that the game reached 166,670 concurrent players on Steam, its highest level in seven months. The outlet linked the increase to the Frozen Trail/2.0 update and a free weekend running alongside it.
The update arrived on October 8, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Coverage mentioned a new map and a new grappling-hook movement feature. The term “Spider-Man grappling hook” mostly comes from how media and social posts described the feature; based on the available sources, that does not appear to be Embark Studios’ official name for it.
The numbers vary by source. Alongside the IGN report, Eurogamer and GameRant later cited a 24-hour Steam peak of 185,443 players after Frozen Trail. Because those reports appeared later and may have used a different time window or measurement method, the figures are not directly comparable.
Timeline
July 2026: according to IGN, Arc Raiders on PC struggled to rise above 35,000 concurrent players from that month onward.
September 2026: IGN reported Steam numbers had fallen to around 10,000 concurrent players.
October 8, 2026: the Frozen Trail/2.0 update launched on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
October 8 to 12, 2026: a free weekend or free-trial period ran alongside the update.
October 9, 2026: social posts in the source set shared clips of the new grapple mechanic and compared it to Spider-Man-style movement.
October 10, 2026: IGN reported 166,670 concurrent PC players on Steam.
October 2026: Eurogamer and GameRant cited a 24-hour Steam peak of 185,443 players after Frozen Trail.
Background
The available sources point to several factors happening at once: the Frozen Trail/2.0 update, the new movement feature with the grappling hook, and the free weekend. That makes it impossible to say which element had the biggest impact on the player-count jump.
IGN also put the rebound in historical context. The site noted that Arc Raiders had previously reached nearly 500,000 concurrent Steam players earlier in its lifecycle. The drop to around 10,000 in September shows how much interest had cooled before the update.
Related GAME-scanner articles
- Arc Raiders rises to Steam’s No. 5 spot after Frozen Trail and 106,000 concurrent players
- Steam free weekend with ARC Raiders, Core Keeper and Squad 44 from October 8 to 12, 2026
Sources
- IGN: Arc Raiders' 2.0 Update and 'Spider-Man' Grappling Hook Drive Player Count to Reach 7-Month High
- SteamDB: ARC Raiders · SteamDB
- Twitter/X: @ArcRaiderAlerts
- Twitter/X: @ArcRaidersNow