Escape From Tarkov Devs Flail After Putting PvE Behind $250 Paywall

Multiplayer tactical shooter Escape From Tarkov caused much upset in its passionate community last week when it announced it would be adding PvE to the game, but only for those who spent an astonishing $250 on a new bundle, The Unheard Edition. This was made even worse after those who’d previously bought the Edge of Darkness edition had been told all future DLC would be theirs for “free.”

Making a video game is so much more complicated today than it’s ever been. Back in the day you made a game, put the game in a box, then people bought the box and played the game. That was the extent of a developer’s connection with the players. Now, things are at such an extreme opposite that every tweak and change is subject to the court of unpopular opinion, most usually because said developer is charging extra for those tweaks and changes. None more dramatically than Battlestate Games’ recent announcement that it would be charging for PvE in their hit game, Escape From Tarkov, for the bargain price of $250.

Escape From Tarkov has been in so-called Early Access since its release in 2017, with developers Battlestate looking for fresh income streams to keep the project going over the intervening seven years. One such wheeze was (the now delisted) Edge of Darkness (EoD), that charged $100 for what was described as a season pass, which would provide all future DLC at no extra cost. So, it was perhaps not an enormous surprise that customers really kicked off when they learned that not only would they not be getting a forthcoming PvE update, but that it would cost two-and-a-half times more than EoD to be able to play it!

As VGC reports, Battlestate’s response on their Discord to the negative feedback post was a bit odd: “It ain’t DLC, it’s [a] unique feature of the new edition added.” So PvE doesn’t count as DLC, because, you know, LOOK OVER THERE! There then followed an attempt to appease the EoD crowds by offering them six months of PvE, high-priority matchmaking, and various other features. But, crucially, still didn’t acknowledge that this was an audience that felt they’d already paid, and delaying the $250 outlay by half a year didn’t really cut it.

On April 28, a Reddit post has delivered a reverse-ferret from Battlestate, with COO Nikita Buyanov announcing that EoD owners will now get PvE access for no extra cost. However, it won’t be immediate. Citing server issues, Buyanov says access will arrive in “waves.” “We don’t have the server capacity right now,” before adding, “We will start this process as soon as possible.”

Somewhat peculiarly, the developer claims, “Unfortunately, I somehow did not foresee the fact of such a reaction,” which seems odd as they’ve managed a feisty audience for the last seven years.

The Unheard Edition will stay on sale, says Buyanov, because “we want to keep the option for those who want to support the game more.” However, now the promised prioritized matchmaking for EoD owners is gone! “To keep everyone in the same spot,” says the Reddit post, with promises of a list of new perks to be announced soon.

What a mess. Then again, this is the same studio that in 2016 declared there would be no female characters in the game because “women can’t handle that amount of stress,” (Battlestate since apologized for this comment, but the game still includes no women) and employs DMCA takedowns on YouTubers who criticize it.

Players who forked out an incredible $100 for the online shooter will now need to wait for server capacity to be increased to support PvE, and are being offered a 50 percent discount to “upgrade” to the Unheard version. So just the extra $125 on top of the $100 already paid. In other news, lots of online multiplayer shooters are free.

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