Arc Raiders squeezes cheaters a little harder, blocking Steam Family Sharing workarounds "to prevent abuse of shared licenses" and stop players evading bans

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2. Third Person Shooters
3. Arc Raiders

Arc Raiders squeezes cheaters a little harder, blocking Steam Family Sharing workarounds "to prevent abuse of shared licenses" and stop players evading bans News By Anthony McGlynn published 4 February 2026

The banhammer now has a wider radius

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(Image credit: Embark)

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Embark Studios has been working to curb the amount of cheating in Arc Raiders, and the latest measure on Steam will definitely make some of their lives harder. There are now further limitations on how the extraction shooter can be shared across accounts, preventing some nefarious loopholes.

Steam Family Sharing - Valve's system allowing up to six family members access to the same library - now comes with some important caveats on Arc Raiders. "If any account in a Steam Family receives a ban while using a shared Arc Raiders license, all accounts in that family will receive a restriction," is the first, and most important rule.

An FAQ clarifies that once a single account in the group is banned from entering the game, all accounts in the group are affected. Cheaters have been able to circumvent bans by using burners to do exploits and absorb punishments, then reverting to a main account they keep clean, and this makes that much riskier, if not flat out impossible.

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• Arc Raiders GOTY advocate and former FPS pro Shroud threatens to quit the game due to cheaters
• Arc Raiders is becoming a "waste of time" thanks to cheaters, says Shroud, who's considering a break until it's fixed
• Arc Raiders cheating and "out of map" exploits acknowledged by Embark: "We are implementing significant changes"

Headwinds - Against the Odds | ARC Raiders - YouTube Watch On

As well as this, if any account in the family network gets temporarily banned, they can't use the family function whatsoever on Arc Raiders forever. "Any player accessing the game through sharing will need to be removed from the Steam Family and purchase their own copy to continue playing," states the new ruleset.

Embark adds this is to make sure everyone gets a fair experience in Arc Raiders, something that hasn't been happening over the last couple of months. "These rules are in place to prevent abuse of shared licenses and to ensure all Raiders play by the same standards, whether they own the game or access it through Family Sharing," the studio says.

Another wrinkle worth noting is that bans still stand even if you get rid of the perpetrating account from your family circle. There's not much wiggle room here, and if you're using this feature, it's a good time to make sure nobody's about to get the whole group taken off the game for the sake of cutting some corners.

After campaigning for Arc Raiders to win GOTY at The Game Awards, former FPS pro Shroud is taking a break because he's "tired of the cheaters," plus "once you have everything it loses a little bit of its fun."

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. CATEGORIES PC Gaming PS5 Xbox Series X Platforms PlayStation Xbox Anthony McGlynnSocial Links NavigationContributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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Logout Read more Arc Raiders GOTY advocate and former FPS pro Shroud threatens to quit the game due to cheaters    Arc Raiders is becoming a "waste of time" thanks to cheaters, says Shroud, who's considering a break until it's fixed    Arc Raiders cheating and "out of map" exploits acknowledged by Embark: "We are implementing significant changes"    Arc Raiders players say there's "cheating like crazy," former FPS pro says it "might be worse than peak Call of Duty"    Arc Raiders hotfix stops players from using a command that was "never meant to be player facing"    After pushing for Arc Raiders to win GOTY, former FPS pro Shroud is taking a break because he's "tired of the cheaters"    Latest in Third Person Shooters After pushing for Arc Raiders to win GOTY, former FPS pro Shroud is taking a break because he's "tired of the cheaters"    Completely "pancake" Automatons threatening democracy with "new heavy-hitting" Bastion Tank in Helldivers 2    How to unlock the new Bastion Tank in Helldivers 2 and some tips for how to use it    Arc Raiders devs triple the frequency of Bird City as Embark promises to "keep revising" its map event schedule    Where to find Geiger Counters in Arc Raiders    Helldivers 2 patch increases "intensity" of highest difficulties, buffs melee weapons, and gives enemies a better aim    Latest in News Pokemon Ultra Beasts are "a manifestation of my own resentment," Game Freak artist says after designs were rejected    21-year design senior on Assassin's Creed leaves Ubisoft for "a smaller studio with other veterans"    Stardew Valley still has "a secret that no one has ever found" after 10 years    Someone put a force feedback wheel on an RC-style controller, and I hope this sim racing trend continues in 2026    Switch 2 won't increase $450 price tag due to ongoing RAM shortage according to Nintendo president – for now, at least    Arc Raiders squeezes cheaters a little harder, blocking Steam Family Sharing workarounds to stop players evading bans    GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS

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