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What Is Aggression-Based Matchmaking in ARC Raiders?

Embark calls it playstyle-based matchmaking: Raider behavior influences future ARC Raiders lobbies gradually, but no action guarantees a friendly or PvP-focused match.
WorldARC Raiders? Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Yes—ARC Raiders uses playstyle-based matchmaking, which many players call aggression-based matchmaking. Embark says it considers multiple factors when forming a lobby, with one of the strongest being how you engage with other Raiders across previous rounds. It is a gradual, probability-based system, not a switch that guarantees friendly or PvP-focused lobbies.

How aggression-based matchmaking works

Embark calls the feature “Playstyle-based Matchmaking.” The studio says matchmaking aims to balance fairness—such as matching equal squad sizes where possible—with enjoyment, including bringing together players who may have fun in similar ways. Queue time and latency also constrain those goals. Its explanation does not publish a formula or numerical weights.

Playstyle is treated as a continuum rather than two fixed categories. Players may tend toward cooperation, frequent PvP, or approaches in between: cautious, opportunistic, friendly until threatened, or unpredictable. The system considers multiple factors, but Embark identifies behavior across previous rounds, especially engagement with other Raiders, as one of the strongest.

Similarity affects the odds of meeting players with comparable playstyles; it does not determine every lobby. Embark puts it this way: “Similarity is more likely, not guaranteed.” It also says, “Your behavior shapes your future lobbies – gradually.” A change in how you play may shift the Raiders you tend to meet over time, without making the Topside predictable.

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What different actions mean for matchmaking

Shooting or killing another Raider

One shot or kill does not immediately place you in PvP-focused lobbies. Embark says the system looks for patterns over time rather than reacting to one action.

Defending yourself

Embark says it now distinguishes defending yourself from starting a fight. Previously, the system did not capture that difference, which could make cautious players appear more PvP-focused than intended. The studio says this adjustment is live.

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Having little interaction topside

Rounds with little Topside interaction, including spawning and surrendering, now carry less weight in the playstyle estimate, according to Embark. That change is live as well.

Looting a knocked-out Raider

Taking a knocked-out player’s gear does not affect matchmaking. Embark says it evaluates engagement with Raiders, not what happens to their gear afterward.

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What matchmaking does not guarantee

  • No PvE-only lobbies: Embark says there are no servers where other Raiders can never attack you.
  • No guaranteed friendly encounters: A cooperative tendency does not prevent you from meeting dangerous or surprising opponents.
  • No instant lobby switch: A single action does not guarantee a particular kind of next match.
  • No loadout-based difficulty adjustment: Loadout does not drive matchmaking, and Embark says lobby difficulty is not scaled to loadout cost.
  • No end-of-round feedback control: Feedback at the end of a round informs trend analysis and design decisions; it is not used to control your next lobby.
  • No leader weighting: All squadmates influence the squad profile; the squad leader has no special weight.
  • No playstyle reset from patches: Embark says patches do not reset a player’s playstyle profile.
  • No predictable effect from crossplay: Crossplay changes the matchmaking pool and can affect queue time, but does not guarantee more cooperative or more PvP encounters.
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What Embark has not disclosed

Embark’s official explanation gives no aggression score, thresholds, behavior weights, sample window, or reproducible formula. It also publishes no statistics showing how often the system produces particular lobby types or how successful the approach is. Player stories can describe individual matches, but they cannot establish the hidden matchmaking rules. Because the system is described as probabilistic and gradual, variation between matches alone does not establish that playstyle matching is absent.

The explanation and the live changes described above are from the ARC Raiders Team’s official article, “Notes on The Matchmaking System,” published May 20, 2026.

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