"The Game Will Die" ARC Raiders Streamer Cloakzy Issues…

Former professional gamer-turned-streamer Dennis Lepore, better known as Cloakzy, has issued a warning to ARC Raiders developer Embark Studios. The former Fortnite and PUBG pro regularly streams ARC Raiders alongside the likes of TheBurntPeanut, HutchMF, Nickmercs, and many more, but he has now told Embark to avoid listening to streamers if it wants to preserve the casual fun that the shooter has quickly become well known for.

Many believed ARC Raiders was destined for failure when Embark confirmed its release date would be between Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, two well-established shooters with huge communities. However, it seems to have been a gamble that paid off massively, as ARC Raiders has now sold more than 12 million copies, been crowned Best Multiplayer Game at the 2025 Game Awards, and maintained a strong playerbase on both consoles and PC. This popularity has, of course, been helped along by numerous Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and general content creators, giving ARC Raiders increased exposure in the build-up to its release.

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Cloakzy Urges ARC Raiders Devs Not to Listen to Streamers

Despite being a streamer himself, Cloakzy has now issued a warning to Embark during a recent live stream (via Reddit), urging the studio not listen to streamers. "This is a hot take," the former pro player began. "If [Embark] listens to streamers, [ARC Raiders] will die." Cloakzy then explained that ARC Raiders is a casual game and not targeted at die-hard gamers who grind for hours and hours every day. As such, he believes that there should be certain weapons that are overpowered, before using Call of Duty as an example as to why developers shouldn't listen to streamers. "Look at Call of Duty, that sh*t is dead now. You never wanna listen to streamers," Cloakzy said, before then clarifying that "sometimes" you listen to streamers, such as in relation to bugs or quality-of-life improvements.

"This game is not an esport, it will never be an esport, don't make it competitive. It is a casual game for fun," Cloakzy explained.

ARC Raiders' sudden success can be attributed to numerous factors, but one that is often mentioned among the game's community is its casual approach to the extraction shooter genre. While Escape from Tarkov players practically need to have a degree in ballistics engineering to understand all of the different ammunition types, ARC Raiders makes things much simpler and easier to understand. This isn't to say that there's a difference in intellect between the two games' playerbase, but that ARC Raiders respects your time and doesn't require thousands of hours to master. So, when the whole basis of the game is to appeal to a casual audience, Cloakzy is urging Embark not to then pander to streamers (many of whom are former professional players) who want certain weapons nerfed or major changes made just to benefit them.

This isn't the first time that streamers have sent public messages to Embark regarding the state of the game, either. Last month, TheBurntPeanut threatened to quit ARC Raiders due to the influx of cheaters that had infested the game over the Christmas period. Peanut, who hasn't just become one of the biggest ARC Raiders streamers, but one of the biggest streamers in general, called for Embark to fix the issue, or he was "out." The streamer said the problem with cheaters in Embark's new extraction shooter was "ridiculous" after repeatedly being killed by hackers and stream snipers game after game.

Thankfully, Embark seems to have heard the complaints from both streamers and players loud and clear. Although many continue to call for the shooter's controversial 3-strike ban system to be much stricter, Embark recently cracked down on ARC Raiders cheaters even further with a new change to Steam Family Sharing. According to a new statement from the studio, any account in a Steam Family caught cheating in ARC Raiders will receive the same ban applied to all accounts sharing the game license.

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