Arc Raiders is having its best month in a long time. Embark Studios’ extraction shooter launched in late October 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and its Frozen Trail update, version 2.0, arrived on October 8, 2026. A free weekend on PS5, Xbox and PC ran alongside it from October 8 to 12, the PC player count hit its highest level in six months, and analytics firm Alinea estimated a peak of around 1.7 million daily players across all platforms on October 14. For PlayStation players, that surge brings an old question back: should you keep crossplay with PC switched on?
What Frozen Trail added
Version 2.0 is the biggest update since launch. It adds a new map, Pendola Pass, with a Dynamic Loot Zone system that changes the value of some areas between raids, plus new map conditions including Frigate and Redirection. Three new ARC machines arrive (the Bully, Skulker and Hydra), along with two new weapons, the Bantam revolver and Stiletto rifle, a Grappling Hook for traversal and a Tether Launcher for trapping enemies.
The update also adds the Outpost, a base you unlock and expand with modules, a reworked Skill Tree and a Reward Pass that replaces Raider Decks.
The PvE test and update 2.2.0
Embark followed Frozen Trail with a PvE-only test from October 13 to 20. It ended with update 2.2.0, and the studio says players completed more than 30 million rounds during the test. Embark described the response as “polarizing” and expects to announce a decision in November. Design director Virgil Watkins-Grøndal has said that separate PvE and PvP modes are “quite possibly” where the game goes, but nothing has been confirmed.
Update 2.2.0 also brought quality-of-life changes, including a larger stash with 328 slots. That matters more than it sounds, because a full stash can stop some of the game’s protections from working, as explained below.
How crossplay works on PS5
Crossplay is on by default. With it enabled, PS5, Xbox and PC players share one matchmaking pool, which is why queues usually fill in seconds. You can switch it off in Settings, under Gameplay and then Cross-play. That limits you to other PS5 players. There is no console-only option that groups PS5 and Xbox together while leaving out PC, queues can take several minutes, and a party member’s settings can override yours. You also cannot change the setting while you are already queuing.
The case for turning it off
Cheating comes from PC
The main reason PS5 players turn crossplay off is cheating. Cheat software runs on PC, not on consoles, so a PS5-only lobby removes most of the risk of meeting someone with an aimbot or wallhack. After Frozen Trail and the free weekend, there are more PC players in the shared pool than at any point in months, and paid Arc Raiders cheats for the PC version, offering aimbots and ESP overlays that show enemies through walls, are openly sold online. In an extraction shooter, where one death can cost an entire raid’s worth of loot, a single cheater can ruin an evening.
Console lobbies are not perfectly clean, though. Adapters such as the Cronus Zen can add recoil control on a controller, and they are much harder for any anti-cheat to detect. Turning off crossplay lowers the risk; it does not remove it.
Input fairness
Even without cheating, many players feel that mouse-and-keyboard players have an aiming edge at longer range, while controller aim assist helps up close. Some controller players simply prefer lobbies where everyone uses the same input.
The case for leaving it on
Faster queues and fuller lobbies
Arc Raiders is built around busy maps where you can run into other Raiders, fight, or team up with strangers. Turning crossplay off shrinks the pool considerably, especially at quieter hours or for less popular map conditions, and can mean long waits or failed matches.
Embark’s anti-cheat has improved
Embark has stepped up enforcement over the past year. The game uses Easy Anti-Cheat, and Denuvo Anti-Cheat began rolling out on May 19, 2026, reaching all players by July. Embark also uses an AI-based behavior system called Anybrain to flag suspicious play. Its Fair Play Compensation system automatically returns the loot you were carrying if you are knocked out by a player later banned for cheating. You do not need to file a report for it to work, but you do need free space in your stash.
Reports still matter, because they go into a review queue rather than producing instant bans. On PS5, you can report a player from the Social menu: open Recent, select the player, then choose Report. Clear evidence, such as a recorded clip, helps.
Our recommendation
If you play solo, are carrying high-value loot, or have had a bad run of suspicious deaths, turning crossplay off is a reasonable trade for slightly longer queues. If you play in a squad or at off-peak hours, leaving it on is usually better, because fuller lobbies are what make Arc Raiders feel alive. Either way, report anything suspicious, keep your stash organized so Fair Play Compensation has room to work, and watch for November’s PvE decision, which could give PlayStation players a cheat-free option without giving up crossplay entirely.
What comes next
Frozen Trail has given Arc Raiders a second wind almost a year after launch. The next big questions are whether Embark commits to a permanent PvE mode and how its anti-cheat holds up as the player base grows. For PS5 players, the crossplay toggle remains the simplest tool for deciding who you share a raid with.