Streamer Richard Tyler “Ninja” Blevins told viewers on a recent stream that the cheating he encounters in Arc Raiders is far worse than what most players see. “Unfortunately, 99% of the people that are playing this game are not even coming close to running into a fraction of the amount of cheaters that we are, so it’s falling on deaf ears a lot,” Ninja said. He added that “the same people” often appear to follow his streams, queue into his matches, and then cheat to win “every single day.”
Ninja framed the issue as one of perception. He said many community members think streamers are “just complaining,” but that those viewers do not understand the frequency and concentration of suspect accounts he faces while streaming. Developer Embark Studios has acknowledged a surge of cheaters and said it is implementing “significant changes to our rulesets” along with “new detection mechanisms” to catch and remove offenders.
Ninja thinks that because 99% of the ARC Raiders player base doesn't encounter even a fraction of the cheaters he does, his concerns are falling on deaf ears.
Many in the community simply dismiss the frustration as unnecessary complaining.pic.twitter.com/hlPVB6LqVJ
— ARC Raiders Alerts (@ArcRaiderAlerts) January 20, 2026
Ninja streams Arc Raiders primarily as a PvP player. The game uses an aggression-based matchmaking system that groups players by playstyle, so aggressive players are often matched together. That system likely funnels Ninja into lobbies with more PvP-minded opponents, which he says include a high number of cheaters. Whether his experience is an outlier or a reflection of a wider problem, the complaints from high-profile streamers have pushed the cheating discussion into the open and prompted developer responses. Embark’s planned changes aim to reduce both obvious cheating and exploitative behavior that undermines raids and PvP encounters.
For more on Embark’s response see our report on the studio’s January update, and for background on how matchmaking groups aggressive players check our piece on Arc Raiders’ aggression-based matchmaking. Stay updated on Arc Raiders coverage and streaming reactions via X, Bluesky, YouTube, 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
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Age Rating:
ESRB T / PEGI 16 / GRAC 15+ / USK 18 / CLASS_IND 14 / ACB M
- IGDB Rating: 89.7/100
