United Kingdom, Dec. 3 -- Embark Studios has said shifting Arc Raiders from free-to-play to a premium game "dramatically" simplified development.

In the latest episode of the studio's Evolution of Arc Raiders behind-the-scenes series, design director Virgil Watkins said the team struggled to build a satisfying extraction shooter while also designing the sticky progression loops free-to-play games rely on.

Watkins explained: "In free-to-play, you need to. make things a little stickier, take a little more time, a little more grind."

The design director noted that these pressures clashed with the studio's desire to respect players' time.

Once the decision was made to go premium, he said, the entire design flow opened up.

He said: "Craft...