Arc Raiders dev reveals Cold Snap winter update release date: Snowfall map condition, new quests, and a new event arrive next week

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Arc Raiders dev reveals Cold Snap winter update release date: Snowfall map condition, new quests, and a new event arrive next week News By Jordan Gerblick published 9 December 2025

"A cold snap is coming"

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(Image credit: Embark Studios)

Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios has revealed the release date for the game's first big update, which happens to be the Cold Snap winter update from the game's roadmap.

In a tweet from the official Arc Raiders Twitter account, Embark teases cryptically, "A cold snap is coming" on December 16. The date appears in front of an image of a fallen raider surrounded by snow. Nothing else is included in the tease, but there are a few assumptions we can safely make about the update thanks to the aforementioned roadmap, which was revealed at launch in late October.

16.12.25 pic.twitter.com/UxQH0nAP1LDecember 9, 2025

Per that official roadmap, the Arc Raiders Cold Snap update will add the new snowfall map condition, which one can only imagine is precisely what it says on the tin. Let there be snow, and all of the slippery, slidy, low visibility risk and reward that something like that typically brings.

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Notably, the winter update will also harbor an event called Flickering Flames, which sounds downright cozy in the context of a snowy winter event, as well as new quests, a new raider deck, and the "departure window" for the game's first Expedition - basically its first opt-in character wipe.

It's unclear if we'll get any further clarity on Arc Raiders' winter update before it launches next week, and moreover, Embark has yet to comment on what exactly is next for the hit extraction shooter in the new year. We'll know more once we actually get our hands on the Cold Snap update and can see firsthand how Embark handles larger content drops.

Former Nexon boss who took a risk on Arc Raiders says "the AAA industry is structurally at its end" and "it's going to end in more disaster than it has already" without a "serious rewrite"

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After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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