Co-op in ARC Raiders: solo, squads, and cross-platform play

14 August 2026 · 3 min read

GameMapa editorial · how we check facts
Checked: Claude (AI) — fact-checked against the Ukrainian original; not proofread by a native speaker

ARC Raiders can be played both alone and with a team — and how that choice is set up shapes the whole experience. Below are the officially confirmed details on co-op, sourced from arcraiders.com, Steam, and Embark Studios’ patch notes.

Squad size

The official game description and the Steam page agree: you can go on a raid alone or with a squad of up to three players. That’s the ceiling — there’s no official source mentioning larger teams (four or five players, for instance).

• A party of up to three players — the wording used in the Steam description.
• Matchmaking prioritizes squad-vs-squad and solo-vs-solo — per the official description on arcraiders.com. The word “prioritizes” means this isn’t an absolute guarantee in every single match.

The Solo vs Squad toggle

Patch 1.13.0 (January 27, 2026) added a dedicated system for players without a team:

• Who gets the toggle. Players level 40 and above see a separate Solo vs Squad option above matchmaking.
• XP bonus. Solo players get a +20% XP bonus — for both a successful extraction and a failed raid, per the same patch notes.
• Open party. The same patch added an “open party” feature, making it easier for friends to join without a manual invite every time.

These changes mean Embark Studios officially treats solo play as a legitimate playstyle, not an afterthought.

Cross-platform

The game’s Xbox Store page confirms cross-platform multiplayer and cross-platform co-op between Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. That means a three-player squad can be made up of people on different platforms with no additional restrictions, according to the official description.

How your squad affects the raid

Whether you’re playing solo or with a team isn’t just about headcount — it shapes your entire approach to risk and gear:

• The extraction loop itself, shared between solo and team play, is covered in our piece on your first raid.
• The basic concepts of the game as a whole are covered in our piece on what ARC Raiders is.

What is officially NOT said

• Whether squad size can change mid-raid (a player joining after the start, for instance) isn’t described officially.
• The exact matchmaking algorithm — what principle the game uses to balance team or solo strength — isn’t disclosed; there’s only the general statement about prioritizing like-for-like matches.
• Whether there’s a built-in voice chat, and how it works — the official pages we checked don’t describe this.
• Whether there’s a limit on the number of solo players in the same map zone at once isn’t officially confirmed.

Summary

A squad of up to three, full solo support with bonuses from level 40, and cross-platform co-op — three officially confirmed pillars of ARC Raiders’ social side. The rest of the matchmaking details remain outside public sources.