ARC Raiders once experimented with a much deeper player trading system during development. However, the developers later decided to step back after realizing it could harm the game’s core gameplay loop.
ARC Raiders puts a heavy focus on loot, items, and scavenging, so it’s no surprise that players often discuss trading and item exchange. According to the game’s developers, however, some ideas around trading were explored internally and later dropped because they posed serious risks to the core design of the game.
In a recent interview with GamesRadar, ARC Raiders design lead Virgil Watkins explained that the team has thought carefully about how trading should work in the game. He made it clear that player discussions around trading are more about what individuals personally find fun, rather than the developers planning to add large-scale systems like a full auction house. Right now, the team is more interested in social interaction through simple, direct exchanges rather than complex market-style mechanics.
“More natural and personal”
Watkins explained that the developers want trading to feel more natural and personal. While dropping items on the ground technically works, the team has looked into improving that interaction. One idea they liked was allowing players to physically hold out an item and have another player interact with it to take it. It’s a small change on paper, but one that could make trading feel more intentional and satisfying instead of feeling like a workaround.
When the topic of an auction-house-style system came up, Watkins was very clear about why the team backed away from it. He described systems where players list items, assign prices, and buy or sell through menus as “a very risky territory.” The main concern is that this kind of system could undermine one of the game’s most important loops: going into dangerous areas, exploring maps, and searching specific locations for needed items.
In fact, Watkins revealed they actually experimented with it and partially built such a system earlier in development. Over time, they realized it caused major problems. Instead of caring about where items came from or how they were found, players would focus purely on currency. They would be focused on collecting whatever items sold for the highest value, converting everything into coins, and then simply buying whatever gear they wanted. This completely removed the emotional payoff of exploration.
“We put a lot of very, very deliberate effort into making the game about the items.” He continued, “We previously explored and even partially built a trading system like an auction house. But what it ended up doing is it turned the game into just being about coins. Going in and finding items that are worth the most value, changing them in for coins, and just buying the things you want. Now you have very little care about going in, exploring the correct location, and searching the right containers, or feeling cool that, ‘Oh, finally, I needed this thing, and now I can go do the other thing I wanted to do with it.”
Because of this, the developers decided to remove the auction-style trading system. For now, ARC Raiders will stick to simple, direct trading that supports exploration, risk, and meaningful item discovery, instead of turning the game into a currency-driven marketplace. The devs also recently confirmed that the game will be getting several new maps this year, which translates to plenty of new areas for players to explore.
