It seems like Battlestate Games may have depleted their resources developing the unsuccessful “Tarkov Arena” instead of focusing on updating their game.
You may have heard about “Escape From Tarkov,” the highly popular extraction shooter that at one point in time was the darling of Twitch streamers, the game essentially pits players against AI and other players with the main objective to essentially gather resources to complete missions and safely extract from the playing area.
The game has been a dominant force on Twitch and YouTube for years, its surreal realism is unmatched by another other extraction shooter on the market, suffice to say for its genre, Escape From Tarkov has a monopoly, which freely allows its developers, Battlestate Games to royally fuck over its large number of early access patrons.
They unveiled a new edition of Escape From Tarkov on April 25th, featuring exclusive perks only available in this version, dubbed “The Unheard Edition,” priced at a substantial $250.
Believe it or not, The Unheard Edition carries a $250 USD price tag. In exchange for this hefty sum, purchasers will receive elements criticized as pay-to-win by the Escape From Tarkov community.
These include the exclusive feature of an offline mode, a long-requested addition. However, players who own the game can access a similar experience through the unofficial “SPTarkov” mod, allowing offline play with game modifications.
Escape From Tarkov, in its current state, operates as a live service extraction shooter with periodic resets that wipe everyone’s progress, returning them to square one, with no offline play those who seemingly can only spare a handful of hours every so often are at a considerable disadvantage in terms of their progression.
While some players relish the challenge of rebuilding their progress from scratch during these wipes, others find it frustrating. However, progression retention will be available in the newly introduced co-op mode, limited solely to offline PvE.
This mode allows you and your friends to team up against AI opponents, preserving your data and enabling you to tackle missions at your own pace.
Exclusive gear is also included for owners of The Unheard Edition, such as a unique melee weapon. However, melee combat is generally ineffective in Escape from Tarkov, as players often die instantly upon contact, rendering the weapon completely pointless.
Additionally, your player character will receive a unique armband, which is a worthless cosmetic item. Furthermore, owners will obtain the “Mark of The Unheard” ratio transmitter, providing exclusive perks during raids, and will start each wipe with enhanced weaponry compared to lower-tier players.
Regarding wipes, players are accustomed to resetting to zero and rebuilding their progress from scratch, however there’s now an exception for the biggest supporters of Battlestate Games.
Changes implemented for The Unheard Edition mean that your characters will no longer lose progression during a wipe. This grants you a significant advantage over others, as you can maintain your endgame gear and equipment, giving you a head start in the next universal wipe.
With your higher starting level and retained gear, you’ll be able to easily overpower others still struggling with early-game equipment, effectively dominating the battlefield, which is wrong on so many levels.
Understandably, the community is outraged, primarily because Battlestate Games had previously launched the $150 “Edge of Darkness Limited Edition.” This edition enabled players to support the developers and gain access to all DLC packages released for the game, essentially functioning as a season pass.
Exclusive features such as offline mode and co-op PvE are reserved solely for The Unheard Edition. This pay-to-win approach has left consumers who purchased the Edge of Darkness edition understandably outraged. They feel disregarded by Battlestate Games, as this additional content is now paywalled, essentially nullifying the benefits of the Edge of Darkness edition, which is deceptive and illegal.
The trailer for The Unheard Edition has garnered a substantial number of dislikes on YouTube, with hundreds of players expressing their frustration towards Battlestate Games in the comments section. The situation is even more chaotic on their Discord server, where players are resorting to spamming messages to convey their discontent.
Battlestate Games is clearly clamoring for cash, that’s the whole point of why they’re offering such extremities with this new $250 edition, introducing long awaited features exclusively to retards with more money than brains. Given the fact that they’ve falsely advertised with the Edge of Darkness edition in regards to DLC access, they’ve decided to make matters even worse for themselves by offering a pittance.
In reaction to the backlash, Battlestate Games has opted to “acknowledge” the owners of the $150 Edge of Darkness edition by providing them with distinctive features. These include enhancements like increased PMC karma, access to unique hideout crafts, boosted charisma skill, and exclusive cosmetics such as clothing, dog tags, and an armband.
Moreover, to sweeten the deal, it appears that Battlestate Games is finally fulfilling their promise of “DLC access” by granting Edge of Darkness owners six months of access to high-priority matchmaking and the offline PvE mode.
Six fucking months. And then what? Do they anticipate players will happily fork over another $100 to “upgrade” their edition for continued access? What was initially promoted as a permanent season pass has morphed into a fleeting deal, with the added stipulation of shelling out more cash for privileges that a mod can offer for free.
I understand their frustration. To add fuel to the fire, Battlestate Games’ social media manager is exacerbating the situation by launching into a tirade, targeting competing titles like Arena Breakout Infinite, who sought to capitalize on Tarkov’s immolation.
The official Battlestate Games account criticized another extraction shooter for allegedly being a “plagiarist game” due to its shared genre. However, Arena Breakout Infinite bears no resemblance to Escape From Tarkov in terms of assets.
In truth, Escape From Tarkov itself could be seen as “plagiarizing” Tom Clancy’s The Division, particularly its “Dark Zone” component centered on looting, engaging with other players and AI enemies, and extraction.
This move quickly backfired when streamer Dr Lupo took aim at Escape From Tarkov, highlighting its notorious reputation for allowing cheaters and hackers to flourish within the game.
For years, Battlestate Games has failed to address the concerns of its dedicated community. Instead of tackling the issue of cheaters and focusing on essential content updates, they recently launched a questionable arena shooter side game towards the end of last year.
This addition has faced widespread criticism as an unnecessary and poorly executed failure. Notably, the arena game stands as its own entity separate from Escape From Tarkov, with minimal similarities beyond the shared launcher.
The meager gesture of granting Edge of Darkness limited edition buyers, who invested in it before it was withdrawn in January, access to additional DLC offline PvE content for just six months is utterly laughable.
It seems Battlestate Games is determined to squeeze as much money as possible from their loyal audience while pushing the limits of their tolerance. Given the numerous responses suggesting the addition of a donation button to support the developers directly, it appears these dedicated players are willing to endure a significant amount of abuse, considering their willingness to purchase a $150 limited edition of a game that has been in active development since 2016.
The actions of Battlestate Games are predatory and illegal, given the false advertisements associated with the Edge of Darkness edition. However, it’s also worth noting that the Tarkov community largely consists of delusional individuals who are deeply invested in the game.
They have willingly poured substantial sums of money into Escape From Tarkov, demonstrating their unwavering devotion. Now, their loyalty is being put to the test, as there’s absolutely zero chance of ever receiving a refund.
