On December 25, 2025, Arc Raiders suffered a major server outage that left hundreds of thousands of players unable to access the game. The disruption, which peaked during Christmas Day gaming hours, primarily impacted users in the United States but quickly spread worldwide. According to Downdetector, more than 45,000 outage reports were logged at the height of the incident, while live player tracking data suggested roughly 346,000 players were affected globally.
Current Status and Player Impact
Players attempting to log in encountered a range of connectivity problems. The most common issues included complete login failures, excessively long matchmaking queues, and players getting stuck on infinite loading screens. The outage was platform-wide, affecting PC users on Steam and Epic Games Store as well as console players on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Two error codes were reported most frequently:
- ARAU0297 – “Online services are currently unavailable”
- ART00004 – Network Timeout error
These errors effectively prevented players from reaching Arc Raiders’ online servers.
What Caused the Arc Raiders Outage?
Initial speculation pointed to a large-scale Amazon Web Services (AWS) failure, as many online games rely on AWS infrastructure. However, AWS quickly denied a core outage, stating that its systems were “operating normally” and that the disruption originated from “events elsewhere on the internet.”
Attention then shifted to Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC), a service owned by Epic Games and used by Arc Raiders for authentication. Notably, Fortnite and Rocket League both EAC-dependent titles experienced similar connectivity issues at the same time. When EAC fails to properly initialize or authenticate, games automatically block access to online servers, which aligns with the errors players reported.
The timing also played a role. The outage occurred during the Christmas holiday surge, when player traffic spikes dramatically. This likely placed heavy strain on authentication services, exacerbating the failure.
Troubleshooting Steps for Players
While the issue is largely server-side, community managers and technical guides suggest a few steps that may help once services begin stabilizing:
- Check system time and date: Ensure settings are set to “Automatic,” as clock desynchronization can trigger ARAU0297.
- Repair Easy Anti-Cheat (PC): Run EasyAntiCheat_Setup.exe as an administrator and select “Repair Service.”
- Verify game files: Use Steam or Epic Games Launcher to confirm file integrity.
- Avoid repeated login attempts: Constant retries can overload authentication queues; waiting 30 minutes between attempts is advised.
What’s Next?
Embark Studios has acknowledged the Arc Raiders server outage and confirmed that teams are actively working on restoring full service. As of now, no official “all-clear” has been issued, but players are encouraged to monitor official channels for updates as the situation develops.
