Arc Raiders got a surprise cameo in South Park, and the devs learned about it just two days before the episode aired

You might not know this, but that alarmingly good Paper Mario-inspired RPG, The Stick of Truth, and its sequel, The Fractured But Whole? As it turns out, those are based on what’s referred to as a “television program” called South Park. It might not be a videogame, but mercifully for my attention span, it does show brief gameplay of one in its most recent episode: Tolkien is seen playing none other than extraction shooter tour de force Arc Raiders.

Eurogamer highlighted a LinkedIn post that shared the story of how it came to be. Embark’s marketing lead, Ashley St. Germain, said of the cameo: “There’s a lot to be thankful for this year, but I don’t know how I’m going to top this week. On Monday South Park inquired if a character could play Arc Raiders in an upcoming episode, on Tuesday we provided footage, and on Wednesday we were in season 28’s ‘Turkey Trot’ episode. Like Tolkien, I guess a lot of us just can’t put down Arc Raiders.”