This is a scandal. How the Russian game Escape From Tarkov came under global criticism, but gamers are still winning

For several days now, the gaming community has been vigorously discussing the unpleasant situation surrounding the Russian game Escape from Tarkov.

On April 25, the developers released the next patch 0.14.6.0 and announced a new top edition, The Unheard Edition. The whole problem lay in the conditions for those who buy the new edition and those who bought the earlier version of the version. Due to the sufficient number of traditional symbols in them, players literally began to hate the authors.

We tell you what happened.

What is Escape from Tarkov anyway?

For those who don’t know. Escape from Tarkov is an action shooter from the Russian studio Battlestate Games. This is the most popular game in its genre and, in fact, its ancestor of the genre itself.

The point of the game is to choose as quickly as possible from one of the districts of Tarkov, a fictional city in the north-west of Russia, a municipality within the Norvinsk region. A city gripped by anarchy, gamers playing as fighters hostile to organizations of the 19th century must foray into different areas in order to collect valuable items there and abandon dangerous places.

OK. What’s all the fuss about?

As I said above, the problem lies in the announcement of The Unheard Edition. It costs 11 thousand rubles ($250) and includes:

► Access to cooperative PvE mode with saving progress

► Increased chronicle size (10×72 cells)

► Increased starting level of character skills

► Enlarged PMC pockets

► Additional equipment and resources in memory

► Unique identifier in the game

► Unique electronic item “Mark of the Unknown”

► More slots at the Flea Market

► Increased reputation with the Buyer

► Additional design option for the start screen

► Access to Early Test Server (ETS)

► Free access to all new DLC (Season Pass)

Before it, the game had another top edition of Edge of Darkness for 5 thousand rubles ($95) with its own bonuses. In fact, they all do not affect the gameplay and do not destroy the balance of the game, as in the new edition. But there is one important “BUT”.

The Unheard Edition removes all Edge of Darkness bonuses. In particular, we are talking about access to all future DLC. Owners of the previous “top” there was no need to access PvE mode – he gave only the “Unheard Edition” to buyers.

Players immediately began to complain about deception by Battlestate Games. To which the developers responded:

DLC means additional downloadable content, and PvE is a feature and mode. No matter how much you want to call it DLC, that doesn’t make it that way. This is a game mode for new editions.

— BS Games community manager

The only “indulgence” from the studio initially was that owners of Edge of Darkness would only need to pay an additional 5.5 thousand rubles, and not pay the full cost of the publication.

Many players were shocked by such impudence on the part of the developers and benefited from their support. In addition, they demanded a refund for broken promises.

How the company responded to criticism

Two steps are important here. For the first time on April 26 in the conflict, Battlestate Games acted unfairly towards the owners of Edge of Darkness.

In honor of this, the studio announced support for publishing content. In particular, gamers are given 6 months of advertising access to the PvE mode.

But the players did not accept even such “leniency”, reminding them that the company had been fair to them. And then the second stage comes into force – on April 28, the studio announced the next changes:

• Access to PvE content will be available to owners of the Edge of Darkness edition. However, this will not happen immediately, but gradually (they will start tomorrow), since Battlestate Games does not yet have the appropriate server capacity.

• PvE mode will support mods after the game is released.

• The Unheard Edition will not be removed from sale, as was the case with Edge of Darkness.

• Items and bonuses from The Unheard Edition will balance

• Expedited return of insured items

• Increased personal purchase limits by 20%.

• Access to a special crafting stimulant.

• Increased level of charisma skills.

• A line of quests “Nostalgia” about the life paths of the game

Possibility of calling a friendly armored personnel carrier, after the call the item will go into cooldown

There are, in fact, much more changes. You can find them in the BSG group on VK.

The players are happy, but trust has once again been undermined

BSG once again apologized for what happened with the new maximum edition. They reported that they had learned the lessons and would try not to take into account any more mistakes in the future.

Gamers in their reviews of the latest announcement praised the developers for listening to the community. However, players are gradually gaining trust in the studios, as evidenced by a wave of new publications on Reddit. They are not sure if this was the last time the company broke its promises, as it has done so in the past.

At the same time, today a new extraction shooter Gray Zone Warfare in the spirit of “Tarkov” was launched in early access on Steam, and its online audience immediately exceeded 60 thousand people after the release. And although the game has a lot of bad reviews due to poor performance, gamers continue to show that they are ready to move on to another project with this attitude.