Nexon said on the 9th that its new title ARC Raiders surpassed 4 million copies sold worldwide just 12 days after launch. Nexon plans to build on ARC Raiders' early success and grow it into a next-generation intellectual property (IP).
ARC Raiders is a PvPvE (player vs. player vs. environment) extraction adventure game developed by Nexon subsidiary Embark Studios. In a fiercely competitive market where it is hard for new games to stand out, ARC Raiders faced a barrier to entry because it requires a paid purchase, and the genre has been viewed as relatively hardcore, making early success uncertain. However, the company said ARC Raiders drew interest with its distinctive art style and worldbuilding, and it gained traction through word of mouth thanks to multiple tests.
In the server slam test held just before the official launch, the game reached 190,000 peak concurrent users on Steam and ranked No. 4 in most-played. After launch, it sold 4 million copies in two weeks and hit a peak of 790,000 concurrent users. On Steam, 89% of roughly 200,000 reviews were positive, and on the global review site OpenCritic, it received a 90% critic recommendation score.
A Nexon official said, "ARC Raiders is strengthening user retention based on swift updates and communication with players." ARC Raiders rolled out a major update, North Line, including the new map "Stella Montis," two weeks after launch and plans to release the Cold Snap update with new environments and content in December. As a result, the company said it is currently maintaining more than 300,000 concurrent users daily on Steam.
Furthermore, within two weeks of release, it was nominated for Best Multiplayer at The Game Awards (TGA) 2025. It is the first time in about eight years that a Korean game has been nominated in this category. It is also the first time in 10 years that a new IP package game has been nominated less than a month after release.
Nexon plans to build on ARC Raiders' success and accelerate its global publishing strategy. Nexon has focused on a long-term, autonomy-centered approach that respects the creativity of its development teams and studios and emphasizes polish.
According to the company, as a result, Mintrocket's Dave the Diver earned a score of 90 on the global review site Metacritic and was recognized as a Must Play game, and Embark Studios' ARC Raiders was able to achieve its current results. In addition, Nexon is running new IP projects such as Paradise: LAST PARADISE with a zombie concept and Uchi: The Wayfarer featuring traditional Korean elements.
Nexon is also reimagining existing IP. This year, it unveiled titles newly reinterpreted from popular Nexon IP: First Berserker: Kazan and Maple Grow, as well as Mabinogi Mobile, which won the Korea Game Awards in 2025. In particular, Maple Grow has held the No. 1 spot for more than three weeks in the two major mobile markets in Korea. It also reached No. 1 on the App Store in Taiwan and Singapore and is posting solid results in North America.
A Nexon official said, "We will continue to invest from a long-term perspective across both new and existing IP to expand our presence as a global publisher, and further, work to strengthen the global competitiveness of K-games."