Today, Embark Studios has outlined its ongoing efforts to combat cheating in ARC Raiders ahead of the game’s major update on October 8, 2026, acknowledging growing community frustration while detailing improvements to detection systems, permanent bans, hardware restrictions, and measures against coordinated matchmaking abuse.
Cheating continues to undermine the experience for players who participate fairly, while cheat developers constantly adapt their software to bypass new security measures. The studio has expanded its anti-cheat team and is investing in additional detection methods to identify suspicious behavior, close vulnerabilities, and make cheating harder and less profitable.
ARC Raiders currently uses kernel-level protection from Denuvo alongside detections from Anybrain, with in-house machine-learning models and other data-driven systems also being developed. These tools work together to identify suspicious activity and build sufficient confidence before applying sanctions, while human review remains part of the process through the appeals system.
Additional anti-cheat technology is also being evaluated, including Elytra, which is currently being tested on a limited scale in THE FINALS. Early results have shown promise, and work is underway to determine how the system could eventually be tested in ARC Raiders.
The approach to punishment has also changed. The studio said it was initially too cautious about permanently banning first-time offenders, but permanent bans are now standard for accounts caught using known cheat programs, with no warnings or second chances.
License restrictions have also been expanded to prevent a sanctioned copy of the game from being used with another account. Linked accounts are subject to permanent bans if they were previously associated with a banned copy, making it harder for repeat offenders to switch accounts and return to the game.
Hardware bans remain another part of the enforcement strategy. When there is sufficient evidence that a specific machine has been used for cheating, ARC Raiders can be prevented from running on that system, while recent improvements have lowered the threshold for applying hardware-based sanctions.
Work is also underway on a system intended to increase the number of systems that can be targeted with hardware bans. The goal is to implement the expanded capability later this year, potentially allowing sanctions to be applied across almost all systems detected running cheat software, although the studio acknowledged that hardware bans can still be circumvented and will require continued refinement.
The team also explained why some suspected cheaters may remain active for a period of time before being banned in ARC Raiders. Rather than automatically sanctioning players when behavior appears suspicious, the detection systems analyze activity across multiple instances to reduce the chance of incorrectly banning legitimate players, with permanent action taken only when there is a high degree of certainty.
Videos and livestreams posted to platforms such as YouTube are also monitored, with footage that provides clear evidence of cheating reviewed and potentially used to support enforcement action. Seeing a suspected cheater remain active does not necessarily mean action has not already been taken behind the scenes.
Beyond traditional cheating, queue teaming has become another target, with players coordinating before a match to enter the same solo lobby and gain an advantage by working together against players who queued alone. After months of developing detection tools for this behavior, matchmaking now keeps known teaming groups separated.
Five days after the matchmaking changes were introduced, the studio reported an 85% reduction in players engaging in queue teaming. Spoiled raids also declined from approximately one in 50 to one in 300, with no meaningful impact on queue times.
Teaming with another player encountered during a raid through proximity chat remains allowed. The focus is instead on players coordinating before a raid specifically to gain an unfair advantage in a solo lobby.
With the October update approaching, anti-cheat efforts will remain an ongoing part of ARC Raiders as cheat developers continue to evolve their methods. Embark Studios plans to keep improving detection, accelerating enforcement, limiting repeat offenders, and addressing other forms of matchmaking abuse, while providing further updates on its progress.
Arc Raiders is available digitally on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, and NVIDIA GeForce NOW, starting at $39.99 USD for the Standard Edition and $59.99 USD for the Deluxe Edition. For more info on this and plenty of other extraction titles, like Reaper Actual and Marathon, be sure to check back to Simulation Daily.
