Over '30 million rounds of PvE were played' over the last week in Arc Raiders but Embark still needs 'a bit of time to understand what the data is telling us'

Good things rarely last forever, as is the case with the iconic UK biscuit Happy Faces and now Arc Raiders' PvE test. We knew it wasn't going to last long as Embark announced that it would only stick around for a week, but it disappearing from the game still sucks.

I loved the PvE test, it was a lot of fun and a very nice alternative to what can be a quite intense PvP experience. I played both over the last week, and while I got better loot in PvP, it was nice jumping into PvE every now and then just to have a chill experience killing arc and running around a pretty map.

So what's next? Well, now PvE is over Embark needs to figure out whether the whole ordeal was worth it or not and whether the team should bring it back. "More than 30 million rounds of PvE were played over the testing period," Embark says in an official blog post. "This gives us a huge amount of information to analyse. As such, we're going to need a short period of time to dive into the numbers and draw out the insights."

Arc Raiders has certainly experienced a revival since the release of its major Frozen Trail update alongside the PvE test. The concurrent player count jumped from 50,000 to 185,000, Steam reviews are back to Mostly Positive and its recent Steam blog post announcing the PvE test got 17,000 upvotes compared to Frozen Trail's 7,000. PvE has been a massive hit, and I'd call it a success.

But to ensure it gets the most up to date sentiments Embark is asking players to submit their opinions to the PvE-test-feedback channel in the official Discord, as well as completing a survey that will be sent out to a few players from October 22.

"We need a bit of time to understand what the data is telling us, and what our community is saying," the blog post continues. "On a surface reading, we know that the test has been polarising. As always, our decision on how to proceed will prioritize the overall health and enjoyability of the game.

"We don’t yet know what the outcome of the data analysis will be, but we expect to be able to follow up with further information in November."

I don't actually believe that this test is as polarising as Embark thinks it is. Because at the end of the day if this is what will bring players back to Arc Raiders then adding PvE is the only sensible way forward. Unfortunately, as it is with all live service games, once a game is out there in the wild it no longer belongs solely to the developers. PvE may not be the original intended experience, but if it's the one that will keep this game afloat then I say go for it.