Comparisons between ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6 should come as no surprise to anyone—both are multiplayer shooters that, while different in scale and gameplay, came out in the same month. Both titles also saw immense success on launch, with incredible sales figures and concurrent player numbers. As we start 2026, however, as spotted by Forbes’ Paul Tassi, the player counts for both games have gone in separate trajectories.
While both games had tremendous player numbers, with ARC Raiders peaking at around 481,966 concurrent players back in November and Battlefield 6 getting an all-time peak of 747,440 concurrent players back in October, both titles have naturally seen some drop-off. ARC Raiders has seemingly managed to retain a large number of players that might have played during its peak last month, with the 24-hour peak sitting at around 428,000 concurrent players. Battlefield 6, on the other hand, seems to have seen a much sharper decline, with its 24-hour peak sitting at around 119,000 concurrent players.
It is worth keeping in mind that these player numbers only take into account the PC versions of ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6, with player numbers provided by SteamDB. These numbers, however, indicate that Battlefield 6 has only managed to retain around 16 percent of its player base. ARC Raiders, on the other hand, managed to hang on to almost 90 percent of its players.
Despite the fall-off in concurrent player figures for the Steam release of Battlefield 6, it is worth noting that getting more than 100,000 concurrent players on a daily basis is still an impressive feat, and that the title is at no risk of dying off. Similarly, ARC Raiders has also been boasting of impressive player figures, and both titles likely see quite a bit more play time on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Since both shooters were released, they have also seen plenty of updates that not only brought in bug fixes and balance changes to the games, but also new content as well. ARC Raiders saw the release of the Cold Snap update just last month, which brought with it an entirely new weather effect that could affect gameplay while also tapping into the Winter themes. Battlefield 6, on the other hand, is currently in the midst of its first season, which was kicked off in late-October.
When it comes to sales figures, while Embark Studios hasn’t yet officially confirmed how many copies of ARC Raiders it has sold so far, a report from November indicated that Battlefield 6 had already become the best-selling game of 2025 in the US, while also becoming the most successful release in the franchise.
While ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6 might both be seeing immense levels of success, Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has seemingly failed to do so despite topping US sales charts in November. Analysts have noted that the low player numbers for the latest entry in the Call of Duty franchise can largely be blamed on Activision’s own mis-steps, as well as the title being released in a market that is getting crowded thanks to titles like Fortnite, ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6.
For more details on how the two multiplayer shooters are affecting Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, check out our thoughts.
