ARC Raiders has had shooter fans in a chokehold since it landed in October 2025, and yeah, I've been right there with them—watching squads sprint for extraction, arguing over routes, and hoarding ARC Raiders Items like they're going out of style. The thing is, once you've run the same loop enough times, you start noticing the cracks. The tension is still there, but it's familiar tension. And "familiar" is exactly what a new extraction shooter is hoping you'll get bored of.
The ARC loop still hits, but it's not endless
You drop into a busted-up Earth, the weather's awful, the bots are worse, and every backpack slot feels like a life decision. ARC's third-person view makes fights readable—you can shoulder-peek, play corners, and keep track of your squad without losing your bearings. That's the upside. The downside is that third-person also softens the panic a little. After a while you're not surviving, you're managing. People start speed-running danger. They'll trigger map events just to force action, or they'll farm predictable bot spawns because the risk math is easy now. When a game reaches that stage, a rival doesn't need to "kill" it. It just needs to feel new.
Marathon's first-person pull is real
Marathon launching on March 5, 2026 is a big deal because it's stepping into the same extraction lane, but with an FPS camera that a lot of shooter diehards prefer. If you've ever watched ARC players freak out over that accidental first-person glitch, you already know why. First-person makes every hallway tighter. Every reload feels like a confession. You don't get to watch your character bravely do the thing—you have to do it. ARC probably won't ship a full FPS mode before Marathon arrives, and plenty of folks are going to try Marathon for that alone, even if they come crawling back later.
Community trust, nostalgia, and the little stuff
There's also the vibe factor. Marathon carries that old-school name, and even players who never touched the 90s originals still treat it like it matters. ARC doesn't have that built-in myth. Then you've got the voice acting conversation—ARC's AI-related backlash didn't ruin the game, but it did leave a mark. Marathon leaning on recognisable human voice talent is going to read as "safer" and more premium to some players, whether that's fair or not. Still, ARC has an edge where it counts for co-op fans: its PvE can actually punish you. If Marathon's PvE stays lightweight like it looked in early testing, ARC will keep the players who want bots to be a real problem, not background noise.
What happens to ARC when Marathon lands
Expect a temporary dip, not an extinction event. People will chase the new thing, streamers will follow, and your usual ARC lobbies may feel thinner for a bit. Then the comparison stage kicks in: which gunplay feels better, which extraction system wastes less time, which devs respond faster when cheating spikes. ARC can protect its future by shipping meaningful updates early in 2026 and by respecting what players ask for, even if it's messy to build. And if you're sticking around, planning smart loadouts and picking up cheap ARC Raiders gear can make the relearning curve a lot less painful when the competition heats up.
