Ahead of Arc Raiders’ Frozen Trail update dropping in October, I sat down with Aleksander Grøndal, Executive Producer of ARC Raiders, at Gamescom to talk about the game’s upcoming changes. Following the announcement that Expeditions, the game’s late-game feature, won’t be returning until 2027, Grøndal told me that it may not come back at all.
In a blog post released on August 21, 2026, Embark said, “In order to address those concerns, we need to pause the Expeditions for a while. The fifth Expedition will be the last one until early 2027, when Expeditions will return with major improvements, tackling some of the biggest player pain points.” There was no hint that Expeditions may not return, with the focus being on the improvement that’ll be made.
“Was the system perfect? No, probably not,” Grøndal told me at Gamescom. “We want to make some significant changes to the Expedition system. But I think right now we’re focused on, ‘yeah, they are what they are,’ but the intent is to have them change.”
Embark may go beyond simply changing the system, though. “Maybe we’ll scrap the whole system altogether. That is on the table, too. Right now, the team is trying to figure out what the next steps for Expeditions are.”
When those changes will be confirmed, that is still up in the air. We won’t get news or changes before Frozen Trail drops, but “will come in a bit later,” and Embark is “very much aware of some of the feedback around them.” For now, they “haven’t decided exactly how” the mode will change just yet, but it’s something they’ll work on once Frozen Trail is complete and live in-game.
Hopefully, Embark will be able to introduce something a bit more rewarding and engaging than the original format of Expeditions. The progression overhaul, new map, and more that are coming as part of the Frozen Trail update are just the beginning.