After experimenting with a PvE mode, Arc Raiders studio Embark says it’s

Arc Raiders studio Embark says it’s weighing up its options following the conclusion of a limited-time PvE (player vs environment) event.

Earlier this month Embark tested a PvE toggle for the game, making it available for a week before removing it again.

During this time, players who activated the toggle were able to change the game from the usual PvPvE (player vs player vs environment) to a PvE one where players were incapable of hurting each other and instead worked together to defeat in-game Arc enemies.

Following the conclusion of the test, Embark thanked players for taking part in more than 30 million rounds of PvE, giving it “a huge amount of information to analyze” and consider its next steps.

When Arc Raiders was initially in development, the game started live as a PvE co-op looter before Embark decided the “larger recipe for the game wasn’t there” and changed to a PvPvE extraction shooter instead.

Now in an interview with MP1st, executive producer Aleksander Grøndal said that while the studio was originally not keen on trying a PvE mode because of its previous decision, the new data gained will now be studied to see whether to bring it back.

“Now that we’ve concluded the PvE matchmaking toggle test, we’re doing a deep dive into what that means,” Grøndal told the publication. “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.”

Asked whether tuning the PvPvE mode had led to Embark accidentally finding a compelling PvE hook, or whether the test was simply an indication that players started wanting a PvE mode over time, Grøndal replied: “That’s hard to say, but perhaps a bit of both?

“I think the game has an appeal in its nature and that a certain player type wants to play the game without the stress, you know? Perhaps this is more a signal that the game could support more player types, and we need to figure out how to support that. The challenge, of course, is how we do that without undermining the premise of the game itself.”

If Embark does actually being back a PvE mode permanently, it will then have to consider how to service two separate modes as part of the game’s live service content pipeline.

“That is exactly what we need to consider now, but before we get to the content discussion, we need to understand what the need is here,” Grøndal explained.

“Is it more a chill side mode you can play between more intense PvPvE rounds? Is it more a challenge mode that you can test your skills against AI? Or perhaps it’s a full experience with PvE only?

“These are some of the questions we need to dig into before we decide how to go forward. All options will have different implications on how we build future game updates.”

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