ARC Raiders Maximum Simultaneous Game Instances Reached: How to Fix

If ARC Raiders doesn’t launch and throws the error “Launch Error: Maximum simultaneous game instances reached!”, it means Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) has detected another instance of the game or part of its anti-cheat service is running in the background.

This error isn’t about your account or the game servers. It just happens when your last session didn’t close properly, leaving “zombie” processes running that make Easy Anti-Cheat think the game is still open. Since ARC Raiders only allows you to run one instance at a time, these background tasks end up restricting you from the next game launch.

Below, we’ll explain how to troubleshoot the “Maximum simultaneous game instances reached” error, remove leftover processes to fix it, and what to do next so it won’t happen again.

What ARC Raiders “Maximum Simultaneous Game Instances Reached!” Error Means

The problem happens because the Easy Anti-Cheat system that keeps ARC Raiders (and plenty of other games) free of cheaters only lets a limited number of game processes stay active at once, usually just one.

Sometimes, when ARC Raiders crashes or fails to close properly on exit, some game tasks are likely left active in the background. From EAC’s perspective, you have multiple game copies open even though you have long since rage-quit, so the next time you launch ARC Raiders, EAC will trigger the error, block startup, and leave you looking at a frozen splash screen.

For players grinding toward high-tier loot or challenging raids, getting booted to the desktop mid-session is the worst kind of interruption, which is part of why some lean on ARC Raiders boosting to keep their progression moving instead of losing a session to bugs like this.

Many players have faced this issue, and the reason is simple: the game didn’t exit properly last time. Sometimes when you close the game, it duplicates itself, and users have reported up to nine copies in the background after a single session. To make matters worse, the manual “End Task” process in Task Manager won’t always work, because a few annoying processes refuse to die until you reboot the system.

Embark Studios is aware of the problem, and upcoming patches will likely fix it, but for now, this pesky quirk is appearing a lot for PC Raiders, mostly on Steam.

Fix #1: Completely Exit the Game

The first method is the simplest and most effective to fix the “maximum simultaneous games instances reached” error.

1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and go to the Details tab.
2. See any running tasks named ArcRaiders.exe or EACLauncher.exe.
3. Select all related processes and hit End Task.

If the game starts normally after that, it means the problem is fixed. If not, the underlying Easy Anti-Cheat driver didn’t unload properly and is holding the process like a clingy ex. Then we need to move to the next step.

Fix #2: Restart Your PC

Easy Anti-Cheat installs a kernel-level driver on Windows, and when it fails to unload, the system thinks the game is open, even when it isn’t. So the best fix is to restart your computer, which will flush the driver and clear any ghosted game instances.

Fix #3: Restart the Easy Anti-Cheat Service

If you’d rather not reboot the PC every time ARC Raiders forgets how to close, you can also restart the EAC service:

1. Press Win + R, type services.msc, and hit Enter.
2. Scroll down to Easy Anti-Cheat Service, right-click it, and choose Restart.
3. Once done, open the game again to see if all is well for now.

This method will restart the background service that enforces the instance limit. If the game previously left it in a confused state, it will clear it up without a full system restart. Many players have reported that killing the Easy Anti-Cheat task in Task Manager and relaunching the game worked for them.

Fix #4: Verify or Reinstall Easy Anti-Cheat

If you see the same issue very often, especially across multiple games that use EAC, your Anti-Cheat installation is likely partially corrupted.

In this case, you can reinstall it following these steps:

1. Go to the ARC Raiders installation folder.
2. Open the EasyAntiCheat subfolder.
3. Run EasyAntiCheat_EOS_Setup.exe.
4. Choose Repair Service or Uninstall > Install again.

Fix #5: Change DirectX Mode (DX12 → DX11)

A few players on Steam found that it can also be fixed when you switch the DirectX version, not because of DX itself, but because the change triggers a clean reinstall of the game’s shader cache and resets launch settings.

Here’s how to do it:

1. In Steam, right-click ARC Raiders > Properties > Launch Options.
2. Add: -dx11
3. Close the window and open the game.

If that does not help, you can remove it or use DirectX 12 with the entry: -dx12.

Fix #6: Verify Game Files

If ARC Raiders fails to exit properly, it might also be due to missing or corrupted game files that cause Easy Anti-Cheat to hang, leaving phantom processes in the background. To fix this, you should verify your game files:

• On Steam: Right-click ARC Raiders > Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files.
• On Epic Games Launcher: Go to your Library > click the three dots on ARC Raiders > Manage > Verify.

This checks and replaces damaged game files and recovers missing ones that conflict with EAC or the game’s launcher routines.

Fix #7: Reinstall the Game

If you have verified game files, restarted services, and sacrificed enough RAM to the gaming gods with no luck, the last resort left is to reinstall the game. Uninstall ARC Raiders completely, then manually delete any leftover folders (especially the EasyAntiCheat directory). Once the fresh installation is complete, restart your system and then launch the game.

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Advanced Fix: Check for Stuck Background Drivers

If you have some tech know-how, you can check if EAC’s driver is still loaded when the game is closed. Here’s how to check and stop it:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Type: sc query EasyAntiCheat
3. If the service shows as RUNNING but the game is not open, manually stop it with: sc stop EasyAntiCheat

It safely unloads the driver until you open ARC Raiders next time.

How to Prevent the Error in the Future

You can avoid the “maximum simultaneous game instances reached!” error from happening again with a few small habits:

• Always close ARC Raiders properly — avoid Alt-F4 or task killing in the matches.
• Don’t relaunch too fast after exit — give the system a few seconds to let EAC unload.
• Never run multiple platforms at once (like the Steam client and Epic launcher) for the same game.
• Keep ARC Raiders and EAC up to date — patches regularly iron out bugs and errors and improve overall game performance.

Sometimes you might check for stuck background processes and find nothing, yet the game still refuses to open until you reboot your PC. That part is on the developers. Embark’s recent updates have made this happen less often, but if you still encounter it in many sessions, report it through the game’s official support or community channels.