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Arc Raiders Expeditions Could Be Scrapped as Embark Pauses System for Major Redesign

Embark halted Expeditions to fix reward balance, tight departure windows and new‑player access with a pledge to decide the feature’s future after the October Frozen Trail update.

Overview

  • Embark announced a formal pause to Expeditions in an August 21 blog post and said the mode will not return until early 2027 while the studio performs a major rework.
  • The studio kept the fifth Expedition running as a final run through late September and promised that players’ earned consecutive Expedition buffs will carry over during the hiatus and partial Caravan progress will be converted.
  • At Gamescom on Monday, executive producer Aleksander Grøndal told reporters that removing Expeditions entirely is a live option as the team weighs whether to overhaul or replace the system.
  • Embark is prioritizing the Frozen Trail update due October 8 and will not make final calls or roll out changes to Expeditions until after that update goes live.
  • Player complaints about tight departure windows, poor reward pacing, heavy grind and new‑player accessibility drove low participation, and Embark says cheating and limited developer resources complicate any large redesign.