No, Arc Raiders is not too casual, because it is more forgiving than Tarkov, and that is why it broke out, which is the verdict I would give before I even get to the quote. Battlestate boss Nikita Buyanov called it an extraction shooter for casual people and said that approach is not an option for us, because he wants the most painful, most challenging, and most rewarding experience, and it is a spiky thing to say about the most popular game in your own genre. It is also, annoyingly, half right, which is the part I cannot tidy away just because I dislike the tone.
I have spent twenty minutes kitting a Tarkov loadout, taken one round through a wall I never saw, and lost all of it before I fired a shot, which is the evening he is defending. I have also dropped into Arc Raiders after work, read a fight, managed my nerve on the way to extract, and still had a night left when I got it wrong. Calling the second one casual is a backhanded way of admitting it worked, and I came off both kinds of raid buzzing, while I only wanted to throw the pad after one of them.
What he actually said
The quote comes from Buyanov talking about a future project, reported as Fragmentary Order, which he frames as the deliberate opposite of Arc Raiders, and PC Gamer and GamesRadar both carried it, as did Insider Gaming. His argument, reported accurately, is that Arc Raiders smoothed off the edges that make extraction shooters bite, and that he has no interest in doing the same, because Tarkov stays painful on purpose.
That is his position, and you can disagree with the tone and still see the point underneath it, since Tarkov’s whole reputation is built on the fact that it does not care about your evening. Buyanov is not confused about what he has made, because he is defending it, loudly, at the exact moment the genre around him started softening, and I respect the stubbornness without having to borrow the sneer.
Where the half-right bit actually lives
Arc Raiders did soften the genre, and that is exactly why it broke out, because Tarkov is brilliant and brutal in equal measure, and the brutality is a wall a lot of people bounce off. Embark kept the tension and lowered the punishment, and it pulled in a crowd the genre had been losing at the door for years, which I wrote up in ARC Raiders vs Escape from Tarkov. The headline there still holds, that it is the friendliest door into the genre that exists right now, and friendliest is not a slur unless you need it to be one.
Both things are true at once, because Arc Raiders is more forgiving, and being more forgiving is why it is the game everyone points new players at, which is a design choice that found its audience rather than a flaw somebody needs to apologise for. Where I part ways with him is the word casual doing the sneering, since lowering the punishment is not the same as lowering the skill ceiling, and Arc Raiders still asks you to read a fight, manage your nerve on the way to extract, and decide when a bag is worth dying for. It just does not confiscate your whole night when you get it wrong, which is a different pain threshold rather than the absence of one. Treating less punishing as less serious is the classic mistake the hardcore end keeps making, and I have a habit of loving the game in front of me while the consensus is still calling it soft, then watching that consensus turn up later with a recast and a slightly embarrassed grin. People follow people, and I try to follow the session, which has been kinder to both raids than the quote was.
Where the genre has actually split
Step back and the split is the whole story, because on one side you have the punishing end, Tarkov and whatever Buyanov builds next, aimed at people who want the pain, and on the other you have the accessible end, Arc Raiders and the wave following it. That wave includes Marathon and the extraction projects publishers like Gaijin have lined up for 2026, and the genre is not picking a winner so much as splitting into two audiences that want very different nights out. The split is healthier than one side would have you believe, since for years the complaint about extraction was that there was only one flavour, and if you did not have the stomach for a full wipe you were not welcome. Now there are two clear lanes, and a game can commit hard to either without pretending to be both, so Fragmentary Order sounding like a deliberate reaction to Arc Raiders is the split working exactly as it should. If the jargon trips you up, the glossary is there for it, so the words do not get in the way of which night you actually wanted.
What changes when you are on your own
Most of the extraction stuff on this channel is solo, and the two ends of this split feel completely different on your own, because the punishing games are a test of nerve where one mistake costs you the whole run, and the accessible ones let you actually breathe and learn. Neither is better, since they are different moods, and knowing which one you are in the mood for saves you a lot of wasted evenings, which is a modest claim and still the one I trust.
Solo changes the maths as well, because in a squad you can afford to gamble, since someone can carry your kit back if you fall, and alone the punishing games turn every fight into a calculation about whether the loot is worth the loadout you are risking. The accessible ones let you actually explore that calculation instead of being punished for making it once, which is why I keep landing on the same advice, to match the game to the mood rather than to whichever one somebody on the internet has decided is the real version. If you are not sure which end suits you, that is what the extraction shooter matcher is for, and if you want the solo, tactical, take-it-seriously end of all this, the tactical and extraction shooters shelf is where the channel lives. Buyanov can keep his most painful experience possible, and I will keep enjoying both ends and judging each game on whether the run was worth it, not on how much it hurt.
FAQ
What did Tarkov's boss say about Arc Raiders?
Battlestate boss Nikita Buyanov called Arc Raiders an extraction shooter for casual people, and said that approach is not an option for us, because he wants the most painful, most challenging, and most rewarding experience. It is a spiky thing to say about the most popular game in your own genre, and I read it twice, because the sneer is doing more work than the design argument.
Is Arc Raiders actually too casual?
Half right is the honest read, and I say that as someone who plays both ends, because Arc Raiders did soften the genre, keeping the tension and lowering the punishment, which is exactly why it broke out. That is not a flaw so much as a design choice that found its audience, and treating less punishing as less serious is the bit I will not sign.
What is Fragmentary Order?
The future project Buyanov was talking about, framed as the deliberate opposite of Arc Raiders, and his argument is that Arc Raiders smoothed off the edges that make extraction bite, while Tarkov stays painful on purpose. I can respect the intent without borrowing the insult, because pain is a setting rather than a moral, and I am not required to sneer at the game that let more people through the door.
Where is the extraction genre heading in 2026?
It is splitting into two audiences, which is healthier than one side wants to admit, with the punishing end in Tarkov and whatever Buyanov builds next, and the accessible end in Arc Raiders and the wave following it. That wave includes Marathon and the extraction projects publishers like Gaijin have lined up for 2026, and the genre is not crowning a winner so much as admitting it now has two nights out.
Which extraction shooter is right for solo play?
Neither end is better, because they are different moods, and the punishing games are a test of nerve where one mistake costs you the whole run, while the accessible ones let you breathe and learn. I match the game to the evening, not to whichever corner of the internet has decided is the real version, and that is what saves the wasted nights.
Sources (3)
More like this
Field reportArc Raiders Update 1.36: THE FINALS Crossover, New Solo Matchmaking and Expedition 4
Arc Raiders update 1.36 is live today, and the change that matters is the matchmaking, because solo, duo and trio are now tracked separately so playing alone no longer drags you into the squad pool, whatever the crossover trailer would rather you look at. THE FINALS event runs from 9 July to 30 July, Expedition 4 and Trials Season 5 are on, and the ARC Turbine finally pays, which is the honest state of the patch under the hat.7 Jul 2026Read
Field reportWhen Is the Next Arc Raiders Update? The October Major Update Explained
The next major Arc Raiders update is Frozen Trail, and it lands on 8 October 2026, which Embark still describes as the biggest since launch, because the monthly cadence is gone and the new rhythm is two large drops a year while a live team handles the fixes and events. What follows is the date they posted on 12 August, what they have promised for the map and the machines, and what there is to do in the meantime.4 Jul 2026ReadNew field reports, to your inbox
No spam. Leave whenever you like.