‘Escape From Tarkov’ faces backlash over £215 ‘Unheard’ edition and subsequent apology

26 April, 2024

Escape From Tarkov. Credit: Battlestate Games.

Battlestate Games has angered the Escape From Tarkov playerbase with the recently released Unheard edition of the game, which costs £215 (€250).

The Unheard Edition is available to pre-order now, and comes with guaranteed access to the beta version of Escape From Tarkov alongside a number of perks that offer players an ingame advantage, including an enhanced stash size, more slots at the flea market and expanded PMC pockets.

Players will also get access to all future expansions, a “unique melee weapon” and early access to highly-anticipated single player co-op mode alongside “Access to PvE co-op mode with persistent progression. Progression will not be reset with wipes,” wrote Battlestate Games, which goes against their current approach to Escape From Tarkov.

“Sorry guys, there really isn’t any justification on this package,” wrote one fan. “It’s far too expensive and adds questionable features to the game. It’s ‘unheard’ of to charge such a high price for features in an early access game that is expected of a base game.”

Battlestate Games had previously sold the £94 Edge Of Darkness edition of Escape From Tarkov that promised players access to all future updates, as well as perks like extra stash. However, it has since been removed from sale, with Battlestate Games now claiming that the PvE co-op mode included with the Unheard edition isn’t an update but a “unique feature”.

A number of players have taken to the official Discord to share a message that read (via GamesRadar): “This is unacceptable. This is selfish. This is disrespectful. You’ve disgraced yourselves completely. You’ve lost loyal players, you’ve betrayed the idea. It’s disgusting. To everyone who feels the same way – don’t be silent. Spam, make memes, spread the word wherever it’s relevant. This cannot be tolerated.”

Elsewhere the mods of the Escape From Tarkov subreddit have said players can “complain away. It’s pay-to-win and a betrayal of players’ trust / support of this game over the years. We’re just as livid as you,” the post continued.

At first, Battlestate Games accused Arena Breakout Infinite of plagiarism following their attempt to scoop up disgruntled Tarkov players instead of responding to the backlash, but the studio has since released a number of updates “to honour the owners of Edge Of Darkness and their indelible importance in the Escape From Tarkov universe”.

These include unique items, priority access to matching and a special questline, as well as “temporary access to PVE” which will launch as soon as the studio can “reinforce server infrastructure. We use totally different servers for that and now there really is a limited amount of them,” the post continued.

However fans are still not impressed. “This is what you promised: ‘Free access to all subsequent DLC’. ‘Access to offline PVE for six months’ is not that’,” reads the top-rated reply on Reddit, with others furious that priority access to matching is now a thing.

Earlier this year, Escape From Tarkov looked at adding microtransactions to the game for the first time in its eight-year history and Battlestate Games was forced to roll back an “astoundingly bad” update following backlash. A popular streamer also accused developers of being “asleep at the wheel” with the game in a “bad spot”

In other news, an “unintentional” reference to a racial slur has been patched out of Stellar Blade.

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