ARC Raiders roars back to life as Frozen Trail smashes 6-month player highs
Embark's biggest update ever drags ARC Raiders back into Steam's top 10, while WARDOGS players brace for a brutal Season 2 wipe and THE FINALS teases Prime Time.
The Biggest Story: ARC Raiders Comes Back From The Dead
Frozen Trail did exactly what Embark hoped. Embark Studios released the Frozen Trail 2.0 update for ARC Raiders on October 8, 2026, and calls it the biggest update the game has had since launch. The result: as of October 8, the game has seen a 24-hour Steam peak of 131,388 concurrent players, the type of excitement Arc Raiders hasn't seen since April, after spending several months in the 30,000 to 50,000 range. By the weekend, SteamDB trackers had it even higher, with two days after Frozen Trail dropped on October 8 across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, that number jumping to 166,670 on Steam alone. Credit the new Pendola Pass map, a grappling hook, a 50% discount and the game's first-ever free-play weekend — which ends October 12, so the concurrent player count will almost certainly drop after that, with the real test being whether Frozen Trail converted returning players into regulars. Separately, Embark also confirmed both ARC Raiders and The Finals are going to be getting adapted to film and television via a deal with Chernin Entertainment — no formats, dates or cast attached yet.
ARC Raiders
See above — Frozen Trail is the biggest Raiders moment since launch, and OCE lobbies are full again for the free weekend that wraps today.
WARDOGS
Season 02 lands 15 Oct US-time (likely 16 Oct here, exact AU rollout hour unconfirmed), and Season 2 arrives with a full seasonal reset — character progression, unlocks and earned currency all reset to zero, though premium currency converts to gold instead of being lost. Players are split hard: some are threatening to go back to Arma Reforger, calling the Season 2 wipe a huge problem for casuals who don't have endless hours to grind, while others on Steam are counting down to it for a fresh start against hoarded Tier-4 gear.
THE FINALS
Quietest of the bunch most of the week, but the Prime Time hype train leaves the station Fri 16 Oct, 5am AEST (Brisbane) / 6am AEDT (Sydney/Melbourne), when Embark joins the Galaxies Showcase for a first look at the new gameplay trailer for PRIME TIME. Expect the Infiltrator specialisation chatter to pick back up once that drops.
Battlefield 6
Season 5 is scheduled for Tue 13 Oct US time (likely Wed 14 Oct here), bringing new maps, a Dead Space-themed limited-time event and the long-requested server browser, plus Platoons, a new social system letting players create groups of up to 100 — though the server browser itself won't actually land until the full roadmap plays out, with Platoons and Server Browser confirmed for December in earlier reporting. Matchmaking hotfixes keep rolling out, but trust is still shaky after months of bot-flooded lobbies.
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
Mixed bag this week — the fun stuff is Dawnbreakers of Rondo, the night-survival mode teased for roughly 14–22 Oct US dates. The less fun stuff: Krafton has cancelled development of PUBG: Black Budget, the intended extraction shooter spin-off, saying its current direction wouldn't deliver an experience players could enjoy long-term — the second PUBG spin-off scrapped this year.
BattleBit Remastered
No fresh news out of the devs this week; the community's attention is clearly elsewhere right now.
Out of Action
Solo dev keeps grinding — rain, a new audio system and a same-day Seeker nerf landed, the kind of quick-turnaround patching that's earning quiet goodwill from its small but loyal player base.
Bodycam
Nothing notable surfaced this week — a genuinely quiet stretch for the found-footage shooter.
HELLDIVERS 2
Last week's Oct 6 maintenance came and went without drama. Bigger picture: October's Update 7.2 is shaping up as the year's biggest near-term content drop, with a new Warbond, missions, biome, enemy, Galactic War event and Liberty Day celebrations still to land this month.
Delta Force
Solid, unspectacular week — the new 1v1 duel mode and Victory Unite refresh give grinders something to chew on, with mixed-but-friendly reception as players test the new ammo balance in ranked.
What to watch next: Fri 16 Oct, ~5am AEST/6am AEDT: Galaxies Showcase with THE FINALS Prime Time gameplay reveal. Around 14-16 Oct AU time: Battlefield 6 Season 5 and WARDOGS Season 2 wipe both land in the same window. 14-23 Oct AU dates: PUBG's Dawnbreakers of Rondo night mode runs. Late October: Helldivers 2's Liberty Day event as part of Update 7.2.
Sources
- Arc Raiders hasn't had player counts like this in months: Steam flies past 125,000 amid Frozen Trail, 50% discount, and free trial
- ARC Raiders 2.0 Hits 7-Month Steam High Thanks to Grappling Hook
- ARC Raiders and The Finals announce plans for film and television adaptations
- PUBG's extraction shooter spin-off Black Budget has been cancelled, Krafton confirms
- WARDOGS Season 2: Everything We Know Before the October 15 Wipe
- WARDOGS Season 2 Release Date: October 15 Wipe, New AA Tank & What Carries Over
- THE FINALS X GALAXIES SHOWCASE
- Battlefield 6 Season 5 Ups the Number of New Maps and Adds a Dead Space-Themed PvE Mode
- Helldivers 2's New 2026 Roadmap Brings Two Warbonds, a New Biome, and Major Update 8.0 in December
- Weekly Roundup October 5-11
Researched and written by ClutchBot News Desk (Claude + live web search) for The Clutch Club — PapaKow's community. Community voices are paraphrased. Spotted something wrong? Tell us in the Discord.