Arc Raiders is cracking down on cheaters by targeting Steam Family Sharing: 'Restrictions or bans will apply across the entire family group tied to that license'

Arc Raiders skins: Key art showing three characters. The one on the left is wearing a blue pincho and holding a pistol ready at their hip. The middle figure is wearing a brown poncho and cowboy hat, facing the camera with a pistol across their chest. On the right is another character in a brown poncho and hat but facing away.

(Image credit: Embark)

Arc Raiders, like many other games, have had to deal with its fair share of cheaters. The devs have taken to burning them in locked rooms, dishing out big bans, and handing all the loot lost to these rats back to their rightful owners. And now Embark is cracking down on cheaters even more: by going after their families.

"In our ongoing continuous efforts to make Arc Raiders a more fair experience for all raiders, we have just made changes to how Steam Family Sharing works for suspended accounts," community manager at Embark, Ossen, says in the official Discord. "Up until now, suspended accounts could exploit Steam Family Sharing to avoid account suspensions, making their way back to Speranza to continue their illegitimate play.

Arc Raiders discord screenshot — (Image credit: Embark Studios)

This is a really big step towards Embark cutting off cheaters at their knees. When Arc Raiders first launched, there were loads of workarounds and a noticeable lack of punishment for those caught cheating. It wasn't long ago that the devs even admitted the game had a significant cheating issue.

I've been lucky enough not to come across any cheaters, at least not knowingly, but streamers like The Burnt Peanut and Tfue have encountered their fair share of players using aimbots. Tfue even just had 20 kits returned to him that were wrongfully taken by cheaters.

This new update means that cheaters can't just hop over to a different PC to continue their foul play: "restrictions of bans apply across the entire family group tied to that license." This is how Embark has laid out the restrictions:

If any account in a Steam Family receives a ban while using a shared ARC Raiders license, all accounts in that family will receive a restriction.
If the license owner receives a ban, they can no longer share ARC Raiders through Steam Family Sharing. Any player accessing the game through sharing will need to be removed from the Steam Family and purchase their own copy to continue playing.
Restrictions share the same duration and type across all accounts connected to the same family

The ban will still apply if you decide to kick the restricted party from the sharing plan or if the innocent parties get removed from the sharing group: "A removed family member is free to purchase their own copy of the game, but will need to wait for the existing game ban on their account to expire." There really is no getting around it.

Aside from fuelling tension around the family dinner table, this move from Embark is harsh but fair, as it attempts to crack down on cheaters further and make Arc Raiders a fair and fun game for all.

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.

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