Recently, the Escape From Tarkov devs, Battlestate Games, released a brand new “Unheard Edition” which offers a new co-op PvE mode, to gain access to the new mode players have to cough up $250, but that’s not even the worst part.
First of all let’s talk about that $250 price point, because it’s an insane amount of money to pay for a DLC (despite developers claiming it isn’t actually DLC); there’s no way anything in the Unheard Edition is really worth such a high price. On top of that, many players have complained that the new mode is a pay-to-win nightmare, giving players who paid for it more bonuses and skills that give them an advantage over other players who didn’t pay. When you couple that with the rampant cheating that is still an issue for the game, it’s pretty difficult to really enjoy playing.
Players feel lied to by Escape from Tarkov
Probably the biggest issue with the new mode however is the fact that Battlestate Games went back on a promise made to players who bought the discontinued Edge of Darkness Edition. This edition of the game reportedly cost around $100, and at the time it was promised that it would give all players who purchased it access to any future DLC. While that price is pretty high, it definitely seemed like a worthy investment to players who were led to believe that they would be given access to future releases.
But that wasn’t the case when the Unheard Edition dropped, as those who had bought the EoD edition were expected to fork out even more money despite the promise of having access to all DLC. The reason for this was that Battlestate claimed the PvE in the new edition wasn’t technically DLC, and therefore they would not be offering it to players who bought the previous edition. An article from Forbes shared comments from the Battlestate lead community manager in an official Discord channel.
DLC means additional downloadable content. PvE is a feature and a gamemode […] Just because you all want it to become a DLC it wouldn’t mean it is one. It’s featured game mode for the new edition of the game.
Battlestate Games apologizes
The game’s director, Nikita Buyanov, did eventually apologize after the huge wave of backlash experienced by the studio. In an attempt to placate fans, those who purchased the EoD edition were given temporary access for a period of six months, although that did little to quell the wave of anger the community were feeling. According to an article from Gamerant, Buyanov has since released another statement in which he expressed surprise at the response, and has offered those who purchased the EoD permanent access to the new PvE mode for free.
Although it’s great that players now have access to what they paid for, many are still rightfully wary of the studio. Battlestate Games seem more sorry that they got caught, rather than being sorry for trying to scam players for even more money.