Arc Raiders Devs Drop the Hammer on Cheaters: Permanent Bans Now Standard

Embark Studios is getting tougher on Arc Raiders cheaters with permanent bans, hardware bans, and improved anti-cheat, as they admit cheating will never fully go away.

Tired of running into cheaters in Arc Raiders? You're not alone, and Embark Studios is finally doing something about it. In a lengthy statement posted to Twitter, executive producer Aleksander Grøndal laid out exactly how the studio is stepping up its fight against unfair play.

First off, Embark wants you to know they take cheating "incredibly seriously" and have spent "a lot of time and money" on the battle. The anti-cheat team is constantly working on blocking cheats, but Grøndal admits they've been quiet about it—sometimes on purpose, so they don't tip off the cheaters. "Do know that our silence is not indifference to the issue," he says.

So what's actually changing? For starters, cheat detection is getting stronger every month. Embark is using kernel-level protection from Denuvo, detections from Anybrain, and a growing set of in-house machine learning models. These systems flag weird behaviors to catch cheaters in the act. Plus, they're testing Elytra anti-cheat in The Finals right now, which could come to Arc Raiders later.

But the big news is the punishment. Remember when first-time cheaters got a second chance? That's over. "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," Grøndal states. Embark is also broadening license restrictions, so if a copy of the game gets banned, you can't just make a new account and jump back in. Linked accounts tied to a banned copy will also get permanently banned. And hardware bans? Those are on the table too, with plans to expand them later this year to target almost all systems caught running cheat software.

Embark is also tackling queue teaming—where players coordinate to land in the same solo lobby and gang up on solo Raiders. After splitting up known offenders in matchmaking, they saw 85% fewer players engaging in this behavior within five days. Spoiled raids dropped from about 1 in 50 to 1 in 300, with no meaningful impact to queue times. That's a huge win for solo players.

Of course, Grøndal is realistic: cheating won't disappear completely. "Video game cheating is a multi-billion dollar industry, and it will never fully go away," he admits. "What we can do is make cheating as difficult, costly, and short-lived as possible." He adds that seeing Arc Raiders exploited makes the team as angry as it makes you, and they're committed to improving the experience for fair players.

All of this comes ahead of the big Frozen Trail update on October 8, which Grøndal previously teased feels like a 2.0 for the game. Arc Raiders will finally let players unlock weapons and items without hunting down blueprints. So, will you be jumping back in for Frozen Trail, or are you waiting to see if the cheaters actually get cleaned up? Let us know in the comments!