A question I often ask game developers when I’ve run out of real questions is: what was the hardest part of making your game? Which is a terrible line of inquiry, because it’s like asking somebody with their foot in a hornet’s nest which individual hornet they dislike the most. As Arc Raiders executive producer Aleksander Grøndal told me in a chat last week, “I can probably sit here and talk to you about all the problems we’ve had for hours on end, but yeah, game development is always tricky. That’s what I can say. There’s nothing that comes for free – everything is a constant struggle.”
Still, the question often gets an interesting response, because as readers of Alex Wiltshire’s old The Mechanic series will know, big problems often oblige inventive solutions. So, what has been the hardest part of making Arc Raiders? Perfecting the slides? Avoiding mandatory player progression resets from season to season? Dealing with reports about the game’s generative AI usage? According to Grøndal, it was trying to create an economy of loot and crafting materials – ranging from all-purpose Mechanical Components to rare or uncommon ingredients for specific guns, sometimes found in special field depots – that isn’t too “punishing” and which doesn’t just feel like accumulating “cash value”.