Arc Raiders squeezes cheaters a little harder, blocking Steam Family Sharing workarounds "to prevent abuse of shared licenses" and stop players evading bans

A woman in a space helmet stares at something off the screen in Arc Raiders

(Image credit: Embark)

Embark Studios has been working to curb the amount of cheating in Arc Raiders, and the latest measure on Steam will definitely make some of their lives harder. There are now further limitations on how the extraction shooter can be shared across accounts, preventing some nefarious loopholes.

Steam Family Sharing - Valve's system allowing up to six family members access to the same library - now comes with some important caveats on Arc Raiders. "If any account in a Steam Family receives a ban while using a shared Arc Raiders license, all accounts in that family will receive a restriction," is the first, and most important rule.

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As well as this, if any account in the family network gets temporarily banned, they can't use the family function whatsoever on Arc Raiders forever. "Any player accessing the game through sharing will need to be removed from the Steam Family and purchase their own copy to continue playing," states the new ruleset.

Embark adds this is to make sure everyone gets a fair experience in Arc Raiders, something that hasn't been happening over the last couple of months. "These rules are in place to prevent abuse of shared licenses and to ensure all Raiders play by the same standards, whether they own the game or access it through Family Sharing," the studio says.

Another wrinkle worth noting is that bans still stand even if you get rid of the perpetrating account from your family circle. There's not much wiggle room here, and if you're using this feature, it's a good time to make sure nobody's about to get the whole group taken off the game for the sake of cutting some corners.

After campaigning for Arc Raiders to win GOTY at The Game Awards, former FPS pro Shroud is taking a break because he's "tired of the cheaters," plus "once you have everything it loses a little bit of its fun."