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Arc Raiders tester found that PvE players get put in friendlier lobbies while PvP ones are sectioned to aggressive matches by using two accounts

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By Kaan Serin published 21 December 2025

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(Image credit: Embark Studios)
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Arc Raiders players are just as capable of being surprisingly kind team players who'll help you survive the post-apocalypse as they are to backstab you and steal your chicken feed, but what if you could control who you encounter in-game? One raider decided to test it out.

YouTuber Domi created two separate Arc Raiders accounts to find out if the game's matchmaking worked differently depending on your playstyle. One account would primarily be a PvP heavy, aggressive type - a shoot first, talk later kind of player. The second account would be the complete opposite, focusing on PvE and avoiding firing at other humans almost completely.

What Domi seems to have found is that their aggressive account is usually matched with other, similarly aggressive players. At one point, the content creator even asked a foe if they also often attack people first. After confirming his theory, they both fight to the death, of course.

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HARD TRUTH about MATCHMAKING (DEVS CONFIRMED*) | ARC RAIDERS - YouTube HARD TRUTH about MATCHMAKING (DEVS CONFIRMED*) | ARC RAIDERS - YouTube
Watch On

On the other hand, their friendly raider had a pretty easy going time. "Every is being chill and nice," Domi said, after running into nine friendlies in a row. "No one shot me. No one even tried to shoot me, in fact."

Aggression-based matchmaking isn't just the mad ramblings of one mere YouTuber, though. Speaking to PC Gamer, Embark Studios' art director Robert Sammelin said matchmaking "is quite complex, so we do analyse behaviour and match accordingly." Other factors, like perhaps your loadout, might come into play, but at least we know you're at least partly responsible for the energy you attract. That raider who stopped you from extracting may just be karmic retribution.

Arc Raiders producer says "the work is just beginning" on the extraction shooter, reveals Christmas gift of 1,000 tokens to all players: "We're here for the long-term"

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Kaan Serin
Kaan Serin
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Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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