This has been confirmed by Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund ARC Raiders uses several factors when deciding how to place players in the lobby, one of which is their playstyle. By inserting players ARC Raiders lobbies with others who play the game similarly, it allows players to experience more of what they want in the game.
ARC Raiders has taken the extraction shooter genre mainstream. Its release in late 2025 was a huge success, and the momentum from its huge launch has only continued to gather in the time since. For example, where Battlefield 6 lost 85% of its player base in the first few months, ARC Raiders has retained 91% of its own. For a brand new IP, that's incredibly impressive, and it seems ARC Raiders have serious stamina right now. It's a live service game, so this may depend on the content it releases in the future, but for now it's looking positive for ARC Raiders.
Best loadout for every map in ARC Raiders
Going from above in ARC Raiders requires a heavy load to deal with both ARC enemies and hostile PvP players.
ARC Raiders uses aggression-based matchmaking, according to Embark's CEO
Speaking to GamesBeat while actually playing the game itself, Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund revealed how ARC Raiders matchmaking works when it comes to finding players other to play with. “Of course first it's skill-based of course,” explained Söderlund. “Then you have solos, duos, and trios. And then we've also, since a week or so ago, introduced a system where we also match based on how prone you are to PvP or PvE. So if you prefer to do PvE and you have less conflict with players… you're going to be more matched. Obviously, it's not a complete science.”
Embark Studios had previously mentioned it ARC Raiders has some form of stylistic matchmaking, courtesy of art director Robert Sammelin who confirmed that the developers are “analyzing the behavior and matching accordingly.” But hearing this is specifically related to how often players engage in PvP and PvE battles gives a greater understanding of how the underlying systems of ARC Raiders works, and it makes a lot of sense. In many survival games in the past, trigger-happy players can be a game-breaking experience for those who want to enjoy the game in their own way. ARC Raiders fixes this by limiting the odds of this being the case. Of course there will always be outliers where normally peaceful players shoot first, but at least that won't be true more often than not. And the players who want to fight will get one with this system as well.
…if you prefer to do PvE and you have less conflicts with players… you will be more matched.
It is interesting that Söderlund mentions it ARC Raiders' Matchmaking is first and foremost skill-based. Skill-based matchmaking has been a very controversial topic in recent years, especially in other shooter series such as Call of Duty. So much, that Black Ops 7 left skill-based matchmaking behind, a decision that has had mixed results. However with ARC Raiders has had significant player retention since launching in October, it would be hard to argue that their matchmaking system hasn't been an overwhelming success thus far.
Over time, it is very likely that the skill gap between hardcore and casual ARC Raiders players will increase. While the lack of organic matchmaking will always be a sore spot for some, it's likely better for the long-term health to make sure everyone is having fun with the game. ARC Raiders. After this interview, there are still some questions about matchmaking in the game, such as how the game prioritizes parties with mixed aggression players. It feels unlikely that this will ever be fully answered, as formulas for this sort of thing are usually kept secret. So while not all questions have been answered, this is probably as close to a full explanation as players will get.
- Released
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30 October 2025
- ESRB
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Teen/violence, blood
