Arc Raiders interview: Embark talks behavior-based matchmaking, map updates, and playing nice with strangers

Arc Raiders dev on art style, player feedback and the game's "10 year plan" | Developer debrief - YouTube

Last week, as the industry converged in downtown Los Angeles for The Game Awards, we sat down with Arc Raiders art director Robert Sammelin for a debrief on the launch of one of the year's most popular shooters. The studio's second game was an instant hit, introducing a new crowd to extraction shooters with its semi-casual shooting, astonishing maps, and surprisingly chill social dynamics.

We also asked Sammelin if there's any truth to the theories that Embark matches players partially based on their "niceness." In the example our interviewer gave, it would make sense for Embark to match players who clearly preferred pacifist runs with like-minded raiders, especially in solo Q. Sammelin was cagey about the details, but did confirm that player behavior is a factor in matchmaking.

Sammelin: "Without going into excruciating detail, it is quite complex. We do analyze behavior and match accordingly."

PCG: "But you can't say anymore?"

Sammelin: "No. (laughs)"

You can watch the full interview above, and below you'll find some useful time stamps to hop between subjects:

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.

With contributions from

Tim Clark

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.