Rumour: Epic Games working on ARC Raiders-style extraction shooter with Disney characters

It appears that extraction shooters are going to be the next big gaming trend, as it's believed Epic Games is working on a game in the vein of the monster success ARC Raiders, which will feature Disney characters for players to pick and choose from.

This report comes via Bloomberg, and could be releasing as soon as November 2026. This is seen as something of a return to glory for Epic, after the recent layoff of 1,000 employees at the company and the closure of some Fortnite game modes. Epic is pinning a lot of its future hopes on this Disney game, and on others it's creating in collaboration with the Mouse.

According to the report, internal responses to the extraction shooter aren't too positive right now. Criticisms point to the game's mechanics being unoriginal, but there is a belief that with Epic's multiplayer expertise that it can get the formula right in time for release. At least two more games are expected to be released as part of the Epic Disney deal, which saw the latter fund $1.5 billion into the former two years ago.

Both Disney and Epic have responded to the Bloomberg report. "We remain focused on our long-term collaboration with Epic which continues to have strong momentum and our work to build a transformational games and entertainment universe remains unchanged," said a Disney spokesperson.

Liz Markman, senior director of global communications at Epic, said the Bloomberg report is "not reflective of the ambitions of the Disney collaboration. We are building a new games and entertainment universe of Disney experiences. Epic's timelines are aggressive and always have been. We've heavily moved developers onto projects with releases approaching, while smaller prototyping teams are working on further-off projects."

If Disney ARC Raiders is being planned for November, we'd expect some sort of reveal soon. Watch this space for more information.