Arc Raiders Tests Kernel Anti-Cheat, Putting Linux Support At Risk

Embark Studios just told its Linux players to hold their breath. In a May 7, 2026 developer update titled “Ensuring Fair Play”, the studio behind Arc Raiders confirmed it is testing a new kernel-level anti-cheat solution to layer on top of Easy Anti-Cheat. The post never says the word Linux. That silence is the story.

Arc Raiders currently sits at Platinum on ProtonDB, one of a tiny handful of semi-competitive shooters with that rating and a six-figure player base. The reason it earned that badge is the same reason its Linux future is now in question: Embark left EAC running in user-space mode, the only mode Proton can translate. A second kernel-level layer threatens to break the compromise that made the game playable on SteamOS in the first place.

What Embark Actually Said And What It Didn’t

The blog post, timed to the Riven Tides update going live April 28, lays out a three-part stack. Easy Anti-Cheat handles the kernel layer. Machine-learning models built with Portuguese AI firm Anybrain’s behavioral detection platform chew through input telemetry. Several other systems sit underneath, undisclosed for operational security.

Then comes the line that set the ProtonDB threads on fire. “Kernel-level detection is a necessity because most commercial cheats operate within that space,” Embark wrote. “Without it, we’d have little to no visibility into the tools doing the most damage.” The studio said it is currently testing a fresh kernel-level solution it expects will sharpen detection across Speranza and the Rust Belt.

Notice what the post leaves out. There is no commitment to keep EAC’s Linux user-space mode active alongside the new layer. There is no acknowledgement of the Steam Deck install base. There is no “we will continue supporting Proton.” The omission is doing heavy lifting.

Why The Platinum Rating Was A Tightrope, Not A Promise

Easy Anti-Cheat has a Linux build. It has had one since 2021, when Epic shipped Proton support. The catch is that the Linux version runs in user space, not the kernel. That is fundamentally less invasive and fundamentally less powerful than the Windows build.

Embark is one of the rare developers that flipped the toggle. Counterpoint: most won’t. Of the 1,136 games on Steam that require anti-cheat software, 682 of them do not work on SteamOS, according to crowd-sourced compatibility data tracked by AreWeAntiCheatYet and surfaced in GamingOnLinux’s November 2025 Steam Machine analysis. That is roughly 60 percent of anti-cheat games locked out.

The friction is policy, not technology. Facepunch CEO Garry Newman put it plainly when explaining why Rust dropped Linux support. “It’s a vector for cheat developers, and one that would be poorly maintained by both us and EAC due to the low user base. When we stopped support for Linux, we saw more cheat users exploiting Linux than actual legitimate users,” Newman said in a statement republished across Linux forums. Riot’s anti-cheat lead Phillip Koskinas told The Verge in 2024, “You can freely manipulate the kernel, and there’s no user mode calls to attest that it’s even genuine. You could make a Linux distribution that’s purpose-built for cheating and we’d be smoked.”

The Cheating Crisis That Forced Embark’s Hand

The kernel-layer test isn’t happening in a vacuum. Arc Raiders is bleeding players, and the cheaters are the loudest reason why.

The numbers are brutal:

• 481,966 all-time concurrent peak on Steam, hit November 16, 2025 per SteamDB’s Arc Raiders concurrent-player chart.
• 466,372 concurrent on January 4, 2026, the post-launch second wind.
• 95,642 concurrent in mid-April 2026, an 80 percent drop from the New Year peak.
• 15th most-played game on Steam even after the collapse, ahead of Overwatch and Marvel Rivals.

The cheating drumbeat got louder every week. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, one of the highest-profile streamers to pick up the game at launch, called it “unplayable” before stepping back from streams. TheBurntPeanut, the largest creator in the Arc Raiders community, throttled his hours despite watching his viewership take the hit. Embark’s earlier response, a three-strike system that mostly issued 30-day suspensions instead of permanent bans, drew accusations of catch-and-release.

The Anybrain Layer, And Why It Isn’t Enough

Embark’s bet on machine learning is real money on the table. Anybrain’s pitch is that aim-bots, trigger-bots, and recoil scripts produce input patterns no human hand can mimic, and a model trained on enough telemetry can flag them in real time. The vendor describes its system as lightweight enough to run alongside gameplay without measurable overhead.

Input telemetry analysis has become one of our most effective tools. We’ve trained and deployed a set of models dedicated to this, and have been working with Anybrain on this research since the start.

That’s Embark’s own framing in the May 7 post. The studio also confirmed every ban appeal is reviewed by a human, not an algorithm, and that input-pattern analysis is the technique it leans on hardest to separate accessibility-device users from cheaters. The hard cases are the ones where someone is using a niche adaptive controller that mimics the macro patterns a cheat tool produces. Embark says it analyzes telemetry plus communication patterns to read intent.

Behavioral ML is good. It is not, by Embark’s own admission, sufficient. The studio said the new kernel test is happening because most commercial cheats live in ring zero, and the only way to see them is to operate there too. That logic is the entire industry’s logic. It is also the logic that has shut Linux out of every Riot, Activision, and EA shooter on the market.

What “Sits Alongside” Could Mean For Steam Deck Owners

The most consequential phrasing in the blog is that the new kernel-level solution will “sit alongside or on top of” the existing EAC implementation. Three scenarios are possible. Each carries a different verdict for Linux.

1. Scenario one, soft layer. The new component runs only on Windows clients while EAC continues handling Linux in user space. Linux play continues unaffected. This is the best case and the least likely, because cheat developers will simply migrate to Linux to dodge the new layer.
2. Scenario two, parity flag. The new component requires kernel access on every supported platform, and Embark turns Linux off as a result. Steam Deck owners get a refund window and a launch error. This is what happened to Apex Legends in 2024.
3. Scenario three, sandboxed Linux mode. Embark keeps Linux on a separate matchmaking pool with weaker anti-cheat coverage, an idea Valve has reportedly pitched to studios. Linux players keep the game but at the cost of being quietly segregated.

Embark hasn’t picked, and that’s why the blog reads as a soft warning. The studio is known for caring about Linux. The Finals, its other live shooter, is still playable on SteamOS nearly two years after launch, and patches that break Linux compatibility usually get fixed within a day. That goodwill is real. It is also unilateral, which means it can be revoked without negotiation.

The Steam Machine Wildcard

Embark is making this call at the exact moment Valve is trying to change the math. The newly announced Steam Machine living-room PC ships with SteamOS, the same Linux-based platform as the Steam Deck. Valve has told Eurogamer it expects more multiplayer play on the Machine than on the Deck, which would in theory raise the commercial incentive for studios to enable Linux anti-cheat support.

The arithmetic still doesn’t add up. PC World pegged Steam Deck unit sales at four to six million through early 2025, with another two million expected by year-end. Best case eight million Decks plus an unknown but small initial Steam Machine pool against 84 million PS5 consoles. For a developer choosing where to put anti-cheat engineering hours, the Linux audience is still rounding error.

What Linux Players Should Do This Week

Until Embark says more, Arc Raiders runs fine on Proton Experimental with the Bleeding-edge beta toggled on, or on GE-Proton 10-22 or 10-24. Players who hit the recent vkCreateRayTracingPipelinesKHR assertion failure after the February 2026 patch can clear the shader cache or disable Vulkan ray tracing as a workaround. The community’s read on Embark’s track record is that breakage usually gets fixed within 24 hours.

The harder question isn’t this week’s launcher. It’s whether the kernel test, once it ends, expands to all platforms. The blog post offered no timeline. Embark told players the system is being trialed across Speranza and the Rust Belt, the two zones that cover all live PvE and PvP modes, which suggests the test is broad rather than confined to a small percentage rollout.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Arc Raiders Still Work On Steam Deck And Linux Right Now?

Yes. As of May 9, 2026, Arc Raiders runs on Linux through Easy Anti-Cheat’s user-space mode and holds a Platinum rating on ProtonDB. Use Proton Experimental with the Bleeding-edge beta enabled, or GE-Proton 10-24, and force that compatibility tool in the game’s Steam properties. Performance reports are positive on both AMD and Nvidia hardware.

Will The New Kernel-Level Anti-Cheat Break Linux Support?

Embark hasn’t said. The May 7 blog post confirms a new kernel-level solution is in testing alongside Easy Anti-Cheat but does not commit to Linux compatibility for that new layer. Watch the official Arc Raiders news feed and Embark’s status page for the rollout announcement. Until then, no patch has shipped that disables Linux play.

What Is Anybrain And How Does Its AI Detect Cheaters?

Anybrain is a Lisbon-based AI firm Embark partnered with from the start of Arc Raiders development. Its system reads mouse and keyboard input telemetry and trains models to flag patterns no human can produce, like perfect recoil compensation or sub-100-millisecond reaction chains. It runs lightweight on the client and feeds detection signals back to Embark’s review team.

Can I Get Banned For Playing Arc Raiders On Linux?

No reports indicate Embark bans for Linux play itself. The accidental bans being discussed in the community involve players using accessibility controllers whose input patterns occasionally trigger ML detection. Embark says every ban appeal is reviewed by a human reviewer, and the studio has restored items to players who could prove a hacker killed them through its Abnormal Match Compensation system.

If Arc Raiders Drops Linux Support, Can I Get A Refund?

Yes, in most cases. Steam’s standard refund policy covers fewer than two hours of playtime within 14 days of purchase, but Valve has historically extended refunds beyond that window when a game removes a previously supported platform. File the request through Steam Support and cite the platform-removal change in the ticket.

For now, Linux Arc Raiders players are stuck in the same posture as everyone else watching this story: waiting on the next Embark patch note to see whether the kernel layer is a Windows-only experiment or a stack-wide upgrade. The studio earned a lot of credit by shipping the game with Linux support intact when it didn’t have to. That credit is about to be tested. The cheaters forced this conversation, but the answer Embark gives in the next few weeks will set the tone for how every other live-service shooter handles SteamOS for the rest of the decade.