Embark Studios explain how and why they kept Scrappy the Rooster in Arc Raiders

Embark Studios has finally put a name and a back story on Scrappy the Rooster, the little bird that loiters in your Raider Den and returns you bits of scrap after a run in ARC Raiders. The origin comes from a post on the ARC Raiders website where a 3D artist named Johan explains Scrappy started as a photoscan of a rooster called Håkan that wandered into a Zoom meeting at the artist’s parents’ house. What began as an easter egg in early builds ended up filling a practical slot: the team needed an in-game asset that would act as a “resource producer,” and the rooster was an easy, already-made fit.

Johan walks through how Håkan went from background gag to functional item. The art team tried a few concepts – robots, cats, and even “robot-cats” – but time and scope pushed them toward the photoscanned rooster. In his write-up he says that Scrappy moved from a “temporary mesh we’ll definitely replace later” to the asset the team kept because it did the job and fit the tone.

It all began when a flock of chickens crashed my Zoom meeting.

I was living with my parents at the time – they happened to keep chickens. Mid-zoom meeting, the birds somehow snuck into the house and strutted around behind me, instantly stealing the show and derailing the meeting entirely. Among those birds was Hȧkan, the rooster that would go on to become Scrappy.

Hȧkan was unlike the other roosters. Friendly, cuddly, and blind in one eye, he had a habit of stepping in his food and tripping over himself. I adored him.

One day, I decided to photoscan Håkan and sneak him into the game as a silly little easter egg. In early builds, you could sometimes spot a rough version of Hȧkan sprinting around the cantina.

But then, Hȧkan got his chance to shine. The team needed an in-game asset that would be used as a “resource producer,” something that would provide you with materials after each raid.

We cycled through many ideas: robots, cats… robot-cats! But the art team didn’t have time to build them and the meeting stalled, until someone raised their hand and said, in a moment of brilliance, “don’t we have a rooster?”

That spark of inspiration turned into a phenomenon. Scrappy went from hidden easter egg, to “temporary mesh we’ll definitely replace later”, to a beloved and irreplaceable part of the ARC Raiders universe. So next time you see Scrappy, tell him I say hello!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go and find 12 mushrooms.

The post also notes early builds sometimes showed a rough version of Håkan sprinting around the cantina, which explains those odd sightings players reported during tests. In practical terms, Scrappy now functions as the in-den collector that hands out materials at the end of expeditions, the same slot the developer described as a resource producer.

This sort of origin story is a reminder that small, unexpected ideas can become running pieces of game systems, and carry a lot of personality. For a game that recently shifted design direction, as covered by Console PC Gaming, it’s the little touches like Scrappy that help Speranza feel lived-in; see more on why Embark Studios pivoted ARC Raiders to PvPvE for context on the bigger design changes. Read the full origin post on the ARC Raiders website for Johan’s full notes and anecdotes.

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