Embark Studios has announced a new matchmaking test for Arc Raiders that'll allow players to opt into a PvE version featuring none of the usual player-versus-player violence. It's the developer's response to a growing portion of the playerbase apparently uninterested in hurting their raiders-in-arms.

In a blog post on the official Arc Raiders website, executive producer Aleksander Grøndal revealed the studio's PvE test will run from 13th to 20th October, and will enable participants to choose between the new, friendlier version of Arc Raiders and the regular, more ruthless version.

Grøndal goes on to recap Arc Raiders' origin as a raid-based co-op PvE shooter with looting mechanics, and Embark's eventual decision to shift towards the extraction shooter we know today. However, in an interesting twist of fate, it turns out many players are approaching the game with a collaborative mindset despite the incentives to kill their fellow players, turning it into what Grøndal calls the "Extraction (Don’t) Shooter".

He further breaks down this phenomenon with statistics, highlighting that around 37 percent of raiders are friendly co-op players, and that this figure has grown since launch. In comparison, around 34 percent are PvP-focused - a figure that has stayed consistent since launch - and the remaining 27 or so percent of raiders are a mix between the two. So there's clearly demand for more formalised PvE.

Enter Embark's new test, and a PvE mode that'll allow for solo, duos, and trios to queue it out. Some map conditions, like night raids and hidden bunkers, will be absent as they were designed with PvP in mind.

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