Arc Raiders won Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2025, beating out Battlefield 6 and three other nominees. The extraction shooter sold over 4 million copies in its first two weeks and peaked at 481,966 concurrent players on Steam before claiming the trophy.
This wasn't an easy win. Multiplayer gaming had plenty of standout releases in 2025, making the category one of the tougher awards at TGA. The victory also marks the first time an extraction shooter has claimed this category at The Game Awards.
From Development Crisis to TGA Victory
Arc Raiders launched October 30, 2025 at $40 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The game's turbulent development makes the win even more striking.
Embark Studios originally announced Arc Raiders at The Game Awards 2021 as a free-to-play cooperative PvE shooter targeting a 2022 release. Developers hit a wall when they realized the original version "simply wasn't fun." The team made a drastic call: pivot to a PvPvE extraction shooter format.
They crammed two years of design work into six months. Within two weeks of launch, Arc Raiders became Nexon's (Embark's parent company) most successful global launch ever. Steam reviews currently sit at 88% positive from over 220,000 players.
The game's appeal lies in making extraction shooters accessible without killing the tension. Players drop into 30-minute raids on a post-apocalyptic Earth overrun by AI machines called ARCs, scavenging resources while avoiding both deadly robots and rival players. Unlike Escape from Tarkov's hardcore first-person brutality, Arc Raiders uses third-person perspective, visible extraction points, and generous free loadouts that lower the barrier for newcomers.
Battlefield 6's Strong Showing
Arc Raiders faced off against four other titles. Battlefield 6 came in as the strongest competitor, with EA's latest entry earning widespread recognition as a true return to form after Battlefield 2042's troubled reception.
The numbers back it up. Battlefield 6 sold 7+ million copies in its first three days, making it the biggest launch in franchise history and the best-selling game of 2025 overall. Metacritic scores of 83-84 across platforms represent the series' best critical reception in nearly a decade.
EA brought back class-based gameplay (Assault, Engineer, Support, Recon), ditched the controversial Specialist system from 2042, and scaled matches back to 64 players from the chaotic 128-player lobbies. The modern-day setting replaced futuristic elements, while enhanced destruction systems earned comparisons to Bad Company 2.
Battlefield 6 took home its own trophy at the ceremony, winning Best Audio Design. The "War Tapes VAL" audio system from ex-Battlefield audio team members secured the award. Steam performance hit 747,440 peak concurrent players, EA's biggest Steam launch ever.
When it came to the overall multiplayer experience though, Arc Raiders came out ahead.
The Competition and Community Response
FromSoftware also entered the race with Elden Ring: Nightreign, the studio's first multiplayer-focused game. While it wasn't favored to win, Nightreign offered something different from the other nominees. The other two contenders were Peak and Split Fiction.
Some Arc Raiders fans pushed for the game to get a Game of the Year nomination at TGA 2025. That didn't happen. The extraction shooter received only the single Best Multiplayer nomination despite its massive commercial success. Popular streamer Shroud was among those criticizing the GOTY snub.
The Best Multiplayer Game win gives the community something to celebrate though. The game keeps showing what extraction shooters can do when accessibility meets polish.
The Genre's Mainstream Breakthrough
Arc Raiders beating Battlefield 6 represents more than one game's success. The extraction shooter genre, once a niche hardcore category exemplified by Escape from Tarkov's punishing complexity, hit a mainstream inflection point in 2025.
The competitive landscape exploded this year. Hunt: Showdown 1896 rebuilt in CryEngine 5.11. Grey Zone Warfare focused on modern military PvE. Arena Breakout: Infinite went free-to-play. Even parody entry Escape from Duckov hit 220,000+ concurrent players.
Arc Raiders dwarfed them all. The game averages 251,889 concurrent players 30 days post-launch, with 4,000-5,000 daily Twitch streamers versus Tarkov's roughly 500. Cross-platform peaks hit 700,000+ players.
The accessibility-first approach sets Arc Raiders apart. Machine learning-driven enemy AI creates dynamic robot behaviors that stumble, climb, and rebalance when damaged. The voluntary prestige system lets players choose when to reset for cosmetics instead of forcing seasonal wipes. Free basic loadouts reduce the fear-of-loss barrier that turns away newcomers.
The numbers speak for themselves. Arc Raiders proved high-stakes extraction gameplay can appeal to mainstream audiences when combined with accessible design and polished presentation.
TGA 2025's Big Night
The Game Awards 2025 ceremony on December 11 saw French debut studio Sandfall Interactive's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 dominate with 9 wins from 13 nominations, breaking The Last of Us Part II's record for most awards at a single ceremony. The RPG claimed Game of the Year along with eight other categories including Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction.
Other GOTY nominees included Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
Additional category winners included Hades II (Best Action Game), Hollow Knight: Silksong (Best Action/Adventure), No Man's Sky (Best Ongoing Game), and Grand Theft Auto VI (Most Anticipated Game). Wuthering Waves claimed the Players' Voice award.
