An Arc Raiders player who’s ‘sick of hearing about PvE’ has come up with a ‘Rival Gangs’ PvP mode, and it sounds sick
Arc Raiders, Embark Studios’ PvE-focused extraction shooter, has sparked ongoing debate within its player community about the balance between cooperative gameplay and competitive multiplayer. Since launch, players have been divided between those who prefer banding together to fight AI arcs and those seeking player-versus-player combat.
In response to this divide, a player frustrated with the emphasis on PvE has designed a new competitive mode concept called “Rival Gangs,” which aims to deliver PvP-centric gameplay. The fan-created proposal represents an attempt to address the segment of the playerbase seeking more traditional competitive shooter experiences.
Embark Studios has positioned Arc Raiders as a more accessible, PvE-friendly extraction shooter, with CEO Patrick Söderlund previously stating the game is not fundamentally designed around “shooting other players.” The studio acknowledged being surprised by the passionate PvE community that emerged. The emergence of player-designed PvP modes highlights the ongoing creative tension in live-service games, where community preferences may diverge from developers’ original vision and design philosophy.