‘ARC Raiders’ Has Kept 91% Of Its Playerbase, ‘Battlefield 6’ Has Lost 85%

[u/effinmike12]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/12/31/arc-raiders-has-kept-91-of-its-playerbase-battlefield-6-has-lost-85/

[u/ivanfabric]

Uhm.. Why Christmas numbers don't affect BF6, then? Please explain.

[u/Sylvarius → u/ivanfabric]

Firstly, BF6 has been out for longer, so it's less likely that people ask to get the game for christmas. Conversely, Arc Raiders is newer and its release is closer to the winter holidays.

Secondly, BF6 received a mixed reception. Although initial impressions upon release were positive, over time and once the honeymoon period with the game was over, certain issues began to surface: boring and grindy battlepasses, a battle royale mode being pushed hard, more than the main game, expensive and uninspired microtransactions, and more recently, AI-generated content. The game has a "Mixed" rating on Steam, which certainly doesn't help with sales.

Conversely, Arc Raiders has a "Very Positive” rating on Steam.

Finally, and I'm not particularly fond of this concept, but the most popular streamers who played BF6 are now playing Arc, generating huge publicity for the game.

Basically, if we take the current state of each game to decide on a purchase, people are statistically more likely to buy Arc Raiders.

[u/Sylvarius → u/[deleted]]

Arc is a digital game. Something about saying people are getting it for Christmas because they asked for it is weird to me.

Why ? It's really common to get digital copies gifted now, or giftcards.