I dropped into an ARC Raiders extract and three humans turned the objective into a firefight. The Rust Belt was a pressure cooker. You felt the twinge of wanting an option that lets you shoot monsters, not neighbors.
I want to walk you through what the developers are testing, why a weeklong PvE-only toggle matters, and what it probably means for the game’s next few months. Read this as a short field report from someone who spends too much time in lobbies and wants better matchmaking for quiet runs.
I watched a pick-up group bail when another team showed up — The weeklong test and what it actually changes
The developers are running a PvE-only matchmaking toggle from Oct. 13 to Oct. 20. For seven days you can pick between the standard PvPvE extraction mode or a mode that removes player-versus-player pressure and focuses on co-op objectives, ARC threats, quests, and loot.
This is not a permanent patch yet; it’s a narrow experiment designed to see whether players prefer to hunt NPCs in squads without worrying about other Raiders. If you’ve avoided ARC Raiders because of toxic PvP or constant crossfire, this is the play to try.
Is ARC Raiders adding a PvE-only option?
Yes — but the studio is starting slow. The toggle won’t replace the main mode; it’s a temporary beta to collect behavior data and see if dedicated PvE matchmaking forms a stable player pool. Your feedback during the test will push them toward a longer-term plan or send them back to the drawing board.
I saw the player breakdown slide across graphs — Who showed up and why the numbers matter
In a developer update the team shared their split: 37 percent friendly co-op, 34 percent pure PvP, and 27 percent mixed. Those numbers tell a story you already feel in matchmaking — a large cohort wants to cooperate rather than compete.
That growing co-op slice explains the toggle: it’s an attempt to support a community habit that formed organically after launch. If you’ve been in a squad that wants a quiet run, you now have a test window to prove that such players can be matched cleanly in volume.
When is the PvE test running and how long will it last?
The PvE toggle beta runs Oct. 13–20. Think of it as a weeklong data sprint; the studio will watch match metrics, retention, and in-game economies before deciding next steps.
I spent an evening on Marathon’s PvE toggle — How extraction shooters are reacting
Other extraction shooters like Marathon are introducing PvE options too, which means ARC Raiders isn’t alone in this pivot. The broader genre is experimenting with player choice between high-tension PvPvE and calmer PvE loops.
The Frozen Trail update lands just before the test and adds a new map, three new ARC enemy types, new weapons, and more. That timing feels intentional: new content brings people back, and a PvE toggle gives them an alternate way to sample it without PvP stress.
The PvE toggle is a lifeboat for worn-out squads — a controlled environment where teams can work objectives without worrying about other players stealing the moment.
If you want to take part, boot the game during the test window and choose the PvE option at matchmaking. Keep your eyes on Steam discussions, subreddit threads, and the studio’s patch notes for bug reports and adjustments; your session behavior is the feedback loop they’ll use.
Whether this becomes a permanent feature will depend on how many players opt into PvE and whether that pool stays healthy without long queue times. If the test shows stable co-op demand, expect future tweaks to matchmaking, balance, and rewards to favor quieter runs.
Are you going to spend the week farming ARC in peace or stick with the PvPvE chaos and see who blinks first?