The online beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has only been live for a few days. But to the surprise of none of us, it’s already found itself at the center of a strange controversy with ARC Raiders. What you might not expect is that it has nothing to do with gameplay balance or cheaters.
ARC Raiders is getting censored in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's in-game chat. 💀
First EA, and now Activision. Do these corporate giants really feel that insecure?pic.twitter.com/QXKQUzVlkc
Players have found that typing the words “ARC Raiders” into the game’s in-lobby chat resulted in an automatic censor, replacing them with a line of asterisks. It’s interesting because ARC Raiders is a sci-fi extraction shooter from Embark Studios, which is set to release on October 30, just two weeks before Black Ops 7’s own release on November 14.
ARC Raiders Dev Pokes Fun at the Censorship Situation
As you might expect, fans online weren’t too happy and immediately suspected some sort of foul play. However, Embark Studios was quick to capitalize on the situation and make light of it. The developer took to X (formerly Twitter) to post a message saying: “We’re still on track to release *** ******* on October 30th!
We're still on track to release *** ******* on October 30th! pic.twitter.com/YfV6vacqfE
The tweet even had a promotional image of ARC Raiders, with its own name censored out. In a situation where we can expect some tension, the studio’s approach to handling it is sure to win over fans who appreciate the developer’s humor and confidence.
Apparently, @EA is censoring Embark Studios in their chat systems.
"ARC Raiders" is replaced with ####.
This doesn't happen for any other title.
See: pic.twitter.com/abl1Z7vwIh
Funnily enough, this isn’t even the first time this has happened with Embark’s extraction shooter. It also happened earlier this year with Battlefield 6’s EA App, where the game’s name was also temporarily blocked in chat before being quickly patched.
Maybe both games use the same filters? Or maybe it’s something else. Still, it has now been confirmed that, currently, players can once again type “ARC Raiders” freely in Black Ops 7’s chat without issue, as Activision was quick to patch it and explain why it happened.
Activision Explains That It Was Just a Filter Error
Activision, for its part, insists there was no malicious intent behind the censorship. In a statement shared with Insider Gaming, the company confirmed that the issue was actually from a filter error, and not a deliberate attempt to suppress a competitor’s name (via Insider Gaming).
It’s quite innocuous and I can provide you with the information on background. Our text-based moderation system has ‘Arc’ set as an alt of an inappropriate word. Paired with Raiders, the system flagged the phrase. Those filters have been adjusted.
According to the publisher, the in-game moderation system had mistakenly flagged the phrase “Arc Raiders” as inappropriate due to the word “Arc” being categorized as an alternate form of a banned term. When paired with “Raiders,” the system automatically censored the whole phrase. Activision said the filters have since been corrected.
With both games set to launch within weeks of each other, Black Ops 7 and ARC Raiders will no doubt be competing for players’ attention this fall. If we can take anything from Embark’s cheeky social media response, it’s that the studio isn’t losing sleep over a few misplaced asterisks.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launches November 14, 2025, for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. ARC Raiders arrives October 30, 2025. Which one are you playing? Let us know in the comments!
