ARC Raiders Adds Solo Vs Squads Mode, Suffers DDoS Attacks
- Headwinds update live, bringing Solo vs Squads, new quests, QoL fixes, extreme weather, and higher-risk loot added
- Embark Studios confirms ongoing DDoS attacks; fixes and mitigations are in progress
- ARC Raiders passes 12M players and continues winning awards and attention
ARC Raiders received a 1.13.0 update on Jan. 27, bringing with it an anticipated PvP-focused mode (Solo vs Squads), bird nests filled with treasure (and increased enemy activity), and a Trophy Display that encourages hunting down deadly ARCs for increasing rewards. Embark Studios has also noted that it’s been suffering DDoS attacks today (Jan. 28) with this under active investigation.
The latest game patch also comes with expected Quality of Life tweaks, general fixes, and seven new quests. Embark Studios call this update “Headwinds” and it’s rolling out on all major platforms now, alongside new extreme weather conditions.
“The ice has melted. You have survived one of the most punishing winters in recorded Rust Belt history. Others weren’t so lucky,” Embark said in an accompanying news post. “Bodies that survived begin to thaw, revealing a hardened, resolute spirit. The Cold Snap either kills you, or it makes you stronger, and topside is experiencing more and more Raiders going against the odds for ever greater glory and rewards.”
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Award Raiders
Embark Studios has been on a roll since ARC Raiders’ launch in October last year. Early player numbers reached over 264,000 within just a few hours, accompanied by thousands of positive player reviews. The studio then saw their game win the Best Multiplayer title in December’s Game Awards, followed by Most Innovative Gameplay Award in the Steam Awards at the start of January. Also as of earlier this month, Embark Studios announced that ARC Raiders had reached over 12 million players.
ARC Raiders has received steady updates since launch, and remains a popular topic of conversation thanks to high-stakes action that sees players either try and go it alone or team up, facing off against other people and evil robots. The Headwinds update embraces the PvP aspect by letting Level 40 players have the option to go it alone against teams, for +20% bonus XP at the end of the round, no matter if they successfully extract or suffer defeat.
Headwinds also fills the Buried City map with birds, who have all been greedily amazing riches and sticking them in their nests. Raiders daring to venture higher for trinkets are warned that the birds have also attracted the attention of flying ARCs, alongside more players in proximity.
DDoS Raiders
Both ARC Raiders and Embark’s other online title, The Finals, have been experiencing recent server issues. The studio announced on its official Discord channel today that it discovered these to be “extensive, co-ordinated DDoS attacks.”
“The strike team has been working hard on mitigations and solutions to fix the problem, and we are making good progress – but at this point in time the attacks are still ongoing,” the studio added.
A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack originates from more than one source, and seeks to disrupt anything from site traffic to server use. Thankfully, personal info is safe as this kind of attack doesn’t target data, so ARC Raiders needn’t worry about privacy issues.
Why this is happening to Embark Studios is currently unknown, with a recent DDoS attack on Steam and Riot Games’ services happening in October 2025 also for unknown reasons. That was suspected to be the work of Aisuru, a botnet for hire.
These are often showcased to potential buyers by being used to cause massive disruption, which in turn could then be used by someone to specifically target a rival company. Say, for example, someone’s trying to compete with a streaming service: a botnet could be used to overwhelm that service so people come to the first company instead, since its service works as advertised.
Although Embark Studios is hard at work trying to figure this out, it’s not ignoring legitimate issues with the game and the new Headwinds update. “Additionally, the team is also working on a hotfix which will solve some of the issues and unintended changes introduced in yesterday’s update, we hope to have that available later today.”
