ARC Raiders Studio Officially Clarifies How Matchmaking Works

After a lot of debate and speculation, Embark Studios finally clarifies how the matchmaking system in ARC Raiders works, what it can’t do, and details some recent changes to it. While matchmaking has been a topic that Embark has largely avoided going into detail about, things appear to be changing as not only is ARC Raiders moving off of its monthly content drops, but the studio is now ready to set the record straight regarding matchmaking.

Following the game’s launch, fans attempted to figure out how lobbies were brought together and whether it could be influenced by playing a certain way. While Embark refused to give out any sort of details about how it connects players, hints and teases by the developers have confirmed that the game does analyze player behavior. It’s been widely believed, with members of the development team like CEO Patrick Söderlund seemingly confirming, that ARC Raiders relies on an aggression-based matchmaking system to pair similar players. Essentially, more aggressive PvP players would then find themselves in lobbies more geared towards that, while PvE-centric ones would be paired elsewhere. However, with things constantly changing and tweaks being made, Embark is finally ready to give players the details.

ARC Raiders May Change Its Most Iconic Feature for the Better

Major changes are on the horizon for ARC Raiders and developer Embark Studios are teasing a potential adjustment to one of its biggest features.

Embark Clarifies ARC Raiders Matchmaking

In a new blog post, Embark set out to put the rumors and speculation to rest with how its matchmaking system works. Kicking things off, the post reaffirms that ARC Raiders wants to lean into the unpredictability of matches, not knowing who to trust and providing the freedom for players to make their own decisions. However, there is a limit to that, as Embark isn’t looking for dedicated PvP players to completely roll lobbies, as that can be frustrating and just not fun. To that end, the studio strives for a system that is built around fairness, such as equal squad sizes, as well as enjoyment by matching players with a similar gameplay style.

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To that end, ARC Raiders strongly looks at player behavior from previous rounds when forming lobbies using a continuous scale. While there are some who are pure PvE and pure PvP, most players typically embody both for various reasons. As such, there’s a scale working behind the scenes to match players who are closer on that scale, while avoiding those who are very far away. That way, things remain somewhat unpredictable, but it’s also worth noting that the “play style-based matchmaking” prioritizes similar play styles, but it isn’t guaranteed. Similarly, player behavior shapes future lobbies gradually over time, it can’t be changed immediately.

The post goes a bit further by debunking misconceptions, especially that there are only two types of lobbies for PvP or PvE, which isn’t the case. In addition, shooting another player or killing them doesn’t automatically send that player into PvP lobbies, nor does the feedback you leave, or loadout you choose influence the lobby. Matchmaking isn’t solely on the leader of a squad either, and better yet, ARC Raiders updates don’t reset this lobby progress, as the player history is the main driver of which raiding lobby is entered.

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Finally, Embark highlighted two key issues that the community has brought up, indicating that the studio will be addressing them. Previously, the system didn’t differentiate between starting a fight versus defending oneself from a hostile player. Naturally, this resulted in both players being marked as PvP by the system, but a future update will help make this distinction. Second, Embark plans to reduce the weight of rounds with little interaction, spawning and leaving quickly, or generally surrendering. Previously, this had a bigger effect on a player’s estimated play style.