I enjoyed having the palate cleanser that was Arc Raiders limited-time PvE test for the short week it was here. It provided a chill alternative to the usual chaos and cheater-laden PvP, where I could fight some tough arcs, enjoy the map, and interact with players without the fear of getting ratted. And clearly I'm not the only one who enjoyed it, as Embark confirmed over 30 million PvE sessions were played during the test period.

But running the test was only half the battle, now Embark needs to decide whether it's worth adding a dedicated PvE mode to the game. Previously, the team has confirmed that it'll need some extra time to get its ducks in order ahead of making any concrete decisions, but now executive producer Aleksander Grøndal has given us a little bit more information concerning the decision process.

"Now that we’ve concluded the PvE matchmaking toggle test, we’re doing a deep dive into what that means," Grøndal says in an interview with MP1st. "Of course, we were a bit skeptical about bringing such a mode to the game for historical reasons, but now we need to discuss what we want to do going forward."

The idea of adding PvE to Arc Raiders has been slightly controversial, with some players arguing it misses the point of the game, may inflate the junk economy, or even take players away from PvP. I certainly don't think PvE should replace PvP, but that was never an option; I do believe, however, as with accessibility options, that giving players more choice is rarely a bad thing.

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