Embark CEO confirms that Arc Raiders' matchmaking takes your aggression into account, so behave yourself out there

I've always been a firm believer that you should treat others the way you'd like to be treated, and that's an ethos I've largely carried into Arc Raiders. There's been much discussion about player behavior since the smash-hit extraction shooter and one of 2025's best multiplayer games first exploded into the public eye. Among that comes the question of whether the Arc Raiders matchmaking system accounts for your tendency to turn on your fellow raiders, and now we have official confirmation directly from Embark CEO Patrick Söderlund himself.

Arc Raiders is a PvPvE game, after all; part of the tension that makes it special comes from the real risk that someone you've been teaming up with could turn on you at a moment's notice. Indeed, developer Embark Studios has long maintained that it doesn't believe the experience would work without the constant threat of PvP. However, there's been a lot of speculation among the community about whether an 'aggression-based matchmaking' system (branded 'ABMM' by the community) impacts the natural hostility of lobbies you're dropped into.

Speaking to Dean Takahashi of Games Beat, Söderlund reveals that such a system does in fact exist - although he notes that it's actually a very recent addition. Describing the matchmaking broadly, he says, "Obviously, first it's skill-based, of course. Then you have solos, duos, and trios. And then also, since a week ago or so, we introduced a system where we also matchmake based on how prone you are to PvP or PvE."

You can watch the moment in the video above, starting at the 9:54 mark. Fittingly, the discussion even gets briefly interrupted by an encounter with another squad, and hasty calls of "friendly, friendly, friendly" between the two groups. With the tension defused, Söderlund continues: "So if your preference is to do PvE and have less conflict with players, you'll get more matched up [with other friendly people] - obviously it's not a full science."

"I did have someone ask me, 'Is there aggression-based matchmaking,'" Takahashi responds, to which Söderlund replies, "That's exactly what it is. A game like this, we knew from the beginning that we were going to get some," presumably referring to diversity in player preferences. "Especially as the game has gotten big, that's a problem." So there you have it - maybe you were imagining it before, but you certainly aren't now. It's interesting to hear that it's a relatively new inclusion, suggesting that it might have come in response to the community speculation.

Of course, Söderlund notes that it's never going to be completely cut and dry; don't expect to never face threats just because you refuse to turn your own gun against human raiders. Honestly, I don't think it'd make sense to go quite that far with it, given Embark's relatively firm stance on the importance of the ever-present threat of PvP. But next time you get the itch to betray that well-meaning father of four who's been helping you out, keep in mind that there could be consequences for your actions down the line.