Yes—reports from the experimental ARC Raiders PvE beta describe players sabotaging one another even with player-to-player damage disabled. Bull Rush shoves, body-blocking, loot-room ambushes and lure grenades that redirect ARC robots can still cost another raider a revive, extraction or an entire haul. These are reported incidents, not a measured abuse rate for every lobby.
What the PvE test changes—and what it leaves intact
Embark’s week-long public PvE beta began on October 13, 2026, and is scheduled to end on October 20. GamesRadar reports that direct player damage is disabled during the test. The game’s physical interactions and environmental systems remain active, however, so players can interfere without shooting one another.
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ARC Raiders is a third-person extraction shooter for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S. Raiders leave Speranza, gather resources while fighting ARC machines and other players, then try to extract. Dying removes collected equipment and materials except items stored in a protected safe pocket. Elevators, metro stations, air shafts and key-required raider hatches create predictable choke points, while locked rooms make keys and first access to a chest strategically valuable.
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How players are sabotaging teammates and rivals
Bull Rush shoves and body-blocking
Disabling friendly fire prevents direct weapon damage, not collision. A player can use Bull Rush to shove another raider away from an elevator, a doorway or a downed teammate. Body-blocking can also delay a revive or force someone into a worse position while ARC enemies are active. The practical result is indirect: the victim may miss the extraction window, lose a fight to the machines or die before a revive completes.
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Camping a locked loot room
Reports describe players waiting near locked loot rooms until another raider arrives with the required key. The camper can then contest the opening, grab or pressure the key-holder, and claim the valuable chest access without having found the key. Because a locked room concentrates rewards and traffic at one entrance, the tactic turns cooperation or chance encounters into a race for control.
Using lure grenades at an extraction point
Lure grenades can redirect ARC robots toward the area where another team is trying to leave. The tactic is especially dangerous when it draws a Shredder, according to Tech News Vision’s report. A team that has already survived a run can therefore be forced to fight—or flee from—the machines at the most predictable and least forgiving part of the map.
“Legit first game on and people were being just like this, vultures, and taking all loot from Arc before you could even get anything from it,” one player told Tech News Vision. The player also described lure grenades being thrown at the player and their wife, a downed teammate and being “body blocked and pushed around.”
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Why PvE is safer from gunfire but not from player interference
The PvE rules remove the fastest form of betrayal: another raider cannot simply shoot you. They do not remove competition over scarce rewards or the ability to manipulate space and AI. A shove at a choke point, a blocked doorway during a revive or a robot pulled into an elevator can produce the same economic consequence as a conventional ambush: lost equipment and materials on death.
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Extraction makes the distinction important. Players must reach and operate an exit after carrying their haul through a map designed around enemy encounters. Elevators, stations, shafts and hatches are easy places to predict, so a hostile player does not need to win a direct firefight to make the route fail. The player can wait, interfere physically or trigger an ARC response at the moment the target has the fewest alternatives.
Standard PvPvE compared with the October PvE beta
| Aspect | Standard PvPvE | October 2026 PvE beta |
|---|---|---|
| Direct player damage | Player combat is part of the extraction threat. | Disabled for the test. |
| Physical interaction | Players can use movement and collisions during encounters. | Bull Rush shoves and blocking remain possible. |
| Loot access | Players can fight over keys, rooms and chests. | Keys and locked-room access remain contestable; reports describe campers waiting for key-holders. |
| ARC exposure | Machines are an enemy alongside other raiders. | Machines can still be fought or redirected; lure grenades may pull them toward rivals. |
| Extraction risk | Teams face both player attacks and ARC threats at exits. | Gunfire from players is removed, but shoves, blocks and AI lures can endanger an extraction. |
| Loot quantity or tuning | Baseline tuning is not quantified in the cited coverage. | Some players perceived less loot, but no controlled loot-rate measurement is established. |
| Social atmosphere | Direct PvP creates familiar high tension. | Responses are divided: some players find the lower-pressure co-op loop enjoyable, while others call it bland, hollow or boring without PvP tension. |
Is this widespread?
The available reports establish that these behaviors occurred, not how often they occur across the player base. They do not show that every PvE lobby contains a griefer, nor do they provide a measured share of matches affected. The incidents surfaced during a limited public test, so behavior and player expectations may change before or after the October 20 end date.
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The beta also arrived during a period when GamesRadar reported 185,000 concurrent Steam players, described as a seven-month high around the surrounding update cycle. A larger population can make unusual encounters more visible, but that figure is not a griefing statistic.
Why player reactions are split
Removing lethal PvP lowers the pressure for players who want a cooperative resource run. Others argue that the game’s progression and endgame do not provide enough tension when rival gunfights disappear. GamesRadar quoted streamer Loochy saying, “The reality is Arc Raiders doesn’t have a strong enough endgame to support a meaningful PvE experience,” and that it “just feels hollow.”
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The griefing reports show the trade-off from another angle: even a no-friendly-fire mode can preserve adversarial play through loot denial, movement control and enemy manipulation. Players seeking a completely consequence-free co-op mode will still encounter competition at the places where the game concentrates keys, chests and exits.
What to do if another raider targets your run
- Assume choke points are contestable. Treat a locked-room entrance and an extraction elevator as potential conflict areas even when weapons cannot damage you.
- Keep an escape route. Do not commit every teammate to a single doorway or revive position while ARC enemies are nearby.
- Watch for lure use. If a player throws a lure grenade near an exit, prepare for redirected machines rather than assuming the area is clear.
- Protect the key-holder. Approach locked rooms with the team positioned to prevent a shove or block from isolating the player carrying access.
- Leave early when the route collapses. A delayed extraction can cost the entire haul; surviving with fewer materials is better than waiting in a trapped choke point.
The bottom line on ARC Raiders PvE griefing
The October test is safer from direct player bullets, not from player-versus-player influence. Reports document Bull Rush shoves, body-blocked revives, locked-room camping and lure grenades that bring ARC robots to extraction zones. Whether that makes PvE feel cooperative or hollow depends on how much indirect competition you are willing to accept—and the cited coverage does not establish how common the behavior is.
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