ARC Raiders Lead Says the Game Is Planned as a 10-Year Journey: “Things Need to Happen in the Game”

ARC Raiders is being built with a much longer future in mind than its current content may suggest. Executive producer Aleksander Grøndal has revealed that the team wants the extraction shooter to become a 10-year journey, with major developments to its world and story unfolding throughout that period.

The comments were made during Grøndal’s interview with GamesBeat. Rather than treating the game’s current narrative as a finished story, the developer explained that its mysteries are intended to be answered gradually as players explore more of the world.

ARC Raiders Has a Long-Term Story Planned

ARC Raiders places players in the Rust Belt, where humanity has been pushed underground by the mysterious ARC machines. Raiders venture onto the surface to collect resources while dealing with hostile machines and unpredictable encounters with other players.

Grøndal said the development team always intended to build an evolving narrative around that setting. The story will gradually reveal more about the origins of the ARCs, why they appeared and what happened to the world before humanity was forced underground.

“There is a plan for how this is supposed to evolve over time,”

Grøndal told GamesBeat.

“We want ARC Raiders to become a 10-year journey.”

The developer pointed to Destiny as an example of how a live-service game can progressively develop its narrative instead of telling its entire story at launch. For ARC Raiders, major updates are expected to introduce new developments that change the world while continuing the larger story surrounding the Raiders and the ARCs.

“That means things need to happen in the game,”

Grøndal explained, adding that players will eventually receive answers to the questions surrounding the game’s setting.

This long-term approach is also reflected in the game’s planned content strategy. The developer has previously discussed introducing new locations, story arcs and events as the world evolves, while the official development roadmap says the game is still

“early in that journey.”

The upcoming Frozen Trail update is part of that broader direction. Alongside its new map and gameplay additions, the expansion is expected to advance the story and begin changing the situation facing Raiders and the underground community.

A 10-year plan does not necessarily mean ARC Raiders will remain exactly the same throughout that period. Instead, Grøndal’s comments suggest that the developers expect the game to evolve significantly as new locations, mechanics and narrative arcs are introduced.