James Lucas is an Executive Editor from Newcastle, England. They have written for sites like IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, with a special focus on FPS games, Soulslikes, and survival horror.
One of the big problems that has always plagued games like Arc Raiders is that, after a while, it becomes a kill-on-sight fest where everyone forgoes the emergent improv in favour of hiding in bushes and shooting anyone who wanders by. It’s a big reason why I lost interest in DayZ; in a matter of months, interactions with strangers went from bizarre scenarios like being kidnapped in a watchtower only to die in the crossfire of a misguided rescue mission to trigger-happy players firing off rounds the second you say hello. Every. single. time.—just go play PUBG!
Thankfully, Embark has found a solution: matchmaking. It sounds obvious, but games like DayZ connect you to other players via server browser, meaning that anyone can join any game, making it impossible to filter by skill or other qualities. Arc Raiders doesn’t have that problem, so, in a recent update, Embark implemented a new filter to combat rampant KoS – playstyle. If you kill on sight a lot, you’ll be paired with other people who kill on sight a lot.
“Obviously, first it’s skill-based, of course,” Embark CEO Patrick Söderlund said in an interview with GamesBeat (via PCGamesN). “Then you have solos, duos, and trios. And then also, since a week ago or so, we introduced a system where we also matchmake based on how prone you are to PvP or PvE.”
As The Game Has Gotten Big, That s A Problem
Players have long theorised that this was the case, even conducting experiments to prove it. And while it’s a somewhat controversial method for trapping the more aggressive raiders among themselves, others argue that it’s a “nice middle ground” which avoids splitting the community down the middle into strictly PvE and PvP modes.
As Söderlund explained, it’s not an exact science, so the system will undoubtedly be tweaked over time as Embark figures out what works. After all, it would be dull if you never encountered a PvP player. Sure, it’s frustrating when everyone you see is trigger-happy, but you still need the odd cutthroat to keep you on your toes.
“We knew from the beginning that we were going to get some,” Söderlund said, presumably meaning the aggressive players. “Especially as the game has gotten big, that’s a problem.”
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You were probably imagining it in the early days, but now, it’s a reality – Arc Raiders will pair you with players of a similar tact. So, if you don’t want to be put in lobbies full of bloodthirsty murderers, don’t be a bloodthirsty murderer. Well, not all the time at least.
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Yeah it’s good to keep you on your toes but what if 2 of 3 are not all out killers and a random is, will this lead to a killers map then?
2026-01-03 18:23:16
Well that can be problematic. If somebody shoot on u and u kill them becasue they miss u like me today and i kill them will count me like i kill on sight… Or if he shoot me and i kill him again i kill him … I killed like that few peopwl only 2 on purpose in 2 weeks. and i am today in loby 90% of only pvp plaers. I noticed that today a litle bit but today is hard core pvp in solos
2026-01-04 15:38:33
I think this is great. It can be frustrating when trying to complete quests in maps that are already challenging and ending up losing a bunch of extra gear you stocked up on to complete the mission.
2026-01-03 22:01:33
Robert a few need keys, a couple need wires. That’s it I think.
2026-01-04 04:31:06
he’s most likely referring to the ‘kill large ARC’ missions for rocketeers, leapers, etc.. getting ratted while geared up for a big fight can be frustrating.
2026-01-04 10:02:12
Goose and a couple others, one that needs a Snap blast granade and another that need Fireball burners. It’s not NECESSARY but bringing your own makes them go by in a flash.
Then there are the trials, I gave up with only two stars on snowballs against Rocketeers simply because I kept dying to randoms with all my snowballs before I could even find a Rocketeer.
2026-01-04 21:19:49
Maybe they make it so you take less or hardly any damage from getting smoked from behind, give ya more of a chance to fight back…full damage on when face to face..would help even the odds when ratted from behind…most of my death’s have come from getting half smoked before I can even turn to see what’s going on
2026-01-04 16:52:33
Just make PvE lobbies. Shouldn’t be hard. I haven’t bought the game, even tho it looks like it might be ok, simply because of that. I get DMZ vibes and I absolutely hated that aspect of DMZ. Spawn snipers and campers take any fun out of the game
Edit: exfil campers, not spawn
2026-01-04 14:42:33
DMZ was fun wish they would’ve brought it back and made it more worthwhile to keep playing. You really weren’t wrong about spawn camping in a sense. After awhile my buddy learned all the spawn points and could down some players right off rip with his sniper rifle
2026-01-05 13:58:55
Unfortunately with the game being so toxic unless they implement a dedicated PvE this game will fall away.
2026-01-04 03:14:27
On my solo queue it is for all intents and purposes pve. The trick is just dont fire back at people and defib every player you can. It is only when I play with my duo friend that I run into pvp lobbies
2026-01-04 09:48:32
I don’t think it will fail, Escape from Tarkov is still going strong
2026-01-05 13:59:39
I wish we could just turn PVP off. It’s my least liked feature of the game. I don’t even get to appreciate the artwork in this game, due to the paranoia the PVP aspect has created.
2026-01-04 08:46:58
Meh,
This just seems like a lazy half solution.
Concept of the game is that humanity is on the endangered species list. So, if that were the case what would happen if you were actively killing other raiders?
Ideas
– add a legal system into the game, which provides consequences for killing other players if caught.
– make it that loot indicate damage from human weapons, only sellable to black market vendors where prices are shite.
– add investigation missions to find evidence of foul play. Dead body riddled with non arc weapon… Foul play. All raiders become suspended, deaths on your raids make you more of a suspect etc.
– add a reputation factor, the better your rep the less likely you are too be a suspect, and have consequences.
Consequences could include
– fines, loot confiscated, limited market access,
– exile, criminal traders only… Eg shite prices. Limited in construction benches. No chicken etc.
– put to death (character reset)
This sort of consequences system could open up whole new playing styles. Maybe you want to be a murderer. Well you gotta be sneaky.
… If you are killing people then you would need to, for example, hide the body but this could be dangerous if arcs are attracted to the gunfire etc.
… You could also make it so player’s who kill other players are left alone more by arcs as the Arcs would see them as an asset for killing off humanity.
Apartheid for playing styles is lazy, add consequences to match the theme of the game.
Just a thought…
2026-01-04 21:52:50
This has been my issue with these game worlds since the earliest days of PvP vs PvE. PvP games reward player griefers and rats. Knock someone out and take all of their stuff, no consequences at all. For a great many people that’s just no good.
And the greatest defendants of pure PvP are the griefers who get the rewards. It is the dark underbelly of these games.. They get a Teen rating because you don’t really kill somebody, but teaching kids to behave like horrible humans gets a pass.
It’s like asking PvP players why they don’t like skill based lobbies. It’s because they want low skill players they can dominate. Of course, nobody asks the potato that is killed over and over again about what he thinks. Especially those that didn’t like PvP for other reasons entirely.
The only way to please everyone is either to provide separate PvE servers, or sure consequences for the griefers that make sense.
2026-01-05 14:15:46
All a lie I was never shooting anyone and now im forced to fight to.keep my loot and as a result it makes me not trust anyone cause they act friendly and shoot you in the back….or you forced to play with people who shoot on sight simply because they are tired of it happening to them and suddenly your forced into a more aggressive lobby
2026-01-04 06:05:15
My only problem with it is just defending yourself puts you in those pvp lobbies. the hardcore pvp i get but the cheaters and the rats make this game frustrating. Tarkov did a pve only mode where its seperate from pvp so your quest progress and stash are seperate. When i want to work on my pvp character then i expect the rats to come out the wood work. but some of us want to fight the arc collectively
2026-01-04 23:51:55
In the same interview the CEO also stated they are preparing to provide private servers. Those would allow people to play PvE or co-op if you want. Of course that’s would mean you pay extra to okay that way. No doubt the have seen that summer people just didn’t like the fact that the game completely rewards griefers and extract rats. It didn’t even make sense in the games world.
2026-01-05 14:05:23
Can careless about this game but what do bullies/these type of players expect? Lol, it’s like griefers in GTA, they kill you then wanna run to a safehouse when you kill them back, like na, you can dish it out, then you can take it. These type of games is so 🗑 though, nothing beats run gun TDM type games, I don’t even like cod but I’ll take Caldera Plunder or TDM ANY DAY over this BR wander around aimlessly or get 3rd partied sent back to the lobby. That formula is beyond boring, repetitive highly oversaturated so to die with stuff you can lose lol that’s just even worse especially with randoms who don’t play as a team. When it comes to TDM, EVERYBODY is trying to get kills the fun don’t stop. Even XDefiant concept core gameplay was FUN, just trash execution trash dev team that killed it.
2026-01-05 13:00:03
I feel like any system that is out right discussed is going to eventually lead to someone exploiting the system, I spend most of my time helping out other raiders I come across and yet 1 out of 10 still get real sketchy like if I give them an opportunity or show how much gear I brought there just gunna kill me when my backs turned im not complaining that’s the game.
2026-01-04 05:21:05
Why not just have a server option for no pvp it aint hard is it. How many feffing games are spoult by people who thrive off pvp i played the one i. New york carmt remember name with dark zone i qent in dark zone when i could be arsed to fight people and went on normal mostly its not hard.
2026-01-04 09:41:02
The Division. I rarely went into the Dark Zone because Rogues would always be camping the entrances
2026-01-04 11:36:11
They didn’t put it that way. The author of this article did. Embark assumed any shooting of other players means you will PvP. So even if you defend yourself you get thrown into more aggressive lobbies. The real problem is that you end up getting shot in the back no matter how you behave.
2026-01-05 14:01:03
