Arc Raiders Moves to Permanent Bans for Detected Cheaters

Arc Raiders is moving to a stricter anti-cheat enforcement policy: any account caught using cheat software will receive a permanent ban, with no warning and no second chance. The change is part of a wider effort that combines stronger detection, restrictions tied to game licenses and linked accounts, and expanded hardware-level sanctions for systems associated with cheating.

Embark executive producer Aleksander Grøndal said the studio has been investing heavily in countering unfair play and acknowledged that it has not always publicly detailed that work. The lack of detail, he said, is sometimes deliberate: openly spelling out defensive changes can help cheat makers adapt around them.

For players who enter raids fairly, the practical promise is straightforward: faster action against detected cheats and more barriers to returning under a fresh account. It is not a promise that cheating will vanish altogether. Embark’s position is that the realistic objective is to make cheating difficult, expensive and short-lived rather than pretend it can be eliminated permanently.

Permanent bans are now the stated default

The key policy shift concerns the first confirmed use of cheats. Embark had previously faced criticism over giving first-time offenders another opportunity. That approach is no longer the standard described by the studio.

“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.”

That is an important distinction from a temporary suspension. A temporary ban removes access for a defined period, while a permanent account ban is meant to end that account’s access indefinitely. In a competitive extraction shooter, where a raid can involve both confrontation and the risk of losing progress or equipment, even one player using unfair information, aiming assistance, automation or other unauthorized tools can damage the stakes for everyone else in the session.

The policy is specifically anchored to accounts that are caught using cheats. It does not mean every frustrating loss or highly skilled opponent is evidence of misconduct. Detection and enforcement are the core issue, which is why Embark is pairing its sharper punishment policy with systems intended to identify suspicious behavior more reliably.

How Embark describes its detection stack

Embark says its cheat-detection systems are getting stronger month by month. The studio named several layers in that work: kernel-level protection from Denuvo, detections from Anybrain, and an expanding group of in-house models built with machine learning and other data.

“Kernel-level” refers to software that operates with unusually deep access to a computer’s operating system. Anti-cheat tools use this level of access in an attempt to observe or block cheats that may otherwise hide from protections running at a less privileged level. The trade-off is that such access is inherently significant, making careful implementation and trust important considerations for players. Embark’s statement identifies Denuvo as part of its current protection, but does not provide technical implementation details.

Machine learning, meanwhile, is a broad term for systems trained to find patterns in data. In the anti-cheat context described here, those models can help flag behavior that appears abnormal or inconsistent with legitimate play. Crucially, Embark says these systems do not operate entirely on their own. That wording suggests the models are part of a broader detection process rather than an automatic, fully independent judge of every sanction.

The studio also says it is conducting small-scale tests of Elytra anti-cheat in The Finals. Grøndal said Elytra could potentially be incorporated into Arc Raiders later. That is a possibility, not a confirmed Arc Raiders rollout, and no timing was given for such an addition.

Anti-cheat details are often necessarily limited. Publishing a complete list of signals, thresholds or defenses would offer a road map to people trying to evade them. For regular players, the more meaningful public measures are the enforcement outcomes: whether detected accounts are dealt with promptly, whether repeat offenders can cycle back in easily, and whether matchmaking manipulation is reduced without harming normal queue times.

More than an account ban: license, linked-account and hardware restrictions

Embark’s enforcement plan is designed to reach beyond the account that was directly caught. The studio says it has broadened its use of license restrictions. In plain terms, that means a particular copy or license of the game can be prevented from being used through a different account after it has been tied to a ban.

It has also tightened its policy on linked accounts. Under the newly described approach, an account that has ever been associated with a banned copy of the game will itself receive a permanent ban. The intent is to prevent an account switch from becoming an easy reset button.

Hardware bans are the most severe layer discussed. If Embark has enough evidence that a particular machine is being used for cheating, it can prevent Arc Raiders from running on that system. A hardware ban therefore targets the computer rather than only a profile or a game license.

The studio is working to expand the number of systems it can target with hardware bans, with an implementation hoped for later in the year. Grøndal said that change should allow sanctions against almost all systems caught running cheat software. The language remains prospective: it is an intended expansion, not a declaration that every detected cheating system is already covered.

For ordinary PC players, this should not be confused with a performance requirement or a reason to change hardware. The measures described are enforcement tools against systems for which Embark says it has sufficient evidence of cheating. They are also separate from the ordinary question of choosing a computer for games; readers interested in the hardware side of PC coverage can see this look at HP’s OmniBook 5.

Queue teaming is being treated as a matchmaking problem

Cheat software is not the only form of unfair play on Embark’s radar. The studio also addressed “queue teaming,” defined here as players coordinating to land in the same solo lobby and then attacking Raiders who entered alone.

That conduct matters because solo matchmaking carries a reasonable expectation that each entrant is operating independently. Players who coordinate their timing to enter together can create an undeclared alliance, changing the contest for solo participants without using conventional cheat software.

Embark says it split known offenders apart through matchmaking. Within five days, it reported an 85% drop in players engaging in the behavior. It also said the rate of “spoiled raids” fell from roughly one in 50 to one in 300, with no meaningful impact on queue times.

Those figures are the studio’s own reported results, but they provide a useful indication of the remedy being attempted. Rather than solely punishing behavior after it occurs, matchmaking can reduce opportunities for known groups to recreate the same arrangement. The reported lack of a meaningful queue-time effect is notable because anti-abuse matchmaking interventions can otherwise risk making legitimate players wait longer for matches.

What fair-play players can reasonably take from the update

The announcement does not claim a finished solution. Grøndal described video-game cheating as a multi-billion-dollar industry and said it will never fully disappear. That is an acknowledgement of the continuing contest between game developers and the people who make, sell and use unauthorized tools.

Still, the updated policy establishes several concrete expectations. A detected cheater should face a permanent account ban rather than a warning. A new account may not be enough to return if the game license or other linked accounts have been restricted. In cases meeting Embark’s evidence threshold, the system itself can be barred from running the game. And coordinated solo-lobby abuse is being addressed through matchmaking as well as enforcement.

The test will be consistency. Strong consequences have their greatest deterrent effect when detection improves, decisions arrive quickly, and common routes around a ban are closed. Embark says it is working across each of those areas, while avoiding technical disclosures that could undermine the effort.

Frozen Trail is due October 8

The crackdown arrives ahead of Arc Raiders’ Frozen Trail update on October 8, an update Grøndal has previously characterized as feeling like a 2.0 version of the game. The supplied details also indicate that players will be able to unlock weapons and items without having to hunt down blueprints.

That forthcoming update and the anti-cheat initiative address different parts of the game, but both speak to the experience surrounding progression and raids. One changes how players access equipment; the other is intended to protect the competitive environment in which they use it. For now, the firmest commitment is the enforcement policy itself: accounts caught cheating are set to receive permanent bans, without warnings or second chances.