ARC Raiders Director Gives Official Statement on Care Bear Lobbies

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Early players of ARC Raiders didn’t seem very interested in the player-versus-environment (PvE) gameplay. So, the developers were surprised when players started creating what became known as “Care Bear” lobbies after the game launched. These lobbies are servers where players mostly focus on cooperative play, are friendly to each other, and generally avoid conflict unless absolutely necessary.

Embark Studios, the team behind ARC Raiders, had announced a matchmaking system designed to pair players based on how much they enjoy player-versus-player (PvP) combat – which is why some matches ended up being very peaceful. The idea was simple: players who frequently engaged in PvP would be matched with others who did the same, and those who preferred player-versus-environment (PvE) would be grouped together. However, it seems Embark Studios didn’t anticipate quite so many players would choose to focus on cooperative PvE gameplay, even with the matchmaking system in place.

ARC Raiders Devs Weren’t Expecting This Many PvE Fans

During a recent interview with PC Gamer, the design director for ARC Raiders, Virgil Watkins, explained that early tests showed players weren’t cooperating with each other. He was surprised by how much players enjoyed the game’s cooperative (PvE) elements. This preference for non-competitive content has led Embark Studios to focus on creating more opportunities for positive and enjoyable interactions between players. A recent example of this is the ‘Shared Watch’ event, which encouraged players to team up with strangers to fight the ARC machines.

ARC Raiders’ Mantra Makes PvE Servers Seem Unlikely

[Fighting others] is entirely your own decision.

Virgil Watkins explained that the core idea behind ARC Raiders – letting players choose whether or not to fight – hasn’t changed. He recognizes that some players will always want to battle each other (PvP), while others prefer to team up against the environment (PvE), which is a challenge for the developers. However, Watkins stressed that the game won’t force PvP on anyone. This suggests ARC Raiders likely won’t have separate game modes that only allow cooperative play, and will instead give players the freedom to choose how they interact with others. He prefers to provide the tools and situations, then let players decide if they want to be friendly or hostile.

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It’s important to remember that this is only one way to understand what Watkins said, and we shouldn’t take it as a definite statement. Embark Studios hasn’t said no to adding more player-versus-environment (PvE) modes, and they’ve even shown they’re open to more relaxed content, like the Shared Watch event. Whether they’ll remove player-versus-player (PvP) combat from some modes to appeal to players who prefer a less competitive experience remains to be seen.

Thousands of Players Are Pushing for PvE Servers

Image via Embark Studios

Players are flooding social media with requests for servers specifically designed for cooperative play in ARC Raiders. They want a place where they can explore the game’s story and battle robots without being bothered by other players who intentionally disrupt the experience – a group often called “rats” or “griefers” by those who prefer a peaceful game.

Recently, the player-versus-player (PvP) combat in ARC Raiders has received a lot of criticism because of bugs and loopholes that players said ruined the experience. A particularly problematic issue was a glitch that let players endlessly duplicate items, like powerful explosives, during battles. The game developers at Embark Studios have fixed many of these problems and banned players who took advantage of them. However, according to Virgil Watkins, the game’s economy within PvP still needs improvement to create a fairer playing field. He stated that the team is continuing to work on balancing the game to ensure fights are as equitable as possible.

A big update called Shrouded Sky is coming to ARC Raiders on February 24th. It will add a new map condition and a fresh challenge with a new ARC threat. Players can also look forward to improvements to the existing map, a new set of raider cards and projects, and the start of the game’s second expedition. While details are still limited, the update will likely fix some of the problems players have been experiencing with both player-versus-player and player-versus-environment gameplay.

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2026-02-19 00:04