Arc Raiders received 'substantial negative PvP sentiment' during testing, causing the devs to second-guess its big pivot before realising it was really frustration with weapons and matchmaking

After Embark Studios’ “playtest battles” and slew of competing plans caused it to pivot Arc Raiders away from its PvE boss-killing roots, it decided to add PvP to spice things up. While the rest isn’t quite history (development was still far from simple), it would be a defining factor in how it became the PvPvE extraction shooter it is today.

In a GDC talk, Arc Raiders production director Caio Braga revealed that it almost walked this decision back. Once Embark had moved away from its scattershot ideas for a PvE boss rush, it conducted a bunch of “validation” tests, which were effectively playtest surveys during its development, to gauge its progress.