If you’ve been playing Arc Raiders lately and spotted mountains of Familiar Ducks at extraction points or players with suspiciously unlimited ammo — you’re not imagining things. Embark Studios has had a rough few weeks dealing with rampant exploits, and now a major ban wave is officially underway. Here’s everything you need to know before you accidentally end up on the wrong side of it.
Table of Contents
What Triggered the Arc Raiders Ban Wave?
It all started with a game-breaking item duplication glitch that let players duplicate throwable items — grenades, ziplines, Snitch Scanners, and even the beloved Familiar Ducks from the Bird City event. Some players extracted with over 2.8 million Raider Coins worth of duped loot. The exploit was so widespread that even popular streamers showcased it live to hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Embark Studios confirmed that their investigation into the infamous item duplication exploit was complete on February 17, 2026, acknowledging that while the exploit stemmed from a design flaw on their part, the way it was used had a real impact on the game’s economy.
A hotfix was deployed rapidly — but the ban wave followed close behind.
What Gets You Banned in Arc Raiders?
| Offense | Severity | Punishment |
|---|---|---|
| Light exploit abuse (limited use) | Low | Warning |
| Moderate duplication / glitch abuse | Medium | Temporary suspension |
| Heavy / repeated exploit abuse | High | Permanent ban |
| Cheating (aimbot, wallhack, etc.) | High | Permanent or hardware ban |
| Steam Family Sharing abuse to evade bans | High | Ban across all shared accounts |
Embark’s enforcement policy, updated February 9, 2026, lists “exploiting bugs or glitches for unfair advantage” as a bannable offense, with penalties ranging from temporary suspensions to permanent bans and hardware bans that cannot be appealed.
Critically, hardware bans are final and non-appealable — and bans can extend across all Embark-published titles, including The Finals.
The Three-Strike System
Embark adopted a three-strike system in January 2026 that escalates to a permanent ban on the third offense. The community, however, remains divided — many feel even the initial punishments are too lenient, with Reddit users calling it “a slap on the wrist.”
CEO Patrick Söderlund confirmed the studio has been “pretty aggressive,” having banned tens of thousands of players, while acknowledging that cheating in successful multiplayer games is an ongoing cat-and-mouse battle.
What About Steam Family Sharing?
Embark has now restricted Steam Family Sharing to close a loophole where banned players simply switched to shared accounts to re-enter the game. Enforcement actions may affect all accounts using a shared license.
Learn more about how anti-cheat systems work in online gaming on Wikipedia’s page on Cheating in Online Games.
For more Arc Raiders updates and gaming news, head to TechnoSports — and explore our latest gaming coverage for patch notes, guides and more.
FAQs
Q: Will duping items in Arc Raiders get me permanently banned?
Yes — severe or repeated exploitation of duplication glitches can result in a permanent ban or even a hardware-level ban that cannot be appealed, under Embark’s official enforcement policy.
Q: Does the Arc Raiders ban wave affect Steam Family Sharing accounts?
Absolutely — Embark has restricted Family Sharing specifically to prevent ban evasion, meaning enforcement actions can apply across all accounts using the same shared license.
