ARC Raiders introduces permanent bans with no warnings or second chances

Embark Studios has strengthened its anti-cheat policy for ARC Raiders, making permanent bans the standard punishment for accounts caught using known cheat programs. The studio says first-time cheaters will no longer receive warnings or temporary suspensions before losing access to the game.

Executive producer Aleksander Grøndal detailed the change on September 30 ahead of the Frozen Trail update arriving October 8. Embark acknowledged that it had previously been too cautious about permanently banning first-time offenders and said its detection systems have improved enough to take a stricter approach.

Embark says any account confirmed to be using cheats will now receive a permanent ban under its standard policy. Grøndal summarized the new approach as "No warnings, no second chances," marking a shift from earlier enforcement that could give some offenders temporary suspensions.

The studio has also tightened restrictions around linked accounts and individual game licenses. If an account has previously been associated with a banned copy of ARC Raiders, Embark says that account can also receive a permanent ban.

That approach is designed to make it harder for repeat offenders to create another account and immediately return. Embark says it has improved its ability to identify accounts using cheat software as well as those involved in economy exploits.

The tougher policy does not mean every suspicious action will trigger an instant ban. Embark says its systems monitor behavior across multiple instances before acting because banning players as soon as something appears unusual could punish legitimate users incorrectly.

Once the studio has enough evidence that cheating occurred, the account receives a permanent ban. Embark also keeps human involvement in its appeals process rather than leaving sanctions entirely to automated detection.

The studio separately reviews videos and streams that provide clear evidence of cheating. That means players seen cheating publicly may be investigated even when a sanction is not immediately visible.

Embark is expanding its use of hardware bans alongside account-level punishment. When it has enough evidence that one machine is being used for cheating, the studio can block ARC Raiders from running on that hardware.

The threshold for applying those bans has recently been lowered, and Embark is developing another system intended to increase the number of machines it can target. The studio hopes to introduce that improvement later in 2026, although it acknowledges that cheat developers can still find ways around hardware restrictions.

ARC Raiders already uses kernel-level Denuvo Anti-Cheat protection alongside Anybrain and Embark's own machine-learning and data-based detection models. Denuvo was rolled out to the full player base in June after initially being tested with a smaller group.

Embark is also considering Elytra, another anti-cheat system currently undergoing limited testing in THE FINALS. Early results have been promising enough that the studio wants to eventually test the technology in ARC Raiders as well.

The new permanent-ban policy is already in effect rather than being tied to the October 8 Frozen Trail update. Embark says its anti-cheat work will continue as detection improves and cheat developers change how their software operates.