ARC Raiders Players Criticise Embark For Expensive “Copy-Paste” Cosmetics

While recently-released PvPvE extraction shooter ARC Raiders might be doing quite well, it’s under fire from some players. Despite costing $40, the skins also have relatively high prices, hitting $24 in some cases. Naturally, players have taken to the game’s subreddit to voice their displeasure.

One post notes how a premium purchasable skin is quite similar to cosmetics that are already available for free in the game. “Not only are skin prices absurd, but some of them are copying and pasting a majority of an outfit to other outfits and giving them a different head/chest piece. (For $20).”

The copy-pasting refers to one of the newer outfits released by Embark Studios, dubbed the Leviathan set, which is $16. Parts of the outfit have been found by the user to be strikingly similar to the Renegade Moon set.

“I made a thread expressing this exact sentiment, and dolts kept telling me ‘no one cares, just don’t buy it’ like bro, how are you gonna just shrug at $25 skin bundles in a $40 game? That’s unacceptable,” wrote another.

Yet another user also criticised Embark Studios for ARC Raiders not only being a premium title with microtransactions, but also for the fact that it features a battle pass that players have to progress through, which also happens to include items that have effects on gameplay. “Those skin prices are kinda… brutal,” they wrote. “And to add to that, we still have gameplay affecting items in the Battle Pass, in a $40 game[sic].”

ARC Raiders was released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 30. Since its release, the title has received critical acclaim, thanks to its unique take on the extraction shooter genre that pits players in third-person combat against robotic enemies – dubbed ARCs – as well as other humans in the area. For more details about the title, check out our review, where we gave it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to its general level of refinement and polish, as well as great gunplay.

Along with critical acclaim, ARC Raiders has also been incredibly popular with players at large, with analyst firm Alinea Analytics reporting that 2.5 million copies of the extraction shooters had been sold across PC and consoles in the first week alone. While Embark hasn’t officially announced sales, the analysis firm’s report indicates that the title has made more than $100 million, with PC players leading the pack in terms of generated revenue.

For more details about ARC Raiders, check out our thoughts on why millions of players are addicted to it. Also check out why we think its solo mode is a game changer.