Embark is still weighing the future of an ARC Raiders PvE mode after a test in which almost 50% of rounds were played on the PvE server, according to comments from executive producer Aleksander Grøndal reported by PC Gamer. The studio says it is now working through the results.

As PC Gamer explains, ARC Raiders is built as a PvPvE game, so players can be ambushed by an ARC or another player at any moment. A PvE mode removes one of those two threats. The concern, according to the report, was that “by removing one substantial component, you’re fiddling with the core emotional loop,” and Embark had earlier decided that doing so “was not the right thing to do.”

Söderlund now sees it differently. “We’ve now since tried it and realised that it’s fine,” he said. “Maybe people can choose what they like. But that was our fear all along.” He acknowledged that some players may have wondered why the team was not simply giving them what they asked for, and noted that the studio was “looking at the holistic picture” in order “to protect the creative integrity of what we have created.”

“We’re going through that data right now,” Grøndal explained. “What we did see, which was really interesting, is that there was a huge amount of interest in it, and there were a lot of players who tried it out, and almost 50% of the rounds that were played during the test were on the PvE server.”

The response was mixed, he added. Some players who had asked for PvE changed their minds because the mode “was lacking some of the values that the product had,” while others “absolutely loved it.” Looking ahead, Grøndal said: “Now it’s for us to figure out how we can cater to the specific needs of the players. But of course, not at the expense of the integrity of the experience itself, where you water it down and become a game of nothing.”