What’s going on with ‘Escape from Tarkov’ and is widespread cheating ruining the game?

It should be one of the all-time best MMO shooters. An FPS where the player needs to think smarter and act faster than their opponents to survive. But Escape from Tarkov has one game-breaking problem… it is likely infested by cheaters.

Escape from Tarkov is set in the fictional Russian city of Tarkov sometime in the near future. The political collapse has led to a battle for the streets of the city between two rival security companies, USEC and BEAR. United Security (USEC) is a Western-backed company that uses NATO equipment, while BEAR is a Russian government organization. Players must build their camp and accrue weapons to dominate the local area.

Creator company Battlestate Games describe it as a hardcore, ultra-realistic shooter and the game has been widely praised by reviewers. However, the so-called “wiggle” problem has recently come into the spotlight.

Youtuber gOat proved that cheating was going on by cheating himself. He installed a series of “wallhacks” which allowed him to peer across the map directly through trees and buildings. Then, when he had another player in his sights, he shimmied his character from right to left and watched the other players do the same in response. gOat estimated that over half the matches he played that session involved one or more cheaters.

In response to the viral video, the COO of Battlestate games Nikita Buyanov claimed that the company bans several thousand cheaters a day, and encouraged players to “report all these b******s, we will make the game cleaner together”.

Cheating can ruin a multiplayer game for everyone. Legitimate players remain hopeful that Escape from Tarkov will weather this current scandal.