Arc Raiders' preload isn't working on the Epic Games store due to 'an unforeseen issue'

(Image credit: Embark Studios)

I live in a WI-Fi bowl, which, for the mercifully unaware, means that I'm capped at criminally low internet speed. Any game I want to play will take an age to download—it took me three weeks to download Stalker 2. So it goes without saying that I'm always making full use of preloads.

One such example is Embark Studio's upcoming extraction shooter Arc Raiders, which had its preload go live yesterday. I've seen a bunch of players take advantage of this as we all hype ourselves up for the launch tomorrow by staring at a slow-moving blue bar. I say "we all," but sadly, not everyone who wanted to get ahead of the download has been able to do so.

Due to an unforeseen issue, pre-loading will not be available on the Epic Games store.ARC Raiders will be available to download on the Epic Games store starting at 10:30am CET, Oct 30th!Apologies for the inconvenience Raiders! 🐓October 28, 2025

"Due to an unforeseen issue, preloading will not be available on the Epic Games store," Arc Raiders says in an official social media post. "Arc Raiders will be available to download on the Epic Games store starting at 10:30 am CET, Oct 30th. Apologies for the inconvenience, Raiders."

And as you would expect, players are taking the news well. "First five words of this tweet almost made me throw up," one player says, while another asks the bold question, "I wonder who'd pick Epic over Steam."

The issue isn't too surprising given that Epic Games only started supporting preloading at the beginning of this month, so I'm sure it's still working out some growing pains. But still, not being able to preload a game is a problem I'm sympathetic to.

Luckily, Arc Raiders' download size isn't big at all. At just 26.8 GB, even my internet managed to download it all in just over an hour (which may be a personal best for the hamster that powers my Wi-Fi router). This'll hopefully mean that players waiting to download Arc Raiders when it launches tomorrow won't have to wait too long to go topside—if my hamster-powered Wi-Fi can do it, so can yours, you just have to believe.

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.

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