You hit Play. The launcher breathes, then spits back a cold line: “In Queue.” I watched messages flood Discord that day as friends and strangers alike couldn’t get Topside.
I will walk you through what that message means, when it crops up, and what you can try while the game’s team troubleshoots on their end.
On Nov. 2 many players started seeing “In Queue” — what the message actually means
If you’ve been stopped by an “In Queue” banner in ARC Raiders, the short version is this: the game’s back-end is struggling and the developer deployed a login throttle to stop things from collapsing entirely. The queue often doesn’t show your numeric spot, which makes it behave less like a line and more like a brief gate that sometimes refuses to lift.
The first big wave hit on Nov. 2, and the same pattern repeated on Nov. 21, Nov. 26, and again on March 2 around 3pm CT. Each time the development team acknowledged connection trouble on Discord and asked players to report ongoing problems. In their message they explained the login queue was a temporary measure to reduce issues tied to party formation and voice channels while they investigated.
Why am I stuck at “In Queue” and can’t go Topside or move my items?
The message typically means the servers are either overloaded or encountering a regional fault. When systems that handle matchmaking, party invites, or voice fail, the studio sometimes blocks new sessions to stop more players from being pushed into broken states. Because the queue frequently hides position data, it can feel like a full outage rather than a sensible line.
Think of the servers as a highway that suddenly loses lanes; the traffic light turns red until engineers can open more lanes. The result: you may be unable to change loadouts, go Topside, or even tend to in-game pets until the gate reopens.
On the developer’s Discord and status channels people posted errors — how they’re communicating fixes
The team has used Discord to post quick alerts the moment problems surface. They usually say they’re investigating and that a login queue is active to limit fresh sessions. Posts have appeared within minutes of outages, but fixes have sometimes taken hours to roll out.
If you want real-time signals, check the game’s official Discord, the platform status pages (Steam, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live), and services like DownDetector or the game’s Twitter/X feed. Those are the quickest places to see updates and rough timelines.
Can I do anything to skip the queue or speed things up?
There’s no reliable cheat for a server-side throttle, but a few practical moves can help your individual connection: restart the client, try a different platform (Steam vs. console), switch to a wired connection, close VPNs, and confirm your platform’s online service status. If the problem is regional, changing a matchmaking region sometimes helps — although that can cost you latency.
If you choose to wait, leaving the launcher open is fine; if the team deploys a fix, you’ll usually be able to join without losing your place. If you absolutely need to play right away, try smaller play windows later in the day when global traffic drops.
On previous outages the team fixed things in a few hours — what that pattern means for future play
Past incidents have shown repairs can take hours, not minutes. That pattern suggests the developer will keep the login queue in their toolkit for busy drops, patch days, or when a regional service goes dark.
Expect intermittent use of the queue after major updates or big content pushes. The queue is a blunt instrument: it preserves some stability at the cost of player access. If you value predictable sessions, watch the official channels before you plan a large raid or group play.
Are these temporary patches enough to stop the frustration, or will players demand a more permanent rework of the servers?