Embark’s temporary ARC Raiders PvE beta removes player damage for one week, but lower loot, missing map conditions, mixed squads, and queue risks make it a careful experiment rather than a full mode launch.
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Store links: ARC Raiders on Steam
ARC Raiders’ PvE experiment is live, but only for one week
ARC Raiders now has a temporary PvE matchmaking toggle, giving players a way to queue into dedicated PvE servers until October 20. That is the concrete shift: Embark Studios has opened a short ARC Raiders PvE beta where Raiders can fight ARC machines alongside other players without player-to-player damage deciding the run.
The tension is just as important as the feature. This is not a permanent mode announcement. According to Embark’s own September explanation of the test, the PvE toggle runs from October 13 to October 20, 2026, and is meant to help the studio decide how a lower-conflict version of ARC Raiders fits alongside the game’s standard PvPvE extraction structure. MMOHuts reports the exact test window as October 13 at 11:00 CEST through October 20 at 11:00 CEST, which converts to 2:00 AM PT and 5:00 AM ET, timings also listed by Game Rant and Beebom.
For players, that makes the ARC Raiders beta end date the first thing to understand. If you want to try the experimental PvE mode, you have until the October 20 cutoff. After that, MMOHuts reports that the toggle will be removed, matchmaking will return to normal, and players will receive a survey. Embark is also weighing in-game data, so quietly skipping the test and hoping for a permanent PvE queue later is a weak strategy if this is the version of ARC Raiders you want to see supported.
How the ARC Raiders PvE toggle changes matchmaking
The ARC Raiders PvE toggle sits in matchmaking rather than requiring a separate beta build, sign-up, or access code. Game Rant and Beebom both report that the option appears on the map or matchmaking screen during the test, letting players switch between the classic PvPvE format and the new PvE queue before choosing a destination and launching a raid.
GamingBolt, citing Embark’s Steam news post, reports that PvE uses separate matchmaking and its own servers. In those lobbies, other Raiders are present, but they cannot damage one another. That includes weapons and disruptive throwables. Stun grenades, incendiaries, and similar tools do not affect other players in PvE sessions, while traversal and utility objects such as barricades and ziplines still function as intended.
That distinction matters for pacing. Removing hostile Raider damage cuts out ambushes, extraction camping, and sudden third-party fights, but it does not turn the Rust Belt into a private solo instance. You can still cross paths with other humans, you can still end up near teams, and the ARC remains the live threat profile. MMOHuts and Game Rant both report that squad separation is loosened in PvE matchmaking, meaning solos, duos, and trios can appear in the same match more readily than players may be used to.
Embark is also keeping the standard PvPvE queue live during the test. MMOHuts reports that PvE matches do not affect a player’s PvPvE matchmaking rating, which should calm competitive players who want to scout routes, learn ARC patterns, or test movement without risking their normal matchmaking standing. The tradeoff is queue health. Embark has warned that matchmaking times could be longer in quieter regions or off-peak hours, and GamingBolt reports that the studio is monitoring the situation to keep sessions healthy.
Lower risk comes with lower loot and missing conditions
This is the part extraction players should read twice before treating the ARC Raiders experimental PvE mode like a free farming playlist. Embark is deliberately lowering the value proposition. GamingBolt reports that PvE sessions offer lower-value loot, and Game Rant says players should not expect high-rarity rewards to be as easy to find as they would hope in a lower-risk environment.
Several higher-pressure conditions are also excluded from PvE during the beta. GamingBolt and MMOHuts list Night Raid, Locked Gate, Hidden Bunker, Frigate, and Redirection as unavailable in the PvE test. That is a meaningful cut because those conditions are exactly where a lot of high-tension route planning, gear greed, and late-raid decision-making would normally live.
The ARC themselves are not being turned into target dummies. MMOHuts reports that ARC enemies can target downed players again after an eight-second grace period, especially if they detect movement. For a shooter crowd, that detail matters because it keeps revives and crawls from becoming consequence-free habits. If your squad gets sloppy because Raiders cannot shoot you, the machines can still punish bad spacing and weak recovery timing.
In practical terms, PvE is best treated as a learning, questing, exploration, and feedback window rather than a pure progression shortcut. Use it to understand sightlines, machine behavior, extraction routes, loot flow, and co-op pacing. If your goal is maximum value per raid, the reduced loot pool and missing conditions mean PvPvE remains the sharper economic lane during the test.
Embark is testing a community split it already sees in the data
Embark’s reason for the PvE beta is unusually explicit. In its official announcement, the studio said ARC Raiders began seven years ago as a raid-based PvE co-op game with looting mechanics before the team reset the project into the high-tension PvPvE extraction game that launched. That history does not make this beta a reversal, but it explains why PvE is not an alien concept being bolted onto the game from nowhere.
The current reason is player behavior. Embark says it looks at major decisions through data, player feedback, and internal judgment. Its own breakdown puts the playerbase at 37% friendly co-op players, 27% mixed players, and 34% pure PvP players. The studio says the friendly co-op group has grown consistently since launch, while the pure PvP group has remained stable.
The demand is broader than the friendly segment alone. Embark says more than 70% of friendly players and 40% of PvP players have expressed a desire for fewer hostile encounters, while 51% of surveyed players have expressed interest in a dedicated PvE option. The studio also identified friction around players avoiding PvP, plus frustration over ratting and camping.
That is the real design problem. ARC Raiders has built its identity around the pressure of PvPvE extraction, where player intent is unreadable until someone fires, flees, trades, or betrays. But Embark’s own figures show a sizable audience using the game for co-op, world exploration, and ARC fights. MMOHuts reports that executive producer Alesander Grøndal said it is “very possible” PvE could split the game in two, while arguing that the community is already divided along those lines. The beta is Embark trying to measure that split instead of guessing from forum noise alone.
Players are already bending the PvE rules into new habits
The early reaction also shows why this test is complicated. PCGamesN reports that some players are using the PvE playlist to practice for PvP encounters, taking advantage of the lower-pressure environment to explore the Rust Belt and prepare for future firefights. That is not a failure by itself. In any extraction shooter, a safer route-learning space can become a competitive training tool whether the developer labels it that way or not.
PCGamesN also points to social media examples of players waiting around key rooms for other Raiders to arrive with keys, creating strange social standoffs even without PvP damage. Because players still share the world, removing bullets between Raiders does not remove competition, opportunism, or awkward resource pressure. It changes the language of conflict. Instead of killing for access, players may body-block, hover, wait, or race objectives.
That is the biggest design question for Embark after October 20. If PvE becomes a permanent option someday, the studio will need to decide whether it is a relaxed co-op queue, a scouting and onboarding tool, a questing lane, a social version of the Rust Belt, or a parallel economy with stricter reward limits. The current beta answers only the first layer: yes, ARC Raiders can run a no-player-damage playlist. It does not yet prove what that playlist should become long term.
Update 2.1 adds more context around the test. PCGamesN and MMOHuts report fixes tied to outdoor footstep volume, Grappling Hook traversal, map collision, skills, weapons, performance, Frigate hatches, stamina consumables, Broad Shoulders, Field Repair, and Pendola Pass collision issues. Those fixes are separate from the PvE question, but they matter for the feel of a test where movement, sound, AI pressure, and route reliability carry more of the match.
Best use of the beta before the October 20 cutoff
If you are playing before the cutoff, go in with the right target. The ARC Raiders PvE beta is strongest as a controlled space to learn maps, knock out objectives, test co-op rhythm, study ARC behavior, and see whether the game’s pacing survives without hostile Raiders in the mix. It is weaker as a loot grind because Embark has reduced loot value and disabled several major conditions.
Solo players should expect mixed squad sizes. The absence of player damage protects you from being deleted by a trio, but it does not guarantee clean access to objectives, key rooms, or resources. Competitive players should consider using the queue for route knowledge and mechanical warmup, especially because MMOHuts reports PvE runs will not affect PvPvE matchmaking rating. Co-op-focused players should treat the week as a direct vote with playtime and feedback.
The most important action comes after playing. Embark has said the future of the feature depends on community feedback and in-game data, and MMOHuts reports that a survey will follow once the beta ends. If something feels off, whether that is loot tuning, queue times, squad mixing, ARC aggression, grief-adjacent behavior around objectives, or the absence of specific map conditions, that is the feedback Embark is asking for.
For now, the confirmed situation is narrow but important: the ARC Raiders PvE toggle is live for a limited beta, it runs until October 20, it removes player damage while keeping shared lobbies and ARC threats, and it carries economic and content restrictions to protect the extraction game’s risk curve. Anything beyond that, including a permanent ARC Raiders PvE mode, remains undecided.