Following on its previous update, ARC Raiders continues to make adjustments and changes to its PvP matchmaking system and how the system judges aggression versus a player defending themselves. After the game launched, there were plenty of speculation and rumors surrounding the matchmaking system in ARC Raiders and how players could influence it. Thankfully, much of that mystery has since been revealed, with Embark continuing to make fine-tune adjustments to it.
Players have been experiencing an evolution of ARC Raiders as of late. Earlier this year, Embark announced an end to the monthly content drops for ARC Raiders, instead moving to two massive updates per year. However, even under that new release cadence, a live service team would continue to make smaller tweaks to the game on a more consistent basis. These smaller updates have been arriving frequently, typically fixing smaller issues and making slight tweaks to the game, including the recent updates to matchmaking.
In a July 28, 2026, update, Embark Studios announced even more changes to the matchmaking system. This latest round of adjustments comes nearly a week after the studio made a big matchmaking system change in ARC Raiders. While the studio previously improved matchmaking search time to ensure better quality matches, this latest round of adjustment directly impacts PvP players and how the system judges them.
Matchmaking in ARC Raiders has always been a hot topic among fans, even after Embark clarified how the game factors in playstyle to group players together in matches. For this live update, Embark has announced that a player defending themselves is no longer seen as the same as starting a fight. Self-defense was given much less weight towards the impact to the playstyle estimate, but due to player feedback, Embark is now testing removing the impact of Defensive PvP entirely. During this testing period, the system now takes note of only the fights that a player starts and fights seen as defending oneself from an aggressor will no longer factor in.
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To help clarify what this means, Embark broke things down to help fans understand what the system regards as who starts a fight and what actually counts as someone defending themselves. The system looks at the following metrics:
- Who is the player or group defending? So, essentially, if one squad damages, downs, or knocks out any squad mates first, they are viewed as the aggressor, and it will impact them and not the player’s team.
- The system adds more weight to an encounter based on how “serious” it is. So, longer firefights with bigger damage values are regarded as being more serious, thus adding a heavier weight to the play style estimate. Alternatively, a firefight that ends quickly, an accidental hit, or one side running from the fight won’t have a big impact.
- Regarding third-party attacking, the system also regards that as starting a fight. If a player or team tries to get involved in someone else’s battle, the system will add weight to their estimate as well.
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Image via Embark Studios -
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Image via Embark Studios
Following the matchmaking news, the update also provides a reminder for fans regarding the recent crossover event between The Finals and ARC Raiders. Players are running low on time to complete the contracts in The Finals to unlock the Azimuth outfit and the Archaeologist Backpack for ARC Raiders as the content wraps up on July 30, 2026. After that point, things switch, so ARC Raiders players will be able to earn the Azimuth bundle for The Finals by going topside and completing a mission.
ARC Raiders July 28 Update Patch Notes
Audio
- Improved footstep audio in water.
- Added more distinct Dodge Roll sounds and variations.
- Adjusted ambient audio for certain cinematics.
Cosmetics
- Fixed mislabeled customization toggles for the Blindspot Set. “No Headset” now controls the headset on Blindspot.
- Updated customization toggles: The Triumph Set now uses Helmet Only; The Scorta Set now uses Gauntlet Off.
- Updated Scorta outfit color names in the UI to better match the actual skin colors.
- Fixed a missing UI string for a blue backpack cosmetic.
Gameplay
- Fixed inconsistent damage for Seeker Grenade and Wolfpack Grenade.
Items
- Fixed an issue where the Train model could appear in two places in the Raider Den when only one was owned.
- Trinkets introduced alongside the Converging Paths project now stack similarly to other trinkets, and their drops have been adjusted for more consistent looting across maps.
Map
- Fixed multiple clipping issues, floating props, landscape holes, and spots where players could get stuck on Dam Battlegrounds.
- Fixed multiple collision and clipping issues on Buried City (including invisible obstacles), corrected materials, and resolved a spot where downed players could get stuck near an overpass.
- Closed a hole in Buried City that allowed using the Snap Hook to go out of bounds.
Stability
- Fixed an issue that could cause players to get stuck in the End of Round tunnel after leaving a map.
- Fixed a startup crash that could occur after the photosensitive warning screen.
UI
- Polished UI text and updated localization across supported languages.
- Fixed an issue where item prices over 10,000 were shown with incorrect shorthand in the Trader tab when using Japanese or Simplified Chinese.
- Updated localization for Trinket names and ARC terminology across menus.
- Updated the start screen with a new looping background video.
- Fixed an issue where pressing L3 on gamepad wouldn’t toggle the item tooltip on Ermal’s Select Items screen, and added a background blur to improve readability.
- Updated Projects list and screens to group related Projects for easier browsing.
- Updated Project UI: corrected text, improved previews for multi‑phase projects, and projects now unlock after playing 5 rounds.
- Fixed an issue with background visuals updating incorrectly
- Fixed an issue where Projects could fail to advance to the next step after completing a goal, even after contributing the required items.
- The Projects Tab has been improved with added quest & step descriptions, more consistent text and reward tiles and restored navigation so completed stages can be reviewed after finishing a project.
- Fixed an issue where the Trophy Display Raider Project rewards preview showed a duplicate “Howl” Emote.
- Improved Expedition and Project UI: grouped projects only appear when at least one is active, fixed top bar navigation, and corrected Expedition step display.
- Standardized the timer display across Project and Expedition screens for clearer countdowns.
Known Issues
- We are investigating an ongoing issue where some XBOX players (particularly on Series S) are experiencing crashes.
- The Quick Wheel item selection may suddenly swap to another item on the Wheel when closing the Quick Wheel and re-opening it quickly.
- The Dolabra, Hullcracker and Rascal do not deal damage to training dummies on Practice Range.
- The throw animation may sometimes fail to play when attempting to detonate a Trigger ‘Nade immediately after throwing it.
- Some gadgets and throwables lack a “Cancel” button when preparing to throw them.
- The weapon swap animation may appear broken if weapon swapping right after vaulting.
- Player animations may appear broken when interrupting a search of the Baron Husk.
- Shredders float to the ceiling in some rooms of the Hidden Bunker.
- Leapers can jump through the ARC Turbine.
- When picking up items, the pickup sound may not be the correct one.
- When bringing items that give Merits with you into a Raid, the items will wrongfully display a Merits icon.
- Shots taken while riding ARC may not register correctly.
- Some doors may allow player flashlights’ beams to pass through instead of blocking the emitted light.
- Some hairstyles may clip through the Reaver Outfit helmet.
- We are aware of some clipping issues with the Triumph and Azimuth outfits.
- Old Ermal offers may appear to be available in the ‘Acquire and Craft’ menu (visual only).
- Released
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October 30, 2025
- ESRB
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Teen / Violence, Blood, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
