The ARC Raiders hotfix resolved the end-of-round infinite loop and left the login issue unresolved. Expeditions stay switched off until early 2027 while Embark Studios reworks or possibly removes the respec system, and three quest blueprints are now purchasable from trader Shani.
ARC Raiders hotfix fixes one of two launch problems
The ARC Raiders hotfix resolved the end-of-round infinite loop that followed the September 15, 2026 update. Embark Studios community staff confirmed the loop fix in a public post, describing a deployment that required no client restart. The same post did not mention login failures that players had reported since the update went live.
The sequence matters because the two faults arrived together and only one got an official resolution. A community manager posting as Embark Osen acknowledged both problems first: players unable to log in, and a loop that ran after extraction instead of returning them to the main screen. A follow-up post from Embark Raz announced the hotfix for the loop alone, and it arrived close to 24 hours after the acknowledgement. No comparable statement covered login.
ARC Raiders is a player-versus-player-versus-environment extraction shooter from Embark Studios, set on a machine-controlled surface with a hub called Speranza between runs. Sony Interactive Entertainment published the game, and it launched on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S in October 2025. "Topside" is the community's shorthand for a raid on the surface, which is why the studio's sign-offs read "see you topside."
A player comment read in the video reported the loop on console, where extraction left the character walking a hallway rather than the menu. Other commenters described the same symptom on PC. The pattern held across PC and console, which points to a platform-independent fault rather than a PC-only build issue. Embark has not published a platform breakdown of either bug.
Timeline of the September 2026 ARC Raiders bugs
The update, its acknowledgement, and the loop fix all landed within roughly a day, which is fast for a live-service shooter. Progress on the login fault is the part a reader should treat as open.
| When | What happened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| September 15, 2026 | Update ships, and a line of text goes missing from the patch notes | Live |
| Update day | Embark Osen acknowledges login trouble and the post-extraction infinite loop in one post | Open |
| About 21 hours later | A console player reports walking a hallway instead of returning to the main screen | Open |
| Close to 24 hours after the acknowledgement | Embark Raz announces a hotfix for the end-of-round infinite loop, no restart required | Resolved |
| After the hotfix | Login failures remain without a studio statement | Unresolved |
The table makes the split clear without implying the second problem was solved.
Three quest blueprints appeared at Shani for 150 creds
Three quest-linked blueprints are now sold by trader Shani for 150 creds each, a change that never appeared in the official patch notes. The blueprints cover the Cracker, the Bleta and the Trigon, all items previously tied to quest lines. Buying them turns those quests into optional content rather than mandatory gates.
The video host confirmed the price and the vendor by checking the in-game trader screen after the update, and noted that the blueprints were absent from the published patch notes. He had already spent his entire cred balance before the change, because earlier studio guidance told players to spend. That is a first-hand observation from one player's session rather than a studio statement, so the stock could change without an announcement.
A cred rework is the stated reason players were pushed to spend quickly. The host reports that creds will not remain in their current form after a coming update, which is why the blueprints became purchasable now. What replaces creds, and how the three blueprints are obtained afterwards, has not been explained in the material reviewed for this article.
The practical action is simple: if you still hold creds and you want the Cracker, Bleta or Trigon blueprint, buy before the rework lands. If you already spent your balance on the studio's earlier guidance to do so, as the host did, there is no published remedy. Treat both the rework timing and the replacement acquisition path as unconfirmed.
Why expeditions are switched off until early 2027
Expeditions are disabled until early 2027 because the studio judged the current system below its own standard, not because the game shut down. Alexander Grondal, the executive producer of ARC Raiders, told PCGamesN at Gamescom that significant changes are needed and that removing the feature outright is now among the options under review. His surname is spelled more than one way across the source and other outlets, so this article uses Grondal.
Functionally, an expedition lets a player reset character progression in exchange for long-term bonuses and a cosmetic reward. That trade is the whole point of the system, and it is also where the criticism lands. Requirements are steep, departure windows are narrow, and the reward schedule sits badly with newer players who have less to give up.
The engagement problem described in the video is that a small slice of the player base actually ran expeditions. Many players reached maximum level, collected what they wanted, declined the reset and stopped logging in. Embark has previously said the issues need more than incremental adjustment, which is why the studio is treating this as a redesign rather than a tuning pass.
Nothing here is settled. The studio has confirmed that removal is on the table and that the mode is off until early 2027; it has not confirmed a replacement system, a return date, or the shape of the reworked progression. Anyone planning a long-term build should plan around the mode staying unavailable for the rest of 2026.
What player-count decline does and does not show
Steam Charts shows a downward trend in ARC Raiders concurrent players, and the video links that decline to dissatisfaction with the expedition system. The two facts sit next to each other; the causal link is the host's interpretation, not a measured result. Concurrent-player graphs show who is logged in at a given moment and cannot separate story fatigue, performance bugs, seasonal timing or a mode nobody wants to run.
The video also covers a content tease for the Frigid Peaks map and a store rotation that drew critical comments. Commenters argued that the marketing updates arrived while stability problems remained open. That is sentiment, not a measurement, and it belongs in a review of community mood rather than in a statement about retention.
One thread worth separating is the engine update. A commenter blamed an engine migration for the wave of bugs, and the host agreed that recent large updates broke a lot. Neither the studio nor the video provides a build-level cause, so the engine claim stays an inference. A rendering or physics level change can plausibly destabilise networking and session flow, but that has not been demonstrated here.
What players should do before the next ARC Raiders update
The useful preparation is short: spend creds, expect no expedition reset, and verify your own login behaviour after each patch. Everything else depends on announcements the studio has not made yet. The four steps below follow directly from changes confirmed in the September 2026 update window.
- Spend remaining creds on the Cracker, Bleta or Trigon blueprint at Shani if you want any of the three, because a cred rework is coming and the replacement acquisition route is unpublished.
2. Skip planning a build around expedition bonuses. The feature is off until early 2027, and removal is an explicit option under review, so expedition-dependent progression carries real risk.
3. Test extraction after the non-restarting hotfix. The loop fix deployed without requiring a client restart, so players who left the game running should confirm the end-of-round behaviour themselves rather than assuming it applied.
4. Report persistent login failures through official channels. The studio acknowledged the login issue publicly and has not followed up with a fix, so reports are the only visible signal that the problem is still live. If the issue has cleared on your account, say so in the comments where other players will see it, because the studio has gone quiet on that thread.
FAQ
- Did the ARC Raiders hotfix fix the login issues? No public statement confirms a login fix. Embark Studios acknowledged login trouble and the extraction loop in one post, then announced a hotfix for the infinite loop only. Login failures had no confirmed resolution at the time this article was written.
- Are expeditions being removed from ARC Raiders? Removal is under consideration but not decided. Executive producer Alexander Grondal told PCGamesN at Gamescom that significant changes are coming and that removing the feature is one of the options. The mode is switched off until early 2027 in the meantime.
- How much do the new quest blueprints cost? Each of the Cracker, Bleta and Trigon blueprints sells for 150 creds from trader Shani. The change was not listed in the official patch notes, and the blueprints were discoverable by opening the trader screen in-game.
- Why should I spend creds now? A cred rework is reportedly coming, and the studio previously encouraged players to spend what they had. If you want one of the three quest blueprints, buying before the rework avoids depending on an acquisition path the studio has not yet described.
- Does ARC Raiders run on any cloud gaming service? As of the September 2026 update window, Arc Raiders is playable on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. Any additional distribution method is a future announcement, not a current capability.
Turning scattered updates into one article
ARC Raiders news arrives the way most live-service news does: a patch note here, a community post there, an interview answer that changes the plan. A useful article has to hold all three together and say plainly which parts are confirmed and which are still open.
If you already talk through that kind of material on YouTube, Skala Blog takes a video URL, transcribes it, and generates a written article from the transcript. The studio statements stay attributable, the timeline stays readable, and the parts you flagged as uncertain stay flagged. Paste the link, run the transcription, and edit the result.
The video, the product, and the demo in this piece are the work of Gustavo dev doido.
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