Embark Studios will run a limited PvE matchmaking test in ARC Raiders from October 13 through October 20, giving players a temporary way to remove hostile-player damage without leaving the shared extraction format. The tradeoff is lower loot, while Night Raids, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate and Frigate remain in the standard PvPvE experience.
The experiment arrives five days after Frozen Trail launches on October 8. That timing puts two very different sides of ARC Raiders next to each other: Embark is opening a calmer matchmaking option for ordinary runs while keeping some of its most tension-heavy new content, including Frigate, tied to PvPvE.
The PvE test at a glance:
- Dates: October 13–20, 2026.
- Player damage: zero player-to-player damage in PvE sessions.
- Matchmaking: solos, duos and trios share the same PvE pool.
- Loot: lower overall value in PvE; slightly higher baseline loot in normal PvPvE during the test.
- Excluded: Night Raids, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate and Frigate.
- Permanent PvE: not announced. The toggle is removed when the test ends.
ARC Raiders PvE keeps the extraction loop but removes hostile-player damage
The largest rules change is simple: other Raiders cannot damage you. They are still present in the session, however, and ARC Raiders does not become a separate co-op campaign. Players still fight ARC, scavenge, complete quests, explore the map and try to extract with what they find.
Embark is putting solos, duos and trios into the same PvE matchmaking pool. Players can switch between that queue and normal PvPvE instead of committing their character to one ruleset, and PvE sessions will not affect a player’s PvPvE matchmaking rating.
The studio is deliberately leaving most of the surrounding game alone for this experiment. There is no separate PvE progression track and Embark is not simply making ARC enemies stronger to compensate for the missing player threat. The question being tested is narrower: what happens to the existing extraction loop when hostile-player damage disappears?
There is one notable ARC-side adjustment. A Raider downed by ARC may be acquired as a target again while crawling, while staying still should cause nearby machines to ignore the downed player. It keeps some pressure on a failed fight even when another squad cannot finish the job.
Lower loot is the price of safer extractions
Removing hostile Raiders also changes the risk behind every backpack of loot. Embark says friendly players already extract more often and return with more value, so PvE sessions will reduce overall loot value rather than offer the same rewards with one major source of danger removed.
Normal PvPvE gets a small incentive in the opposite direction. During the test, those sessions will receive slightly higher baseline loot values. The two queues therefore are not just different combat preferences: Embark is also testing whether separate risk-and-reward levels can coexist without making one option the obvious progression route.
Queue health is another part of the experiment. Splitting players between PvE and PvPvE may increase waits in lower-population regions or during off-hours, and Embark will watch whether enough players move into PvE to affect the quality of regular PvPvE sessions.
Embark’s player data explains why PvE is being tested
The test is backed by a sizeable friendly portion of the existing playerbase. Embark currently divides players into three broad groups: 37% primarily friendly co-op players, 27% mixed players and 34% primarily PvP players. The friendly group has continued to grow since launch, while the PvP group has remained stable.
The preference crosses those groups more than the labels suggest. More than 70% of friendly players and 40% of PvP-oriented players have expressed a desire for fewer hostile encounters. Separately, 51% of the surveyed playerbase expressed interest in a dedicated PvE option.
That last qualifier is worth preserving. The figure describes surveyed players, not proof that 51% of every ARC Raiders player wants a permanent PvE mode. It does show enough demand for Embark to run a real matchmaking experiment instead of leaving friendly players to avoid PvP informally. The studio also points to frustration around ratting and camping among players already trying to minimize hostile encounters.
Frigate draws the line between PvE and ARC Raiders’ high-tension content
Night Raids, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate and Frigate are all excluded from the temporary PvE queue. Embark’s explanation is unusually direct: these activities were built around higher tension and the uncertainty of encountering different kinds of players.
Frigate makes that boundary easiest to see. Frozen Trail sends experienced Raiders aboard one of ARC’s largest vessels, where they must navigate internal passageways, unlock routes and fight ARC while other players pursue the same objective. Embark’s own preview says those Raiders may have to collaborate or cut through one another to progress.
GTR analysis: keeping Frigate and the other high-tension activities in PvPvE makes this a narrower experiment than a full PvE conversion of ARC Raiders. Embark is testing a safer version of ordinary matchmaking without removing player uncertainty from content that was explicitly designed around it. How players divide themselves between those two structures may be more revealing than the raw popularity of the PvE toggle alone.
A permanent ARC Raiders PvE mode is still undecided
There is some history behind the experiment. ARC Raiders was originally conceived as a raid-based PvE co-op game with looting mechanics before Embark reset the project around the high-tension PvPvE extraction structure that eventually shipped.
The October test does not reverse that decision. Embark says the PvE toggle will be removed when the test ends, normal matchmaking will return, and the team will review feedback and data before deciding what comes next.
The studio also leaves room for the experiment to fail. If a permanent option eventually appears, Embark says it could differ substantially from the version being tested in October. What is confirmed now is a one-week trial with different risk, loot and activity rules—not a permanent second mode already scheduled for release.
Sources: Embark Studios — PvE matchmaking toggle test; Embark Studios — Frozen Trail First Look.