ARC Raiders: Bird City Map Condition Sparks Outrage Among European Players
The ARC Raiders community hoped to kick off 2026 with a bang, but the latest map condition has left players grinding their gears. Frustration, confusion, and calls for change are mounting as European players rally against an event many find simply out of reach.
Embark Studios likely thought they were treating fans by rolling out the first major update of the year for ARC Raiders this week. The Headwinds patch was meant to launch an ambitious roadmap, promising fresh content every month through April. But excitement quickly fizzled out: the new map condition has sparked widespread frustration, and for good reason.
Image credit: Embark Studios
Bird City: event times spark controversy
“Bird City” now joins the roster of ARC Raiders map modifiers alongside Electromagnetic Storm, Night Raid, and Harvester. The problem? This new addition has reignited a familiar frustration in the community over the limited time windows for these fleeting events.
The event is only available during three very narrow time slots, making it nearly impossible for most European players with a typical schedule to participate.
Bird City is a non starter for us in GMT timezone with regular day jobs 😭
by u/Jay-SA121 in ArcRaiders
On Reddit, a post calling out the issue quickly racked up over a thousand upvotes. For many, Bird City is seen as dead-on-arrival content, accessible only to a small minority able to adapt to these extreme hours. The time slots speak for themselves:
- 8am – 9am: right in the middle of morning routines or commutes
- 4pm – 5pm: most are still at work
- 12am – 1am: hardly appealing on a weeknight
In short, with a standard 9-to-5 job, joining this event is nearly impossible. “I wish Embark would consider a dynamic schedule so everyone worldwide has a fair shot at all game modes,” the post’s author pleaded.
Frustration spreads far beyond Europe
While European players are hit hardest, the discontent is spreading. North American users are also pointing out that the event is out of reach for them. Some bluntly state they’ll never be able to access it at all.
The most common request is clear: a dynamic or rotating schedule that would let every time zone enjoy map conditions equally. It’s not a new demand, but Bird City has brought the issue to a boiling point.
A volatile moment for ARC Raiders
As if the Bird City controversy weren’t enough, ARC Raiders is already in a turbulent period. The Headwinds update, hyped as a game-changer for early 2026, arrived with a slew of technical issues that have tested the community’s patience. Soon after launch, players reported major bugs, including drastically slowed loot rates and stability problems that rendered some matches unplayable. Embark Studios acknowledged the issues and rolled out emergency fixes. But there’s another problem: the studio confirmed it’s under massive, coordinated DDoS attacks affecting both ARC Raiders and The Finals. These attacks are overloading servers and making gameplay erratic—or downright impossible—for many players.
In this already tense atmosphere, the arrival of a map condition seen as inaccessible by much of the community only fuels the frustration. For many Raiders, Bird City feels less like an exciting new feature and more like a sign of growing disconnect between the studio’s intentions and the reality for players. It’s a tricky situation for Embark, who will need to act fast to restore trust and prevent this backlash from becoming permanent.
ARC Raiders, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
