Embark Studios is opening a full-game free trial for ARC Raiders from October 8 at 09:00 UTC through October 12 at 08:00 UTC — Wednesday, October 8, 5:00 a.m. ET through Sunday, October 12, 4:00 a.m. ET — across Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation, according to the studio’s official news post. Players get access to the complete extraction shooter for those four days without buying the game first.
The free window is timed to Frozen Trail, which Embark calls its biggest update since launch. The headline map is Pendola Pass. Newcomers can enter Pendola Pass immediately if they team with players who have already unlocked it — solo free-weekend players should not assume every map is open on a fresh account.
Embark’s pitch is straightforward: invite friends, learn the Rust Belt loop, and extract while the update’s new frontier content is live. The studio frames the downed Emperor and ARC response as the narrative hook for returning and first-time Raiders alike. Platform coverage in the official note is explicitly multiplatform — Steam plus Xbox and PlayStation — matching how the live game already ships.
Primary sourcing is Embark’s Play ARC Raiders for free post, dated October 2, with English amplification continuing into October 3 (including Polygon). The consumer event itself still sits ahead on October 8–12.
For readers who tracked RCG’s earlier look at Arc Raiders’ first big 2026 update, Frozen Trail is the next cadence beat: a map drop plus a four-day full-game trial meant to refill squads.
US players should convert the UTC window carefully — the trial opens early Wednesday morning Eastern and ends early Sunday morning Eastern. Buying the game is still required after October 12 if you want to keep playing. The free weekend is a dated trial, not a permanent free-to-play shift.
