ARC Raiders, the free-to-play extraction shooter from Embark Studios (also known for The Finals), launched recently and quickly amassed a player base, peaking at over 350,000 concurrent users on Steam. This success isn’t just about gameplay; it’s about delivering a smooth, optimized experience, a feat that’s become increasingly rare in modern AAA releases.
The term “UE5 slop” has become a common refrain among PC gamers, often leveled against titles that struggle to perform adequately despite leveraging the visual fidelity of Unreal Engine 5. Many blame the engine, warranted or not. ARC Raiders, however, is challenging this narrative, proving that UE5 can be synonymous with optimized performance when developers prioritize it.
Buckley’s praise is significant. As the voice of Palworld, another UE5 title currently in Early Access with a planned 1.0 release in 2026, his endorsement carries weight. It highlights the fact that impressive visuals don’t have to come at the expense of playability.
“This could be the most technically impressive game I’ve played so far this year.” – John Buckley, Pocketpair
The contrast between ARC Raiders and other recent UE5 releases, like Borderlands 4, is stark. Despite Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford’s claims of “pretty damn optimal” performance, many players experienced significant issues, often relying on upscaling and frame generation technologies to achieve acceptable framerates. The reliance on tech like upscaling is never something PC gamers want to face, even if it is becoming more commonplace in these large-scale games.
While Borderlands 4 opted for an open-world design, a first for the series, ARC Raiders takes a different approach with individual, albeit large, maps. This design choice likely contributes to its improved performance, but it doesn’t fully explain the optimization differences.
Ultimately, ARC Raiders‘ success underscores a crucial point: Unreal Engine 5 doesn’t inherently guarantee poor performance. As exemplified by Valorant, an UE5 game that runs smoothly even on modest hardware, the responsibility lies with developers to prioritize optimization and ensure their games are accessible to a wider range of players. Valorant is another example of an UE5 game that runs on just about anything.
Embark Studios seems to have cracked the code. The Finals, their other UE5 title, is also known for its solid performance, further solidifying the studio’s commitment to optimized gameplay. Both games share almost identical system requirements, suggesting a consistent approach to development.
ARC Raiders System Requirements
It remains to be seen if ARC Raiders will truly reverse the negative perception surrounding UE5 optimization. However, its initial success and the praise it has garnered are undoubtedly a step in the right direction, proving that visually stunning games can also be technically sound.
Looking ahead, the gaming community will be watching closely to see if other developers take note and prioritize optimization in their future UE5 projects, ensuring that the engine’s potential is fully realized without sacrificing performance.
