ARC Raiders has a hacker problem, according to streamers who actively seek out PvP at every turn

Have you ever run into a hacker in ARC Raiders? The biggest multiplayer game of the moment has an issue with cheating, apparently.

I personally haven’t found any cheating players. At least, I’ve never suspected anyone of being a hacker. But my social media timelines lately have been filled with players complaining about facing hackers in the extraction shooter, and the complaints have been getting more frequent of late.

An explanation for this may be that ARC Raiders uses a sort of “aggression-based matchmaking,” according to a recent GamesBeat interview with Embark CEO Patrick Söderlund, so the game will match you up with players based on how likely you are to engage with others.

I’m generally a pretty peaceful Raider (unless I am feeling quite devious), moving about the map trying to do my quests or pick up loot for whatever the current goal may be, so I doubt I’d be the kind of player who’d end up running into a cheater. But for those who sweat it up in trios and chase down “goop” with their friends, or other sweaty streamers, it appears that you’re more likely to run into others who are hacking or cheating.

Thankfully, ARC Raiders has a mechanic where you will sometimes be given back loot that you lost if you lost to someone who is found to be cheating in some way. Still, though, according to players like Ninja or Nadeshot, the hacking is out of control.

“My experience on ARC Raiders over the last week has been hell,” Nadeshot said in a recent lengthy post on X/Twitter. “Just to be clear, I love this game and think it’s already moved in to my personal top 10 all time. But the egregious amount of cheating genuinely might be worse than peak Call of Duty. I’m not trying to bring negativity to the game because I know this type of dialogue can spread on socials like a disease but I genuinely cannot get through an entire raid without a Steam profile that is level 0 or an account that has multiple game bans and VAC bans on record.”

Is this just streamers whining to whine, or is there a legit hacker problem in ARC Raiders? According to one commenter on the YouTube video below from Ninja, the content creators are not alone in these specific struggles.

“Thank god you’re making a video on this,” they said. “The game is literally unplayable if you’re half decent cause you get queued with hackers at least 1/3 games.”

Have you seen any cheaters in your ARC Raiders games? Let me know in the comments below, because I’m curious to see if any issue is as widespread as some are making it out to be, or if it’s just a loud minority on socials.

Update on Jan. 7 at 12:45pm CT: Shroud has echoed the sentiments of other streamers, saying the hacking situation is “really really bad” and opining he may take a break until something is fixed.

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The first major Fortnite update for the new year is coming soon in the form of v39.20, and there’s plenty of new content in store.

Earlier this year, Epic Games revealed the annual update roadmap for Fortnite. Hence, we have known the release date since, but this countdown will help you stay in touch with the upcoming update.

Fortnite v39.20 update countdown

The Fortnite v39.20 update goes live globally on Friday, Jan. 9, across all platforms. There’s little chance for a delay, and the following countdown will expire once the update goes live.

[hurrytimer id=”1162657″]

The countdown is based on the following timings.

• 1am PT
• 3am CT
• 4am ET
• 9am UTC
• 10am CET

This is the usual schedule that Epic has been following for all major updates in the last few months. However, it’s worth noting that the time when the servers go live will differ across regions. There will be a prior maintenance as well, when Fortnite and all its modes will be completely unavailable.

What to expect from Fortnite v39.20 update

The first update of the new year is themed around South Park, and here are a few highlights to look out for.

• South Park themed skins
• South Park Mini Battle Pass
• OG Chapter 1 Season 7 Super Styles
• Chapter 1 Battle Pass Super Styles
• Blitz mode and map update
• Reload update
• Reload loot pool update
• Plenty of new cosmetics
• New jam tracks
• New emotes, available in the shop and pass.
• New weapons
• Unvaulted weapons

It will be interesting to find out how the South Park-inspired cosmetics appear in-game. There will be skins based on all major characters, including Stan, Kyle, and Kenny. The pass will be great for those who are looking to add a bunch of cosmetics to their collection.

I am also expecting certain quests themed around the South Park collab, along with new NPCs that will be on the map. For now, all we have to do is wait for the update to go live on Friday.

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