The game Arc Raiders has been out long enough to create its own unique group of players. Millions of people have joined this popular shooter game from Embark Studios. Most players who explore the world above have been surprisingly friendly to one another. The game makers have worked hard to build a welcoming community, even though players can choose to fight each other. Now, they are starting a new event to test more cooperative play.

On February 9th, Embark shared details about the ‘Shared Watch’ event with

. The following day, they released the patch notes for version 1.15.0. This update brings big changes before the February ‘Shrouded Sky’ update arrives. Since Valentine’s Day is coming soon, the event encourages players to be good to each other.

You might wonder what this event is about. Players will earn points called merits by destroying, helping, and damaging ARC enemies. You will not earn any merits from fighting other players. If you want to get the most rewards and progress faster, you know exactly what to do now.

The official post calls the Shared Watch an annual holiday that reminds everyone who the real enemy is. This means it will likely become a yearly tradition. Since the game launched, the solo play queues have been very peaceful. Most players choose to help other scavengers instead of hurting them. While there are a few bad apples, this has been a great way to enjoy the game in a more relaxed way. It is good to see Embark trying new things with the game while listening to the community.

Before players who love fighting start complaining that the studio is paying too much attention to the peaceful side of the game, we should remember something. In late January, high-level players got the chance to join harder lobbies focused on versus combat. So this new event feels like a natural balance. Even with all its success, Arc Raiders is still a young game. With Bungie’s Marathon coming soon with a stronger focus on player versus player, it will be interesting to see how Embark responds to what the community wants.

As extra surprises, the 1.15.0 update adds two new cosmetic sets. It also brings back the Cold Snap map condition since we are still in winter. Of course, there are more tweaks and bug fixes included in this update. We would be surprised if there are no more small patches before this month’s big Escalation update.