The Arc Raiders group believes excessive framerates and intention help could also be accountable for some suspicious gameplay clips after gamers accused streamer Nick ‘Nickmercs’ Kolcheff of dishonest.
Followers took a magnifying glass to the controversial controller accessibility characteristic after Reddit customers took intention at a questionable gameplay video from the streamer final week. The submit, which is available in at simply 11 seconds lengthy and accrued 2.4K feedback on the social media platform, sees Nickmercs utilizing a Renegade rifle (and an Xbox controller) to shoot down two Arc drones.
It’s the sort of clip many wouldn’t bat a watch at in passing, however a more in-depth look reveals virtually robotic precision.
“That is tremendous sketchy,” one user commented shortly after the submit was revealed, “controller does have intention help on ARC but it surely’s not like this.”
“Yeah that’s not intention help,” one other user added at the time. “I imply that’s simply blatantly a cheat engine. The best way it locks onto a rotor and then he has to maneuver it off the Arc completely to get it to lock onto the again rotor as an alternative is sus as f**okay.”
The video’s showcase of inhuman, snappy aiming shortly satisfied a crowd of customers the streamer have to be utilizing cheats to spice up his efficiency for his viewers. Upon nearer inspection, nonetheless, it seems like Nickmercs’ might solely have Arc Raiders and developer Embark Studios’ built-in intention help characteristic to thank.
Whereas nobody was in a position to precisely reproduce the streamer’s mechanical management on console and not using a cheat device, PC gamers had just a little extra luck. Simply hours after followers caught wind of the dishonest allegations, Reddit consumer roartex89 revealed a video showcasing what gave the impression to be a drastic distinction in intention help sensitivity on PC vs. console.
Additional investigation from customers like Razukee, awhaling, and ttvimShinyatheninja appeared to search out the wrongdoer behind magnetic aiming wasn’t precisely platform alternative however frames per second (FPS) values. PCs in a position to obtain greater framerates appear to have the ability to use intention help to snap between targets with ease, whereas these on the decrease finish might even see little to no profit from the characteristic. So, for instance, a preferred streamer with a high-end PC reaching as a lot as 240fps would have the ability to use intention help to snap to targets with extra ease than a participant on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Collection X | S, the place Arc Raiders is capped at 60fps.
“This principally [makes] intention help pay to win,” ttvimShinyatheninja mentioned of their submit. “Whoever has the higher PC wins. Everybody else is at an enormous drawback and this [needs] to get mounted asap.”
Nickmercs, who went on to deny the cheating allegations throughout a January 12 livestream, appears to have been let off the hook, as the Arc Raiders group shifts its focus from one potential cheater to a wider dialogue about intention help. Embark is now being regarded to for solutions, with gamers taking to the firm’s official channels throughout Reddit, X/Twitter, Discord, and extra to ask for readability or, ideally, a correct repair.
With out remark from the studio, a piece of the group questioning whether or not it is truthful for console gamers to be matched in opposition to PC gamers has emerged. From dishonest allegations to common confusion about how and why intention help works, these followers now wish to unfold the phrase that crossplay must be turned off for now.
“Till resolved console gamers shouldn’t be taking part in with PC gamers to protect a good setting if one aspect can do one thing one other is not able to,” one Reddit user commented.
“PC have already got superior inputs with [mouse and keyboard] and now additionally they have higher intention help?” one other replied. “Yeah not an opportunity I am ticking that crossplay field on Xbox.”
The streamer occurred to search out himself in the crosshairs of a gaming group that had simply spent latest weeks pleading for Embark to crack down on what many felt was a dishonest epidemic. As nefarious followers took benefit of exploits to illegitimately achieve the higher hand on different Raiders, the studio lastly stepped in, promising to scrub up lobbies as January rolls on.
Arc Raiders launched for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Collection X | S on October 30, 2025. It’s steadily marching by means of its third month in gamers’ arms, with Embark presently working to deal with suggestions with updates that ought to arrive sooner quite than later. Just lately, followers have spent their days studying to govern the aggression-based matchmaking system to land in PvE-only lobbies.
Michael Cripe is a contract author with IGN. He is greatest recognized for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. You should definitely give him a observe on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).