Embark is bringing forth a monumental effort ahead of Arc Raiders' anticipated major Frozen Trail update scheduled for next week . The devs have teased a bunch of new features like a temporary PvE mode, loot hotspots that change places, and a chance to build a base Topside, among a huge bevy of new items and arcs. And while I've been suitably hyped for all of this the issue of rampant cheating has still been in the forefront of my mind, Embark has now addressed this too.
"Cheating undermines what makes Arc Raiders challenging and fun, and disrupts the experience for everyone playing fairly," executive producer, Aleksander Grøndal says in a blog post. "At Embark, we take it incredibly seriously, and spend a lot of time and money in the ongoing fight against unfair play.
"The market for cheats is constantly evolving. Cheat makers profit from selling to players, often bundling malware with their software, and every time we improve our defenses, they adapt and find new ways around them. We adapt too. Our growing anti-cheat team is continually working to detect and block new cheats, close the pathways they exploit, and add obstacles that make cheating harder and less worthwhile. It's work we're committed to for as long as our games are live."
Permanent bans are now standard for all known cheat programs.
Aleksander Grøndal, executive producer
But Embark has shared its journey of combatting cheating in Arc Raiders for a long, long time now. Periodically peeping its head above the parapet to let players know that the anticheat does, in fact, exist and it's doing stuff. This hasn't, however, made a dent so far and certainly has fallen short of quelling the incessant rage of players. Grøndal admits that "simply saying we’re working on it isn’t enough", so he's trying something different this time around:
"In recent months, we’ve improved our ability to identify and sanction accounts that use cheat software, as well as accounts involved in economy exploits. We’ve also continued working to make it harder for repeat offenders to simply create a new account and return to the game.
"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."
Accounts linked to those which have been banned for cheating will also now receive a permanent ban and Embark is set on more freely using hardware bans when "we have enough evidence that a single machine is being used for cheating".
Long term, Embark is growing its in-house cheat detection models which are "built around machine-learning" and other data. Alongside its Denuvo anticheat and Anybrain, Embark is also preparing to include Elytra, an anticheat which is being used at a "small scale" in The Finals but apparently shows "promise".
I'm not prepared to get too excited for any immediate change as we'll actually have to see what difference, if any, this makes to Arc Raiders rampant cheating. But it's certainly a very good sign that Embark is willing to take drastic measures to revamp the game, especially ahead of Frozen Trail.
"Video game cheating is a multi-billion dollar industry, and it will never fully go away," Grøndal adds. "What we can do is make cheating as difficult, costly, and short-lived as possible.
"We built Arc Raiders with love and dedication to the craft, and seeing it exploited by cheaters makes us as angry as it makes you. We are making progress, and we’re continuing to work to identify cheating more effectively, act on it more quickly, make it harder for repeat offenders to return, and improve the experience for Raiders who are playing fairly."
