Embark says ARC Raiders’ robots still aren’t thinking for themselves, but they are getting smarter
A GDC talk and later player clips shaped tweaks to Arc behavior, including better indoor movement for flying drones and other machine-learning adjustments.
Embark Studios is still not letting ARC Raiders‘ machines learn in real time, but the team is clearly watching how players interact with them and feeding that back into the AI. In a recent discussion tied to the game’s machine-learning work, Embark said it has already adjusted Arc behavior after spotting how players tried to outplay specific enemies.
One example came from a Leaper that struggled to deal with tight indoor spaces. After a clip showed a streamer ducking into a tunnel to evade the Leaper, Embark made internal adjustments to improve the enemy’s ability to navigate enclosed areas. The same basic idea has also carried over to the flying arc, which the studio keeps tuning so they are better at chasing players indoors.
Martin Singh-Blom, Embark’s machine learning research lead, said the studio is not training the game on player data in the way people might assume. Instead, developers look at clips from TikTok and YouTube, spot moments that feel memorable or unfair, and then decide whether to build a change around them. He said the goal is to make players react when they think they are safe.
That lines up with how Embark has described the Arc before. In our earlier look at the game’s hidden movement tricks, the studio’s under-the-hood system was shown helping enemies keep moving when normal physics would get in the way. This latest update is less about a dramatic new system and more about Embark quietly improving the machines based on how players actually behave.
Singh-Blom also said Embark has more ideas in the pipeline, even if they are not ready yet. So while the robots are not learning on their own in the middle of a match, they are still evolving as the studio keeps studying what players do and where the Arc still needs work.
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ARC Raiders
Developed by Embark Studios
ARC Raiders is a multiplayer, extraction adventure, set in a lethal future earth, ravaged by a mysterious mechanized threat known as ARC.
- Genre: Shooter
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Modes: Multiplayer, Co-operative
- Release: 2025-10-30
- Publisher: Embark Studios
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Age Rating:
ESRB T / PEGI 16 / GRAC 15+ / USK 18 / CLASS_IND 14 / ACB M
- IGDB Rating: 89.7/100
