Embark Studios is tightening its response to ARC Raiders cheating: any account caught using cheats faces a permanent ban, with no warning or second chance, the developer said on 30 September. It also says a matchmaking change has cut the number of players involved in pre-arranged queue teaming by 85% in five days. Kotaku reported the crackdown.
The studio’s anti-cheat update sets out how the measures work ahead of Frozen Trail on 8 October.
ARC Raiders cheating now means permanent bans
“Permanent bans are now standard for all known cheat programs and, as a matter of policy, any account caught using cheats is permanently banned. No warnings, no second chances.”
Aleksander Grøndal, executive producer of ARC Raiders
Embark says it has also broadened licence restrictions. A sanctioned copy of the game cannot be used with another account, while accounts associated with a banned copy will also receive a permanent ban. The studio says it has lowered the evidence threshold for hardware bans and is working on a way to cover more systems later this year.
That does not make a hardware ban impossible to evade. Embark says cheat makers adapt when their tools are detected, and hardware bans are one part of a broader response. Its latest ARC Raiders cheating policy also keeps a human involved in appeals: the studio says detection models build confidence from behaviour over multiple instances, rather than banning someone the moment a single action looks suspicious.
Queue teaming is a separate offence
Queue teaming means coordinating before a match so a group can enter the same solo lobby and attack players who queued alone. Embark says it has spent months building detection for these groups and recently began separating known teams in matchmaking. The studio reports that five days later, 85% fewer players were engaging in the behaviour.
The company says raids spoiled by queue teaming fell from roughly one in 50 to one in 300, with no meaningful effect on queue times. Those are Embark’s figures, not an independent measurement, and they describe this matchmaking abuse specifically—not the overall number of cheaters in the game. GamesBeat’s coverage also reports the figures and the caveat that teaming with players met during a raid remains allowed.
Players who meet allies in a raid can still team up. Embark says teaming through proximity chat remains allowed; its target is pre-arranged groups entering solo sessions before a raid begins.
“What we’re targeting is coordinating with another player before the raid begins specifically to gain an unfair advantage in a session.”
Aleksander Grøndal
The change builds on Embark’s existing work on solo matchmaking. Tbreak’s report on the Headwinds update covered its solo-versus-squads option; the new separation measure addresses groups exploiting the solo queue rather than changing who may choose that mode.
What the anti-cheat numbers do—and do not—show
The 85% drop is a promising early result for one behaviour, but it is not evidence that ARC Raiders has eliminated cheating. Embark says the cheat market changes constantly and that enforcement needs to balance speed with the risk of wrongly penalising legitimate players. The game’s anti-cheat systems combine Denuvo protection, Anybrain detections and Embark’s own machine-learning models; the studio is also evaluating Elytra, a system being tested on a small scale in The Finals.
The commercial side of the problem extends beyond one game. Activision has cited an estimated $8.5 billion annual video-game cheat economy. Bungie has also promised anti-cheat changes for Marathon after players reported problems in ranked matches. Neither comparison measures ARC Raiders’ own cheating levels; they show why one round of bans is unlikely to end the fight.
Frozen Trail arrives on 8 October
Embark’s anti-cheat announcement is separate from Frozen Trail, the major update due on 8 October. The studio’s preview describes a snowy map called Pendola Pass, a downed Emperor and the Frigate, alongside three new ARC enemies: Bully, Skulker and Hydra. The update also includes new weapons, a grappling hook and a customisable Outpost, according to Embark’s Frozen Trail preview.
Embark has not said the permanent-ban policy or queue-team separation is tied to the October 8 content update. It describes anti-cheat as ongoing work, while Frozen Trail brings new map and gameplay content.
Does the 85% drop mean ARC Raiders has 85% fewer cheaters?
No. Embark’s figure covers players engaging in pre-arranged queue teaming after it began separating known groups. It is not a count of all cheat software users or a game-wide ban rate.
Does the permanent-ban rule cover economy exploits as well as cheat software?
Embark says it has identified and sanctioned accounts involved in economy exploits, but its 30 September statement does not say that every economy exploit automatically receives the same permanent ban as an account caught using cheat software.
Do clips of suspected cheaters lead to immediate bans?
Not automatically. Embark says it reviews videos and streams when they provide clear evidence, while its detection system checks behaviour across multiple instances to reduce the risk of banning legitimate players.
