The first thing Arc Raiders testers told Embark after the game pivoted to PvP was “they didn’t like the PvP,” and they didn’t feel any better about its looting: “They were not very happy”

Arc Raiders is in the awkward position of being a popular PvPvE game with some players who despise PvP but, you know, at least developer Embark Studios is used to it. Production director Caio Braga shares during a Game Developer Conference 2026 panel attended by GamesRadar+ that Arc Raiders’ PvP has been controversial from the second it was conceived.

Braga says during his talk – candidly titled “WHEN YOUR AAA GAME ISN’T FUN” – that Embark decided on “a big reset” at one point during Arc Raiders’ development and added PvP. Unfortunately for him, “the very first feedback was, players didn’t like it. They didn’t like the PvP. And there was substantial negative PvP sentiment.”