Notes on The Matchmaking System

You’ve probably seen plenty of discussion about matchmaking in ARC Raiders. We’ve been reading it too – and we want to bring some clarity to what the system is trying to do, what it does in practice, and what it doesn’t do.

In the Rust Belt, the kind of Raider you become should be up to you.

Topside works because it’s unpredictable. You can never be sure if you can trust the people you meet, or how dangerous they might be. That freedom – and the uncertainty it creates – is what drives the tension, the encounters, and the choices that make every run feel like its own story.

At the same time, we don’t want dedicated PvP players to consistently steamroll Raiders who aren’t as interested in PvP, or who are still finding their footing. So our matchmaking is built around two goals:

• Fairness: We do our best to match players who have a similar likelihood of succeeding in the round. One simple example: we prioritize matching equal squad sizes where possible.
• Enjoyment: We do our best to match players who are likely to have fun together. In practice, we’ve found that matching players based on playstyle drives enjoyment and reduces friction.

And like any matchmaking system, we pursue those goals while respecting real constraints, such as matchmaking time and latency.

We take multiple factors into account when forming a lobby. One of the strongest is your playstyle across previous rounds, especially as it relates to how you engage with other Raiders.

It’s important to understand that playstyles aren’t binary. This isn’t “friendly” vs. “shoot on sight.” It’s a continuous scale. 

• Some Raiders are almost always cooperative.
• Some Raiders are highly engaged in PvP.
• Most Raiders fall somewhere in between – maybe friendly until threatened, maybe opportunistic, maybe cautious, maybe unpredictable on a bad day.

Our system tries to place you with players who sit closer to you on that scale, while still keeping Topside from becoming completely predictable.

What it does

There are two simple rules to how playstyle-based matchmaking behaves:

1. Similarity is more likely, not guaranteed. You have a higher chance of being matched with Raiders whose past playstyle is similar to yours – and a lower chance of being matched with Raiders whose playstyle is very different. But there is no hard guarantee.
2. Your behavior shapes your future lobbies – gradually. If you change how you play, the kinds of Raiders you tend to meet will gradually shift over time. Your behavior influences what’s most likely – but never locks you into a single experience. 

This is why we see such a wide range of interactions Topside: Raiders forming impromptu musical bands and others vibing along; strangers lending a hand in a tough moment while scavengers thrive on remains; betrayals when you least expect them and justice when you need it most; firefights that start on sight – and negotiations that end with everyone walking away.

Some outcomes are rarer than others – but they’re all part of what makes each round a unique adventure. This isn’t a full-blown attempt to segregate playstyles. Topside wouldn’t be Topside if it didn’t throw you a curveball every now and again. We want you to have fun – but danger always lurks, and you will still meet Raiders who surprise you.

We want to keep some level of mystery in matchmaking, because unpredictability is part of the experience – but we can clear up a few common myths:

• There are not only two kinds of lobbies – friendly and aggressive.
  It’s a scale, not two buckets. Most players land somewhere between the extremes, and matchmaking is more likely to pair you with Raiders whose playstyle is similar to yours on that scale – without guaranteeing a specific outcome every round.
• One shot or kill does not immediately put you in “PvP-focused” lobbies.
  Matchmaking isn’t meant to overreact to single moments – it looks at patterns over time, and changes tend to be gradual rather than instant.
• There are no “PvE-only” lobbies/servers where other Raiders will never attack you.
  Topside always carries risk. You may trend toward meeting Raiders with similar preferences, but there’s no guarantee you’ll never be attacked by another Raider.
• Your end-of-round feedback does not affect matchmaking.
  The survey is valuable for us when we look at trends and make design decisions, but it isn’t used as a “next lobby” lever.
• Your loadout does not affect matchmaking.
  Matchmaking isn’t driven by your kit, and we don’t scale lobby difficulty based on how much your loadout costs.
• Patches and updates don’t reset your matchmaking profile.
  Your playstyle history carries over across patches. You may notice slightly rougher matches in the first few minutes after an update – that’s just because the pool is small while players are still updating – but it recovers quickly as more Raiders come online.
• Looting knocked-out players doesn’t affect your matchmaking.
  Matchmaking looks at how you engage with other Raiders, not what you do with their gear afterward.
• We don’t matchmake based only on the squad leader.
  Each member influences the squad profile – the leader has no special weight compared to their squadmates.
• Turning crossplay on or off does not impact the level of cooperation / PvP in the round.
  Changing crossplay changes who’s in the matchmaking pool (and thanks to that, the matchmaking time), but it doesn’t guarantee the tone of your encounters.

Based on community feedback, we’ve identified two major shortcomings in how we used to estimate playstyle – and both are getting addressed:

1. Defending yourself is no longer treated the same as starting a fight. Previously, your playstyle didn’t capture whether you started a PvP encounter or merely defended yourself. This meant cautious Raiders could be treated as more PvP-focused than they actually are. Now, the two are treated differently.

2. Low-activity rounds carry less weight in your playstyle history. Rounds with little Topside interaction – like spawning and surrendering – used to impact player’s estimated playstyle more than expected. Reducing their weight helps the system reflect how you genuinely play when you’re out there making choices.

These are live now, and we’ll keep tuning them as we see how they play out.

To sum it up: we’re committed to making Topside more fair, more fun, and more rewarding – without sanding off the edges that make ARC Raiders what it is.

Play how you want to play. Over time, your behavior helps shape the kinds of Raiders you’re most likely to encounter. But there will always be room for the unexpected.

See you Topside,
The ARC Raiders Team

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