ARC Raiders intensifies anti-cheat push ahead of October 8 Frozen Trail update

ARC Raiders is preparing to launch its biggest update to date on October 8 with the Frozen Trail expansion, and Embark Studios is simultaneously escalating its fight against cheating. The studio outlined its expanded anti-cheat efforts in a direct statement from Aleksander Grøndal, executive producer of ARC Raiders.

Grøndal acknowledged the scale of the challenge. "Cheating undermines what makes ARC Raiders challenging and fun, and disrupts the experience for everyone playing fairly," he wrote. "At Embark, we take it incredibly seriously, and spend a lot of time and money in the ongoing fight against unfair play."

The market for cheats constantly evolves. Cheat makers profit from selling to players, often bundling malware with their software. Each time Embark improves its defenses, cheat developers adapt and find new workarounds. "We adapt too," Grøndal said. "Our growing anti-cheat team is continually working to detect and block new cheats, close the pathways they exploit, and add obstacles that make cheating harder and less worthwhile."

Embark, a relatively small studio with roughly 120 people working on ARC Raiders, has been cautious about disclosing its anti-cheat methods. Sharing too much about defenses can make it easier for cheaters to adapt. "Some of this is intentional, as sharing too much about our anti-cheat systems can make it easier for cheaters to adapt. Other times we are working on things in the background and testing them before they get deployed," Grøndal said.

Detection and enforcement

The studio's detection systems now rely on multiple layers. Embark uses kernel-level protection from Denuvo, detections from Anybrain, and a growing set of in-house machine-learning models. "These systems work together to identify suspicious behavior and build confidence before action is taken," Grøndal explained. "While allowing us to continue improving detection as new cheats emerge. Anti-cheat systems don't function completely autonomously, and there is always a human in the loop through the appeals process to ensure we are deploying sanctions fairly."

The studio is also testing Elytra, an additional anti-cheat system currently deployed at small scale in The Finals, Embark's other online game. Early results show promise, and the team is working toward testing it in ARC Raiders as well.

Embark's enforcement approach has shifted significantly. Early on, the studio was overly cautious with permanent bans for first-time cheaters. "We've heard the frustration from the community, and we agree that we should have handled this differently," Grøndal said. "Permanent bans are now standard for all known cheat programs and, as a matter of policy, any account caught using cheats is permanently banned. No warnings, no second chances."

The studio has also expanded license restrictions to prevent a sanctioned copy of the game from being used with another account. Embark has tightened its approach to linked accounts as well. "If an account has ever been associated with a banned copy of the game, it will also receive a permanent ban," Grøndal said.

Hardware bans and repeat offenders

Hardware bans are another enforcement layer. When enough evidence shows a single machine is being used for cheating, Embark can prevent the game from running on that system. "We constantly harden our detection capabilities and we were recently able to lower the threshold at which these types of bans are applied," Grøndal said.

The studio is actively developing a solution to increase the number of systems targeted by hardware bans. "We hope to implement this later in the year, and it should allow us to deploy sanctions to almost all systems caught running cheat software." Grøndal cautioned that hardware bans are not foolproof. Cheat makers constantly find ways to circumvent restrictions, so Embark must deploy fixes quickly to keep hardware bans reliable and effective.

Grøndal also addressed why some bans aren't immediate. Anti-cheat systems cannot ban players the moment something looks suspicious, as that risks incorrectly banning legitimate players. Instead, systems analyze behavior across multiple instances to establish high certainty that fair play is compromised. "Our team also personally moderates videos and streams that clearly violate our policies," he said. "We regularly review footage posted to YouTube and other platforms and take action when it provides clear evidence of cheating."

Queue teaming crackdown shows early success

Beyond traditional cheating, Embark has been addressing queue teaming, where players coordinate to land in the same solo lobby and attack Raiders who queued alone. The team spent months building detection capabilities to reliably identify teaming groups. A few days before Grøndal's statement, Embark started keeping known teaming groups apart in matchmaking.

The results were immediate. Five days later, there were 85% fewer players engaging in teaming behavior. Spoiled raids dropped from around 1 in 50 to 1 in 300, with no meaningful impact to queue times. Teaming up with someone met during a raid through proximity chat remains permitted. "What we're targeting is coordinating with another player before the raid begins specifically to gain an unfair advantage in a solo lobby," Grøndal clarified.

Grøndal emphasized that while video game cheating is a multi-billion-dollar industry that will never fully disappear, Embark's goal is to make cheating as difficult, costly, and short-lived as possible. "We built ARC Raiders with love and dedication to the craft, and seeing it exploited by cheaters makes them as angry as it makes you," he said. "The work continues, we've been seeing results, and we'll keep improving the experience for Raiders who are playing fairly."