Arc Raiders received 'substantial negative PvP sentiment' during testing, causing the devs to second-guess its big pivot before realising it was really frustration with weapons and matchmaking

Arc Raiders received ‘substantial negative PvP sentiment’ during testing, causing the devs to second-guess its big pivot before realising it was really frustration with weapons and matchmaking | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these FPS ‘The whole map was friendly, and we all extracted together’: Peaceful lobbies exist in Marathon after all, though I don’t feel safe putting it to the test FPS Marathon ignores extraction shooter ‘rules’ and is better for it Adventure Making Dispatch was motivated by ‘a mix of arrogance and stupidity,’ its creative directors say World of Warcraft WoW’s Horde/Alliance split was ‘really controversial’, says Jeff Kaplan, to the point where it was only locked in 9-12 months before the game’s launch FPS Highguard’s failure is emblematic of something that has tormented videogame investors for years now: past live service hits do not equal future live service hits FPS Is Marathon’s time-to-kill too fast, or am I too Arc Raiders-pilled? FPS Highguard didn’t flop FPS If you’re hoping to make friends in Marathon like you can in Arc Raiders, expect a knife in the back Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ matchmaking isn’t ‘binary’, says design lead: ‘There’s no such thing as a friendly lobby or an aggressive lobby’ Third Person Shooter Embark explains why it jacked up the cost of crafting Wolfpacks in Arc Raiders, concedes some players aren’t happy about it Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ contentious ‘aggression-based matchmaking’ isn’t just smart, but absolutely necessary Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ Shrouded Sky added lots of cool new toys, but my favourite part is the new quality-of-life features that have flown under the radar FPS Laid-off Highguard developer cuts loose on the reaction to the infamous Game Awards reveal trailer: ‘We were turned into a joke from minute one’ FPS Marathon Server Slam update: Bungie says if you’re not getting enough PvP action, maybe you’re just not looking for fights in the right places Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders devs are uplifted by how kind players have been to one another, but admit ‘we’re way worse people than the community’ when it comes to engaging in PvP PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!MarathonArc RaidersBest PC gearQuizzes Games Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders Arc Raiders received ‘substantial negative PvP sentiment’ during testing, causing the devs to second-guess its big pivot before realising it was really frustration with weapons and matchmaking News By Rory Norris published 12 March 2026 “Should we even have done this reset?” When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter After Embark Studios’ “playtest battles” and slew of competing plans caused it to pivot Arc Raiders away from its PvE boss-killing roots, it decided to add PvP to spice things up. While the rest isn’t quite history (development was still far from simple), it would be a defining factor in how it became the PvPvE extraction shooter it is today.In a GDC talk, Arc Raiders production director Caio Braga revealed that it almost walked this decision back. Once Embark had moved away from its scattershot ideas for a PvE boss rush, it conducted a bunch of “validation” tests, which were effectively playtest surveys during its development, to gauge its progress.Braga recalled one of the first rounds of feedback they received from this process, which happened right after “a big reset” that added PvP. On the surface, the data showed a “substantial negative PvP sentiment,” the team believed, causing them to doubt whether it was the right direction: “They didn’t like the PvP”.Article continues below You may like No one at Embark could describe Arc Raiders before its extraction shooter pivot, leading to ‘playtest battles’ of competing directions for the game Arc Raiders design director says players ‘never worked together’ in testing, but the emergence of care bear lobbies ‘encourages us to lean toward giving opportunities to have friendly interactions’ Let’s settle this: Should Arc Raiders add a PvE mode? “A lot of our initial conversation was about whether we should have even done this reset. Should we add PvP to this?”However, Braga explained that, after more thorough analysis and reflection on the data, the team realised that the PvP itself wasn’t t