Embark Studios acknowledged a surge of cheaters in Arc Raiders on January 8 and said it is rolling out changes to how it detects and bans offenders. The developer posted the update on the Arc Raiders Discord after players and streamers raised alarms about rampant macros and suspect accounts in high-rank lobbies.
“We’ve seen the discussion around the topic of cheaters in ARC Raiders. Please know that we are taking this issue very seriously and are listening to, and acting on your feedback,“ Embark wrote in the Discord post.
The community has pointed to a few recurring problems. Streamers in top matchmaking brackets report running into cheaters more often, and many players are seeing accounts that look newly created or previously banned repeatedly reappear. A popular complaint on Speranza is the widespread use of macros that make the Kettle fire like an automatic weapon. A clip highlighting that behavior is available below:
100 Thieves founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag warned the issue could be worse than past cheating spikes, and his comments helped push the conversation further into public view. His post is covered in our earlier writeup about complaints on X.
Embark also said the team is looking at balance changes for weapons and gadgets. Community rep Birdie listed the Stitcher, Kettle, and Trigger Nade as examples under review. Some of those balance moves were already outlined in the studio’s Cold Snap update notes published in mid-December, which added a new winter map condition and included planned tuning that will affect how weapons feel in certain matches. More on those changes is in our coverage of the Cold Snap post here.
Embark did not publish a full public roadmap for anti-cheat improvements in the same message. The studio emphasized it is listening to player reports and will act on feedback while it builds more robust detection and ban systems. Players hoping for immediate, sweeping bans should expect a process that balances catching cheaters with avoiding false positives.
Arc Raiders launched into a crowded space where competitive shooters live and die by trust in matchmaking. If detection and enforcement actually keep pace with the reporting, it will calm the most vocal players and streamers. If not, the problem will continue to undermine endgame lobbies and organizer trust.
Follow our ongoing coverage of Arc Raiders on X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram.
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
-
Age Rating:
ESRB T / PEGI 16 / GRAC 15+ / USK 18 / CLASS_IND 14 / ACB M
- IGDB Rating: 89.7/100
