Escape From Tarkov game director Nikita Buyanov has made another post on the game’s sub-Reddit, this time finally apologising for the actions that led to the community outrage over the past few days.
The post starts out with an apology from Buyanov, before going on to detail what changes will be made to the Unheard Edition that caused so much outrage over the past few days with its $250 price tag and DLC that was not available to those who previously purchased the season pass.
“First of all, I would like to say that I am very sorry that fans and the game community in general are experiencing these feelings,” said Buyanov on Reddit. “Unfortunately, I somehow did not foresee the fact of such a reaction and now I have drawn conclusions for my future decisions.”
Those conclusions include a further backtrack on the decision from yesterday to give access to the new PvE mode to all owners of the Edge of Darkness edition when Tarkov launches in the future. This was itself a backtrack from the announcement EoD owners would get access for six months. Now EoD owners will start to get access to the PvE mode in waves starting as soon as Battlestate Games can add more server capacity to support it.
Nikita also announced that they will allow mod support for the PvE mode once Tarkov launches. This is likely in reaction to the rise in popularity of SinglePlayer Tarkov a community mod, that was previously outlawed by Battelstate Games. The mod was effectively the new PvE mode but with further customisation options to modify the game. Since the controversy started many top streamers have been playing the mod, making it more popular than ever.
It was also announced that the controversial priority matchmaking that was announced for Edge of Darkness owners will not be implemented after fans complained this would make the game significantly worse for anyone who did not have it.
Despite the backlash, it was also confirmed that the new Unheard Edition will not be removed from sale, however the perks it gives will be rebalanced.
“About the Unheard edition – we will not remove it, we want to keep the option for those who want to support the game more,” said Buyanov. “But we will balance items, perks in this edition, as well as we will provide more rewards for those, who upgraded with the old price.”
Nikita ended the statement by confirming that the team will continue to work on the game and that they are still heading towards a full release. There is still no exact word when that will happen, but it could be as soon as this year.
