Embark Studios, a Swedish subsidiary of Nexon, is making waves in the global market with its new game, ARC Raiders. With cumulative global sales surpassing 12.4 million units in just over two months after its launch, Nexon’s strategy of expanding its global IP by putting a European development studio is leading to actual box office success.
12.4 Million Units Sold in 2 Months: An Unprecedented Achievement
According to Nexon on January 14, ARC Raiders has seen balanced success across all platforms, including PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, since its global release on October 30 last year. The game hit the 10 million sales mark in less than two months, with cumulative sales reaching 12.4 million units by early this month. It also broke its own record for peak concurrent players, exceeding 960,000. This performance is unparalleled for a game released by a Korean game company.
ARC Raiders made its presence felt in the global market immediately after launch. It maintained a top position in Steam’s global Top Sellers list for 10 consecutive weeks, setting the stage for long-term success. The game also topped Steam sales charts in Asian markets including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. Notably, it attracted a diverse user base across major regions, not just North America and Europe.
The game has been recognized for its gameplay by being named in various global gaming awards. It won the Best Multiplayer Game category at The Game Awards (TGA), the world’s largest gaming awards ceremony. In the upcoming 2025 Steam Awards, determined by Steam user votes, it’s nominated for the Most Innovative Gameplay category. On the global review aggregation site OpenCritic, the game achieved a 92% critic recommendation score and a perfect 100% user recommendation score, earning the highest Mighty badge.
The popularity of ARC Raiders continues to spread across different media. Recently, it made a surprise appearance in the latest season of the long-running American animated series South Park. In one episode, a character is shown playing ARC Raiders on a console, complete with actual game footage and the line “Playing ARC Raiders” explicitly mentioned.
Industry experts attribute the success of ARC Raiders to its genre choice and polished execution. The competitive-cooperative hybrid (PvPvE) extraction shooter genre has already proven popular in the global market. Embark Studios lowered the entry barrier by combining intuitive controls with well-designed maps, while establishing a stable live service structure from the outset. The game’s unique “post-post-apocalyptic” setting and the imposing presence of the enemy ARC are also seen as distinguishing factors. Analysts suggest that the gameplay structure, which balances competition and cooperation, has been advantageous for streaming and community growth.
Is This Nexon’s Next-Generation Blockbuster IP?
The success of ARC Raiders is seen as a significant milestone in Nexon’s global development strategy. Since its initial investment in Embark Studios in 2018, Nexon has prioritized quality over short-term gains. Even after fully acquiring Embark Studios, Nexon has maintained the studio’s independence and creativity while leveraging its own global publishing and live service expertise.
Nexon believes that the box office performance since the release of ARC Raiders has shown the possibility of it establishing itself as Nexon’s next-generation blockbuster IP. It demonstrates that Nexon’s strategy for horizontal IP growth across various platforms is yielding tangible results.
However, alongside its success, ARC Raiders has also courted controversy over the use of AI in game development. After the game was nominated for a BAFTA Games Award, concerns were raised about the use of text-to-speech (TTS) technology in some voice production processes. This reignited worries about AI potentially replacing jobs, particularly in the context of recent large-scale restructuring in the European gaming industry. In response, Embark Studios clarified that while they used AI-based tools for some additional voice work with actors’ consent, the primary voice recordings relied on traditional voice actors. They emphasized that this was a supplementary measure to reduce the burden of repetitive recording, not an attempt to replace human creativity with generative AI.
