ARC Raiders Studio Finally Explains How Matchmaking Really Works

After months of community debate and speculation, Embark Studios has officially explained how matchmaking works in ARC Raiders, including what the system does, what it doesn’t do, and some upcoming improvements.

Since launch, players have been trying to understand how lobbies are created and whether playstyle affects matchmaking. While Embark previously stayed quiet, developers had hinted that the game tracks player behavior. Many fans believed the system used “aggression-based matchmaking,” where highly aggressive PvP players would be grouped together, while more PvE-focused players would enter calmer lobbies.

In a new blog post, Embark confirmed that player behavior does influence matchmaking, but not in a simple PvP vs PvE way. The studio explained that ARC Raiders is designed to keep matches unpredictable while still maintaining fairness. The system looks at how players behave across multiple rounds and places them on a continuous playstyle scale. Most players fall somewhere between PvE and PvP, and the game tries to match players with others who have similar behavior patterns.

However, Embark clarified that matchmaking is not guaranteed to create perfectly similar lobbies every time. The goal is to balance fairness, fun, and unpredictability. The studio also denied several community misconceptions, confirming that:

There are not separate “PvP-only” or “PvE-only” lobbies
Killing another player does not instantly place someone into PvP-heavy matches
Loadouts and feedback do not affect matchmaking
Squad leaders alone do not determine lobby types
Updates do not reset player matchmaking history

Embark also acknowledged two major issues players reported. First, the system currently struggles to tell the difference between starting a fight and defending yourself, causing both players to be treated similarly. Second, matches with little interaction — like quickly extracting or leaving early- currently impact matchmaking more than intended. Both issues are planned to be improved in future updates.

Overall, the clarification gives players a better understanding of how ARC Raiders attempts to create balanced and fair matches while still keeping the tension and unpredictability that extraction shooters are known for.

Sources: Gamerant