Throwing out a live-service game is risky business, nowadays. Even with exciting gameplay, great visuals, and an addictive loop, you can find people still sticking with their old multiplayer favourites and refusing to give a new title the time of day. Embark Studios, the developer behind Arc Raiders and The Finals, has no plans of ditching the multiplayer format, though.
Speaking with The Game Business in a recent interview, Embark CEO Patrick Soderlund said that multiplayer "is just ingrained in our DNA." He said that while future games might not necessarily be online in the same was as The Finals or Arc Raiders, the studio will stick with what it knows.
Soderlund described a concept with "a lot more edge to it" than Embark's previous works. The studio also has another project in the works on top of that, but Soderlund made sure not to spill any seriously juicy details.
Right now, the focus is on Arc Raiders, but it's interesting to know that Embark isn't just putting all its eggs in one basket and hoping one of its games will continue to pay the bills forevermore. Experimenting with new ideas and pushing new games out allows the studio to remain fresh, which might just be the key to cracking multiplayer experiences in this saturated market.