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"It’s an ongoing fight, and we’re committed": Arc Raiders devs insist they aren't that soft on cheaters, "stepping up enforcement" with permanent bans for "serious infractions"

News
By Anthony McGlynn published 24 February 2026

Embark's working to make the game fairer

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Arc Raiders Shared Watch event update.
(Image credit: Embark Studios)
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Cheating's been a consistent bugbear for Arc Raiders since the extraction shooter launched in late 2025. While Embark Studios has taken measures, the problem remains noticeable, and for the Shrouded Sky update, the devs have taken some time to acknowledge the current lay of the land.

"Our defenses operate on multiple levels: some checks are simple and definitive, while others are behavioral and data-driven and evolve over time," the latest patch notes state. "We also leverage broad gameplay telemetry and machine learning techniques to spot patterns that aren’t obvious at first glance."

The team admits their approach "takes long to develop," and can be more lenient than regular software detection. In lieu of this, it's made clear they're working through the known problems, and finding solutions that punish those who cheat or exploit within their raids.

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  • Arc Raiders cover art with three raiders Arc Raiders boss can tell anti-cheat efforts are working since there's "an influx of people trying to get to the studio"
  • arc raiders skills Arc Raiders GOTY advocate and former FPS pro Shroud threatens to quit the game due to cheaters
Shrouded Sky Update | ARC Raiders - YouTube Shrouded Sky Update | ARC Raiders - YouTube
Watch On

"We’ve recently taken action against different exploits and we are further tightening our rules and stepping up enforcement," it's written. "Serious infractions now carry stricter consequences. Strong detections will receive permanent bans right off the bat, while others will receive a temporary suspension and a single chance to correct the behavior."

The changes to Family Sharing, that make it much more difficult for people to use the system for burner accounts, are mentioned, and Embark is "preparing to launch a systematic manual review of ban appeals." When and what that may look like aren't mentioned, but the notes end with the anti-cheat staff "works tirelessly," and "it's an ongoing fight, and we're committed."

Both of which are always important to remember, even when you're being frustrated by people spawning hatches randomly. Embark's been up against it since release, due to the unprecedented success of Arc Raiders, and just because you haven't seen something change yet, doesn't mean nothing's happening.

Embark takes the nerf bat to Arc Raiders' Venator once more as "it's still dominating in PvP," and while we're at it, the Kettle and Stitcher are also getting reined in

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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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