ARC Raiders Dev Clears Up Confusion Round ‘Aggression-Based Matchmaking’ System

A developer at Embark Studios has clarified earlier feedback from the studio’s CEO relating to the controversial aggression-based matchmaking system in its hit third-person extraction shooter, ARC Raiders. Whereas the matchmaking system in ARC Raiders is aggression-based, as beforehand revealed, Embark says it can proceed to be fine-tuned and that labelling it as “aggression-based” is a little bit of a “misnomer.”

Nowadays, many live-service titles like Name of Obligation, Battlefield, or Fortnite will use some type of skill-based matchmaking as the primary system to pair gamers with one another when looking for a multiplayer match. The finer particulars will, after all, differ from recreation to recreation, however ARC Raiders‘ matchmaking is a bit more sophisticated. Shortly after the sport launched, followers started theorizing that the shooter used both an aggression-based system or one which took into consideration the extent of a gear a participant was taking Topside. After weeks of hypothesis, Embark’s CEO lastly revealed that ARC Raiders uses an aggression-based matchmaking system. “We launched a system the place we additionally matchmake primarily based on how inclined you might be to PvP or PvE,” the CEO defined.

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ARC Raiders Dev Explains Its Matchmaking System

Embark’s CEO stated the system is not a “full science,” however defined how gamers are much less prone to be paired with PvP gamers in the event that they themselves solely interact in PvE. Now, in a brand new interview with GamesRadar+, design lead Virgil Watkins has expanded on how the system works. “It is a bit of a misnomer calling it aggression-based,” the developer advised the outlet. He goes on to elucidate that Embark goes to maintain tuning the best way the system works, “however individuals aren’t far off in how they suppose it really works.”

Watkins was requested if Embark is anxious about individuals enjoying the system to place themselves into PvE lobbies, one of many many concerns ARC Raiders players have about the system, however apparently that is “a part of the expertise,” in line with the developer. “In the event you actually need to attempt to modify and play in a little bit of a much less hostile surroundings, you might be afforded [a way] to take action. Nevertheless it ought to be clear to individuals, I hope, that it is also not binary. Clearly, you possibly can inform it is weighted come what may, nevertheless it’s by no means like, you at the moment are solely with PvE gamers, you at the moment are solely with PvP gamers. It is a weighted system. There’s lots of layers to it, so it is not fairly so A/B as individuals would possibly assume,” Watkins stated.

Regardless of earlier claims from Embark’s CEO, Patrick Söderlund, Watkins says there’s no type of skill-based matchmaking considered both. “We do not do something like skill-based matchmaking or gear-based matchmaking,” the developer stated, shutting down hypothesis that these elements had been additionally weighted when on the lookout for a match. Whereas skill-based matchmaking is often used in titles like Call of Duty (up till Black Ops 7, at the least), Embark says it plans to proceed with its present system and can “preserve monitoring match well being and participant response, and tune it from there.”

The design lead then went on to interrupt down the circumstances behind any PvP engagements and whether or not or not the system can truly differentiate between self-defense or straight-up aggression. “We will monitor who shoots first and who takes injury and who [does] no matter,” the developer says. He goes on to say, “However the one factor the system doesn’t do is try to assume intent. If I am a really unhealthy participant and you are a good participant, and I am the aggressor and I simply miss all my pictures and also you defend your self, the sport would not know what the intent was. They simply noticed you kill me as a result of I am horrible.” So, whereas the system can monitor sure components, it would not “assume intent,” in line with Watkins, which implies there aren’t any worth or ethical judgements; it is merely a system that registers whether or not or not a participant is partaking in PvP.

After a monumental first few months, 2026 is shaping as much as be a giant yr for ARC Raiders. Whereas the studio has but to disclose its roadmap for the subsequent 12 months, it has already begun cracking down on cheaters and hackers. Final week, Embark tried to diffuse the anger among the many group as cheaters continued to run rampant in ARC Raiders. In a brand new assertion, the studio stated it’s taking the difficulty very severely and that it plans to make important modifications to the sport’s rulesets and deploy new detection mechanisms to establish and take away cheaters. It has since been reported that cheaters at the moment are receiving bans, albeit solely short-term ones.