Former EA boss Patrick Soderlund unveils his new co-op shooter, Arc Raiders

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In November 2020, former Electronic Arts chief design officer Patrick Soderlund announced that he was working on a shooter at his new studio, Embark. At the Game Awards tonight, that game was properly unveiled as Arc Raiders, a free-to-play co-op third-person PvE shooter set to come out in 2022 that pits squads of humans against endless hordes of murder machines from space.

"We started Embark Studios three years ago with a blank canvas and some big ideas. Today, that canvas is a lot less blank and those ideas are becoming realities,” Soderlund said. "With this reveal, we want to celebrate gameplay and give players more than a hint of how ARC Raiders looks and what it feels like to play. Ultimately for a co-op action game like ARC Raiders, that's what matters the most. We look forward to sharing more about the game in the coming months."

Arc Raiders will prioritize and reward teamwork, as players loot enemies and scavenge ruins for for tools and gadgets that help give them the edge over the relentless mechanized forces of the Arc—essentially killer drones from outer space that drop in to pay humanity a visit from time to time. There isn't much in the way of detail at this point, but I dig the muted, mildly washed-out visual style, which I think is a great fit for the machine enemies of the Arc and the Earth itself, which doesn't appear to be in great shape.

Arc Raiders will be available on PC on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GeForce Now. More details will be revealed soon. Find out more at arcraiders.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.