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

A developer at Embark Studios has clarified previous comments from the studio’s CEO regarding the controversial aggression-based matchmaking system in its hit third-person extraction shooter, ARC Raiders. While the matchmaking system in ARC Raiders is aggression-based, as previously revealed, Embark says it will continue to be fine-tuned and that labelling it as “aggression-based” is a bit of a “misnomer.”

These days, many live-service titles like Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Fortnite will use some form of skill-based matchmaking as the main system to pair players with each other when searching for a multiplayer match. The finer details will, of course, vary from game to game, but ARC Raiders‘ matchmaking is a little more complicated. Shortly after the game launched, fans began theorizing that the shooter used either an aggression-based system or one that took into consideration the level of a gear a player was taking Topside. After weeks of speculation, Embark’s CEO finally revealed that ARC Raiders uses an aggression-based matchmaking system. “We introduced a system where we also matchmake based on how prone you are to PvP or PvE,” the CEO explained.

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ARC Raiders Dev Explains Its Matchmaking System

Embark’s CEO said the system isn’t a “full science,” but explained how players are less likely to be paired with PvP players if they themselves only engage in PvE. Now, in a new interview with GamesRadar+, design lead Virgil Watkins has expanded on how the system works. “It’s a bit of a misnomer calling it aggression-based,” the developer told the outlet. He goes on to explain that Embark is going to keep tuning the way the system works, “but people aren’t far off in how they think it works.”

Watkins was asked if Embark is concerned about people playing the system to put themselves into PvE lobbies, one of the many concerns ARC Raiders players have about the system, but apparently that’s “part of the experience,” according to the developer. “If you really want to try to adjust and play in a bit of a less hostile environment, you are afforded [a way] to do so. But it should be clear to people, I hope, that it’s also not binary. Obviously, you can tell it’s weighted one way or the other, but it’s never like, you are now only with PvE players, you are now only with PvP players. It’s a weighted system. There’s a lot of layers to it, so it’s not quite so A/B as people might assume,” Watkins said.

Despite previous claims from Embark’s CEO, Patrick Söderlund, Watkins says there isn’t any form of skill-based matchmaking taken into consideration either. “We don’t do anything like skill-based matchmaking or gear-based matchmaking,” the developer said, shutting down speculation that these factors were also weighted when looking for a match. While skill-based matchmaking is often used in titles like Call of Duty (up until Black Ops 7, at least), Embark says it plans to continue with its current system and will “keep monitoring match health and player response, and tune it from there.”

The design lead then went on to break down the circumstances behind any PvP engagements and whether or not the system can actually differentiate between self-defense or straight-up aggression. “We can track who shoots first and who takes damage and who [does] whatever,” the developer says. He goes on to say, “But the one thing the system does not do is attempt to assume intent. If I’m a very bad player and you’re a good player, and I’m the aggressor and I just miss all my shots and you defend yourself, the game doesn’t know what the intent was. They just saw you kill me because I’m terrible.” So, while the system can track certain elements, it doesn’t “assume intent,” according to Watkins, which means there are no value or moral judgements; it’s simply a system that registers whether or not a player is engaging in PvP.

After a monumental first few months, 2026 is shaping up to be a big year for ARC Raiders. While the studio has yet to reveal its roadmap for the next 12 months, it has already begun cracking down on cheaters and hackers. Last week, Embark attempted to diffuse the anger among the community as cheaters continued to run rampant in ARC Raiders. In a new statement, the studio said it is taking the issue very seriously and that it plans to make significant changes to the game’s rulesets and deploy new detection mechanisms to identify and remove cheaters. It has since been reported that cheaters are now receiving bans, albeit only temporary ones.

Released

October 30, 2025

ESRB

Teen / Violence, Blood