The PvE vs. PvP debate in the ARC Raiders space has been running since the game came out, and it’s a never-ending thing. It’ll likely continue until Embark Studios makes a definitive step towards facilitating a split, offering something to please all kinds of players.
In a recent interview, the CEO of Embark Studios, Patrick Soderlund, and the executive producer of ARC Raiders, Aleksander Grøndal, spoke at length about the grand discourse. They admitted that ARC Raiders started life as one thing, a PvPvE-based extraction title, but now, things need to change.
Did Embark Just Confirm Permanent PvE?
Everyone is waiting to hear the results of the recent PvE-based test that took place in ARC Raiders following the rollout of the Frozen Trail update. It proved to be a resounding success, and 30 million PvE matches were played in a single week. That left Embark Studios wondering where to go next.
But a recent interview between The Game Business, Aleksander Grøndal, and Patrick Soderland might have already confirmed where things go from here.
When talking about the potential surfacing of PvE-focused content, CEO Patrick Soderlund explained:
We now have a large enough audience that we need to listen and cater for both camps, so to say. We can’t ignore the PvE camp completely and just say, ‘Well, this is not the game that we built.’ That would be unwise.
What we’re trying to do is to obviously stay true to the game that we built … But we also need to respect that there are people that want a slightly different ARC Raiders than the others.
Grøndal spoke similarly:
It used to be a PvE game. That’s what it started as and then we reset the game and we created the PvPvE game that we have today. And one of the things that was always on the back of our mind is how would a PvE versio nof this game really look?
Soderland admitted, ‘We could just frankly add PvE. It’s not a difficult thing for us to do.’
The pair believe that the PvP element adds the necessary tension to make ARC Raiders feel like ARC Raiders, but it doesn’t end there. The team is leaning heavily in favor of adding PvE. It turns out that 50% of all matches played during that test week were PvE-based:
We’ve now since tried it (PvE) and realized that it’s fine. Why not have it? Maybe people can choose what they like.
But that was our fear all along. People may have been wondering why the hell aren’t they just doing what some players were looking for? We were looking at the holistic picture, which we have to do.
While Embark Studios has yet to officially confirm where things go now, this is a very positive sign for the PvE crowd, and it might mean that a reveal is on the horizon.
Do you want permanent PvE in ARC Raiders? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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