27 November 2025

BurntPeanut’s ARC Raiders ‘War’ Explained

By newsgame

ARC Raiders has proven to be one of the biggest hits of the year. With its post-apocalyptic setting and sci-fi-drenched lore, it would be very easy for the game to feel recycled, but that hasn’t been the case. ARC Raiders brings a unique world to life that has caught the attention of a lot of gamers, and one of the most surprising aspects of the game has been how social it has become.

Developer Embark Studios originally intended for ARC Raiders to be a PvE-only experience, but the team eventually added PvP during production. Because of the PvP addition, ARC Raiders has an extra edge to it, as running into a player can either mean mercy or certain death. It’s hard to imagine a world where ARC Raiders doesn’t have PvP, but Embark Studios probably couldn’t have predicted that the feature would ignite a spirited war between streamers.

What was originally a small-scale rivalry between streamers TheBurntPeanut and HutchFM quickly turned into an all-out war. During a stream, HutchFM was downed by a random player. As he begged for mercy and tried to crawl away, the player simply said, “This is for The Bungulators,” and executed HutchFM. This was the ripple that would quickly build into a much larger wave, pitting TheBurntPeanut and HutchFM factions against one another in a conflict that would be dubbed the Battle of Speranza. This caused ARC Raiders players to hunt one another based on their allegiance, and it came to a finale over the weekend.

A Bungulator is the nickname of a player who is aligned with TheBurntPeanut, which became the official faction name.

The Bungulators and Team HutchFM Are Officially Formed

As the conflict escalated, The Bungulators and TeamHutchFM became more organized, going so far as to create in-game uniforms to show which team a player was aligned with and an illustrated map. There are specific skins in ARC Raiders that can sometimes signal a certain play style, but the Battle of Speranza took things even further.

ARC Raiders War Faction Uniforms

Team HutchFM	Red or blue Torpedo skin Helmet off Goggles on Mask off Sleeves off
The Bungulators	Red Striker skin Blue Helmet on Gas Mask on Bag on Padding on

Unfortunately, these costumes also led to many players being killed who had no idea about the war and were coincidentally dressed in similar uniforms. Even though this streamer war amassed large numbers, plenty of other players were unaware, creating a lot of confusion within the community. Helping other ARC Raiders players has become a norm for a lot of fans, and seeing so many people going against each other was jarring. While the event may have been a headache for parts of the community, the war was short-lived. However, before the fight could be concluded, TheBurntPeanut and Team HutchFM had to recruit other streamers as allies.

Other Big-Name Streamers Join the War Effort

Team HutchFM Allies

TimTheTatman
Nadeshot
Symfuhny
Nickmercs

The Bugulators Allies

Myth
Summit1g
Cloakzy
RNGingy
Shroud
Ninja

Some of gaming’s biggest streamers joined the ARC Raiders fight, bringing further chaos to the extraction shooter. During the war, entering a game was chaos. Getting caught in the crossfire was a big downside for some of the community, but others found a lot of joy in getting so invested in this role-playing. The world of ARC Raiders is still incredibly mysterious, but it’s already proven that it can inspire players to bring its world even further through role-playing, even if it becomes over-the-top.

Streamer xQc was also part of the Battle of Speranza, but as a neutral party. Instead of joining sides, players who aligned with xQc donned the Origin skin in blue with headgear.

The Battle of Speranza Declares a Winner

The showdown took place on November 22, 5 PM Pacific Time on the Spaceport map.
The Bungulators controlled the north of the map, while Team HutchFM claimed the south.

After a chaos-filled head-to-head battle filled with brutality and deception, The Bungulators were ultimately declared the winner of the ARC Raiders showdown in one of the most anticlimactic ways possible: a Discord call. While Team HutchFM put up a good fight, he and TheBurntPeanut talked on Discord, with the latter simply saying, “I declare sweeping victory for The Bungulators on this fine day.”

Considering there wasn’t really any actual way to keep track of who was in the lead, the streaming rivals put an end to the slaughter in a way that was far less dramatic than the attack that kicked off the war. The battle’s impact has been felt in the community, with the event even giving rise to a pacifist faction called the Civilians of Speranza. TheBurntPeanut may have come out of the conflict victorious, but his and HutchFM’s fun-filled rivalry raises questions about whether it will eventually happen again or not.

Some Battle of Speranza participants even began to dress like opposing team members in order to spy.

What started as a simple, aggressive act against HutchFM turned into a full-blown war with thousands of players participating. This type of role-playing isn’t new in gaming, but it’s still fascinating to see just how quickly players can come together to bring community events to life. Of course, not every ARC Raiders player was a fan of the constant wave of Bungulators and Team HutchFM devotees, but as a short-lived event, it was a fun way to shake up the gameplay loop.

Embark Studios’ extraction shooter may have only been around for a month, but ARC Raiders is already showing how much potential the game has. The survival-focused title has set a stage that could host years’ worth of content and updates, and as the game continues to evolve, it will be just as compelling to see how the ARC Raiders community chooses to keep the experience exciting.