Arc Raiders is quietly tweaking how it pairs players together—and if you’re the type to take opportunistic shots at other squads, the game may now be more inclined to throw you into lobbies full of people who play the same way.

Embark Studios has confirmed it’s introduced a form of “aggression-based matchmaking,” a system designed to increase the likelihood that PvP-hungry players end up in the same sessions. In other words, if you frequently escalate encounters with other players, you’re more likely to match with others who do too.

### How the new matchmaking is meant to work
The idea is simple: separate the more combative crowd from players who’d rather focus on survival, scavenging, and getting out alive. By grouping high-aggression behavior together, Arc Raiders can make its PvP feel more intentional—less like random bullying and more like consenting danger.

That said, Embark isn’t presenting this as a magic fix. The studio has cautioned that this kind of matchmaking “is not a full science,” suggesting the system is more of a guiding hand than a hard rule, and that it won’t perfectly categorize everyone or completely eliminate mismatched playstyles.

### Why it matters
Aggression-based matchmaking is becoming an increasingly common tool in PvPvE and extraction-style games, where a single overgeared squad can sour an entire run for more cautious players. If Embark can tune this well, Arc Raiders could reduce frustration for newcomers and PvE-leaning squads while still giving dedicated PvPers a denser, more rewarding fight economy.

The bigger question is how transparent the system will be—and whether players will try to game it. But as a live-service balancing lever, it’s a smart way to shape the tone of each match without rewriting the game’s core risk-reward loop.

Source: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/arc-raiders-has-aggression-based-matchmaking-to-push-pugnacious-pvpers-together-but-its-not-a-full-science |