{"id":354363,"date":"2025-12-04T00:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T08:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/es\/?p=403271"},"modified":"2025-12-04T01:27:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:27:23","slug":"arc-raiders-was-almost-a-free-to-play-game-but-that-would-have-been-worse-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/arc-raiders-was-almost-a-free-to-play-game-but-that-would-have-been-worse-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"ARC Raiders was almost a free-to-play game, but that would have been worse for you"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Embark Studios has made the controversial decision to change the model of its game ARC Raiders, which will go from being free to a paid title, initially causing an uproar among the gaming community. However, <strong>after this transition, the team has observed significant improvements in the gaming experience, according to Virgil Watkins, the project&#8217;s design director<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A worse game due to microtransactions<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Watkins mentioned in a recent development video that this decision has allowed the team to remove barriers and artificial timers that were inherent to the free-to-play model. In that system, developers are forced to create mechanics aimed at keeping players engaged, which can lead to friction and frustrations<strong>. \u201cIt was difficult to respect the player&#8217;s time,\u201d Watkins noted, adding that trivial aspects like crafting items were tied to timers that forced users to wait<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Launch Trailer | ARC Raiders\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IpeJjQDXNAE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>The transition to a payment model has allowed Embark to adjust the game mechanics without previous commercial limitations, enhancing the feeling of effort and reward. <strong>For example, activities like crafting items are now processed without artificial waits, which has facilitated a smoother and more rewarding experience<\/strong>. \u201cNow things take the time they should take,\u201d summarized the designer, which has impacted the perception of the game as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>Despite being a paid title, with a set price of 39.99 euros, Watkins clarified that the studio will continue to explore monetization models that are not predatory. <strong>\u201cThe priority is to find sustainable methods that are fair to players,\u201d he concluded, emphasizing that the balance between monetization and user experience remains a central challenge for the industry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Steam\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_app-icon-s\/p\/3047d89c-96d0-11e6-8546-00163ed833e7\/2505233623\/steam-download.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Steam<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/steam.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DOWNLOAD<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--0\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"0\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\"><\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/steam.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embark Studios has made the controversial decision to change the model of its game ARC Raiders, which will go from being free to a paid title, initially causing an uproar among the gaming community. However, after this transition, the team has observed significant improvements in the gaming experience, according to Virgil Watkins, the project&#8217;s design director. A worse game due to microtransactions Watkins mentioned in a recent development video that this decision has allowed the team to eliminate barriers and artificial timers that were inherent to the free-to-play model. In that system, developers [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9318,"featured_media":354375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1018,1015],"tags":[11030,17389,5910,1094,19150,4738,17391],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[6823],"class_list":["post-354363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","category-news","tag-arc-raiders","tag-embark","tag-embark-studios","tag-free-to-play","tag-juego-gratuito","tag-shooter","tag-virgil-watkins","content-category-games"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9318"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354363"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":354385,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354363\/revisions\/354385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354363"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=354363"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=354363"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=354363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}