Arc Raiders Players Shock Developers with Unexpected Wallhacking Behavior: “We Must Keep Improving Game Integrity”

Enough gamers and a loot economy will inevitably lead to exploits. This became clear to the developers at Embark Studios while observing millions of players uncovering ways to access loot hotspots that were typically locked behind rare keycards—by, of all things, running into a corner with gusto. This was not something the studio anticipated, and it certainly wasn’t the only surprise they encountered.

In a conversation, art director Robert Sammelin shared, “There are quite a few things that have taken us by surprise.” Internal testing can only go so far, and the enthusiasm of the development team for loot doesn’t always match the insatiable appetite of players.

Sammelin noted, “Other things are sort of more or less known, because we have to continuously find ways to waterproof the experience and figure out how to mitigate anything that is either generally damaging exploits or just general bugs.”

He mentioned that while they’ve “tested and tried out a lot of things throughout the years,” seeing players utilize the physicality of the game in unexpected ways has been “genuinely surprising.” Most of these surprises have been positive, as players have creatively navigated and expanded on the corner cases that Embark identified during testing, but there have also been many unforeseen developments.

Recently, Embark addressed a slew of out-of-bounds glitches that gained traction after the usual wallhacks were thwarted—by filling those illegally accessed areas with flamethrowers, no less. It’s reminiscent of the ongoing battle between hackers and anti-cheat measures: close one loophole, and another emerges.

The developers had envisioned “boss fights in that same arena of Dark Souls, Monster Hunter,” but soon realized that the unpredictability of the Arc made that a challenge.