ARC Raiders PvE Matchmaking Toggle to Be Tested Next Month
If you’re one of the many who just want to chill with your friends and scavenge for items in ARC Raiders, chances are, your session has, at one point or another, been soured by another player that you weren’t expecting to run into in Esperanza.
For those that would rather focus on the co-op gameplay, rejoice! Embark will soon test an ARC Raiders PvE matchmaking toggle for a limited time.
Curious? Read on, raiders, to see the data Embark has collected regarding playstyle preferences and more.
ARC Raiders Testing the Waters in Giving Players a Purely PvE Experience
Per Embark, “The test will run from October 13-20, 2026, giving players the option to choose between the classic ARC Raiders PvPvE experience or a PvE experience focused on co-op gameplay with other Raiders versus the ARC threat.”
Embark says the data they’ve collected indicates a large portion of players want the PvE experience, and their goal is, “learn how to support them properly rather than leave them working around the game.”
If we look at the overall population of players and split them by how they most like to play, it looks like this:
- 37% Friendly co-op players (this player group has grown consistently since launch).
- 27% Mixed players.
- 34% Pure PvP players (this player group has remained stable since launch).
- Over 70% of Friendly players and even 40% of PvP players express a desire for fewer hostile encounters and 51% of the surveyed playerbase has expressed an interest in a dedicated PvE option.
- There are clear friction points, with friendly players often attempting to avoid PvP entirely, and we hear frustration from certain groups of players around ratting and camping
ARC Raiders PvE Toggle Info
This is how the PvE toggle will work per the developers:
- The test will run from October 13-20, 2026.
- During the test, you will be able to toggle between the classic ARC Raiders PvPvE experience and the PvE experience.
- In the PvE experience there will be zero player-to-player damage, and the session is purely focused on the ARC threat and co-op social dynamics.
- PvE sessions will include Solos, Duos and Trios in the same session.
- We’re designing the system for seamless switching, play PvE for a relaxed solo session then switch back to PvPvE for a high tension match.
- Some major conditions, Night Raids, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate and Frigate will be excluded from the PvE matchmaking test. These are designed with higher tension in mind and rely on the uncertainty of encountering a variety of players.
- Your PvPvE matchmaking rating will not be affected while playing in PvE sessions.
- It’s important to remember that this is, at least initially, a limited test. When the test ends, the toggle will be removed and matchmaking will return to normal. Your feedback and data will help to shape the future of this system.
There will be key differences between this mode and the current one we have, and this will affect the loot as well.
The PvE experience in this test is one where players can scavenge, complete quests and explore in relative safety from other hostile players. The intent here is not to test how we can make PvE more challenging or to try new PvE progression, rather it is an attempt to give players an alternative to PvP encounters – of course we will be listening to what you have to say after the test and what you want from the feature.
There are however, a few differences in the PvE experience:
- The overall loot value is lowered to compensate for the relative safety of PvE.
- If you are downed by ARC’s, be a bit careful when crawling, they might re-acquire you as a target even when you are moving when downed. They will ignore you if you stay still. We’re trying this to maintain some tension to compensate for the lack of a PvP threat.
Embark says they will review the feedback after the data is collected to help determine the best course of action moving forward.
The developers also want to set a few expectations for what comes next:
- It’s possible that this will not work. This test is not a promise that there will be a PvE mode in the future, but take this as an indication that we are seriously considering it.
- We don’t yet know how the potential future version of this setting might look. It’s plausible that any future version could look very different from what you experience in the beta test. We believe this is something that should evolve over time, together with you the players.
It’s going to be a busy October for ARC Raiders, as aside from the PvE toggle, the massive content drop called Frozen Trails, is due for release next week, and here’s what to expect.
There was also a patch released this week that focused on bug fixes in case you haven’t logged in recently.
