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Arc Raiders is becoming a "waste of time" thanks to cheaters, says former FPS pro Shroud, who's considering a break until it's fixed: "Embark has zero control over their game"

News
By Anthony McGlynn published 7 January 2026

Shroud joins Nadeshot in calling out the extraction shooter

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Arc Raiders
(Image credit: Embark Studios)
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Cheating in Arc Raiders is becoming common to the point of major streamers calling it out. Michael 'Shroud' Grzesiek, former FPS pro turned streamer, is the latest figure to discuss the regularity of finding players breaking the game to win, joining an increasingly frustrated chorus.

In a recent stream, Grzesiek mentioned encountering cheaters often enough that he’s considering taking a break from the game. "Embark has zero control over their game," he says in a clip reposted on X/Twitter. "If there's no meaningful change in the next week, two weeks, what's the point in fucking playing?"

He calls Arc Raiders "a waste of time," while his streaming partner, Justin 'Just9n' Ortiz, claims "50% of each lobby is cheating." A bold claim, and likely one influenced by the effects of streaming the game at a high level, but also one the post's top response backs up.

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"Most people won't get it because they don't play in these top aggressive lobbies," states another X/Twitter user. "At least half the lobby players have VAC bans/previous game bans on record, private accounts, or fresh steam accounts."

Shroud GOES OFF on Embark Studios for not fixing the cheating issue in Arc Raiders 🤬🗣️"Embark has 0 control over their game, if there's no meaningful change in the next week or 2, what's the point in f*cking playing it's a waste of time""50% of each lobby is cheating" 😳🌶️ pic.twitter.com/uNF7KecjBzJanuary 6, 2026

Putting a hard number on behavior like this is foolhardy and can lead to circular thinking based on overlapping bias, but normal players have also been complaining about cheating with increased frequency. The PvP-heavy map Stella Montis is developing a reputation for being difficult to play at all due to getting pummeled through the roof thanks to exploits.

Embark Studios has acknowledged the problem to an extent, with a community manager commenting on the official Discord. "All the in-game reports are looked into, but it might take some time," says CM Birdie. "I get your frustration. The team keeps actively taking action against them!"

While irritating, cheating is inevitable as a side effect of the kind of launch and growth Arc Raiders has enjoyed. Embark is no doubt working on solutions, but in the meantime, keep sending in reports to give the devs more data to use.

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"The first dialog we had was obviously centered around [GTA 6]": Arc Raiders devs "did not want to be close" to Rockstar at launch, but were just fine challenging Call of Duty

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Anthony McGlynn
Anthony McGlynn
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Contributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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