Arc Raiders is changing its matchmaking again to fully soothe your self-defence fears

Embark Studios is altering Arc Raiders’ aggression-based matchmaking so that defending oneself against another player is no longer treated the same as initiating a fight. The change matters because players who preferred cooperative or PvE-focused play had feared that necessary self-defence could wrongly place them in more hostile matches.

The developer says it has also reduced the influence of low-activity rounds, such as matches where players spawn and immediately surrender, on a player’s matchmaking profile. Matchmaking still uses patterns of behaviour over time rather than single kills, does not create guaranteed PvE-only lobbies, and is not affected by player feedback, loadouts, crossplay settings or looting defeated players.