Escape From Tarkov Players Furious Over $250 PvE Paywall

Multiplayer tactical shooter Escape from Tarkov caused a lot of discomfort in passionate community last week when it announced it was adding PvE to the game, but only for those who spent a whopping $250 on a new pack, The unprecedented edition. This became even worse after those who had previously purchased the edge of darkness The publisher had been told that all future DLC would be theirs for “free.”

Making a video game is much more complicated today than ever. In the past, you made a game, put it in a box, then people bought the box and played. That was the extent of a developer’s connection to gamers. Now, things are at the opposite extreme that every tweak and change is subject to the court of unpopular opinion, usually because said developer charges more for those tweaks and changes. None more dramatic than Battlestate Games’ recent announcement that it would charge for PvE in its hit game. Escape from Tarkovfor the bargain price of $250.

Escape from Tarkov has been in so-called Early Access since its launch in 2017, and developers Battlestate are looking for new revenue streams to keep the project going for the intervening seven years. One of those problems was (the now delisted one) edge of darkness (EoD), which charged $100 for what was described as a season pass, which would provide all future DLC at no additional cost. So maybe it wasn’t a big surprise that customers actually started when they learned that not only would they not be receiving an upcoming PvE update, but it would cost two and a half times as much as EoD to be able to play it!

As VGC reports, Battlestate’s response on their Discord to the negative comment post was a bit strange: “It’s not DLC, it’s (a) unique feature of the new edition added.” So PvE doesn’t count as DLC, because, you know, LOOK 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 more importantly, I still didn’t recognize that this was an audience I felt like I had already paid for, and delaying the $250 disbursement for half a year really wasn’t enough.

On April 28, a Reddit post has delivered a Battlestate Reverse Ferret, and COO Nikita Buyanov announced that EoD Owners will now gain PvE access at no additional cost. However, it won’t be immediate. Citing server issues, Buyanov says access will come in “waves.” “We do not have the server capacity at this time,” before adding: “We will begin this process as soon as possible.”

Somewhat peculiarly, the developer states, “Unfortunately, I somehow did not foresee the fact of such a reaction,” which seems strange since they have managed a feisty audience for the last seven years.

He Unheard of edition will remain on sale, Buyanov says, because “we want to keep the option for those who want to support the game more.” However, now the promised priority matchmaking for EoD The owners are gone! “To keep everyone in the same place,” the Reddit post says, with promises that a list of new benefits will be announced soon.

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

Players who paid a whopping $100 for the online shooter will now have to wait for the server’s capacity to be increased to support PvE, and are being offered a 50 percent discount to “upgrade” to the game. Unheard version. So, just the extra $125 on top of the $100 already paid. In other news, many online multiplayer shooter games are free.

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