Tarkov Devs Introduce New P2W Edition, Fans Outraged

[Aido]

Summary

 

Battlestate Games introduced a new $250 edition with P2W features and an exclusive mode, deprecating the old $150 that was supposed to give all new features forever. Fan's aren't happy, and the devs are upset they're getting dunked on on Twitter.

 

Quotes

Quote

The problem with the new mode appears to be twofold. One, the Unheard Edition's whopping $250 price. And two, Battlestate has declared the PvE mode is not DLC but a "feature," and thus the people who sprung for the Edge of Darkness Edition—which seemed pretty damn future-proof at $150—don't get access. Owners of the Edge of Darkness Edition can upgrade to the Unheard Edition, but that will cost $100, no small amount of change in its own right.
~Andy Chalk, PC Gamer

Quote

The tweet was posted by the Battlestate Games X account and referred to Arena Breakout Infinite as the “blatant plagiarist game” and suggested that players would not want to play for more than 20 minutes.

~Mike Stubbs, Forbes

Quote

Since 2016, players have supported the developers by purchasing the highest edition of the game. For 8 years, we've been recommending this game to friends, bringing more and more players into the community. And what was the developers' response? They've blown us off, refuse to comment, and only encourage those who have lost all respect for themselves and continue to pour money in. I personally had high hopes for Tarkov. In my eyes, it was a high-quality and most ambitious product on the entire market. 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.
~Unknown, copypasta

 

My thoughts

I've never played Tarkov, I don't have the nerves for it that much PvP. As a Destiny player I've certainly felt milked at times, but this is a whole other level. Calling PvE a "feature" instead of a "DLC" to justify its exclusion from the old $150 edition feels particularly scummy.

 

Sources

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestubbs/2024/04/25/escape-from-tarkov-fans-are-outraged-at-new-250-pay-to-win-edition

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestubbs/2024/04/25/tarkov-developers-accuse-arena-breakout-infinite-of-plagiarism

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/fps/this-cannot-be-tolerated-escape-from-tarkov-community-in-meltdown-over-dollar250-edition-with-exclusive-pve-mode-as-a-131-word-chant-consumes-the-official-discord/

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/escape-from-tarkov-players-rage-as-developers-lock-co-op-pve-behind-a-new-dollar250-edition-despite-promising-access-to-all-subsequent-dlcs-in-its-old-dollar150-edition/

 

[Monkey Dust]

Game publishers, I suspect more so than the dev studios, just can't stop shooting themselves in the foot, can they?

 

 

[Spotty]

13 minutes ago, Monkey Dust said:

Game publishers, I suspect more so than the dev studios, just can't stop shooting themselves in the foot, can they?

Escape from Tarkov is self-published. Battlestate Games is both the developer and publisher. You can't blame publisher interference for this.

[StDragon]

4 hours ago, Spotty said:

Escape from Tarkov is self-published. Battlestate Games is both the developer and publisher. You can't blame publisher interference for this.

I'm surprised the devs haven't thrown the publisher under the bus for this. If there's been any internal revolt over this decision, I wouldn't be surprised if a dev goes public with it.

 

Meanwhile, I hope the devs have their resumes up to date and ready to jump ship when the time calls for it.

[pzspah]

Now there's one russian company who forgot they are financially based in the UK. 

 

Enjoy the consumer law smack down.

 

During a livestream by a known tarkov player, landmark; the company was editing out the incriminating points he made from reading on their website. They just forgot about the internet archive clearly still showing their edits.

[Motifator]

I remember the amount of cash I shelled out for the "pre release" of this game, something like 200 quid. It was probably the most I ever spent on a game and I felt really bad for it... because the end product was a poor game consisting of ONE map to GTFO from. Often times the game would spawn me somewhere around this infamous factory, inside utter darkness where I can't see shit... or just go to the center of the factory for somebody up top camping to empty a full clip of *LOUD NOISES* AK-47 on me.

Uninstalled the damn thing and gave the account to some random fella off Discord...

rest was history, lol. Never liked this game too much. Sure, it's gotten much better but... big meh.

[wanderingfool2]

9 hours ago, Spotty said:

Escape from Tarkov is self-published. Battlestate Games is both the developer and publisher. You can't blame publisher interference for this.

Within a company you could have essentially the "publisher" and "developer" still.

 

Just like the whole concept of "engineers vs marketing department" [with almost the real  world case of RCA being the example].  You get the pencil pushers who come in and demand certain things, and the developers are stuck essentially doing that...so in this case there is still a potential the dev team might not have known/wanted it a certain way but the team in charge of essentially the numbers were the ones who pushed it.

 

In general in regards to this case...I would be pretty mad.  It will be interesting to see what the original terms were though, as how they define DLC...if they didn't really specify I could see a class action.

 

Overall as well, I'm not 100% sure how to feel about this.  If it were me, I would be mad, but at the same time if it is a greatly different feature set that changes gameplay itself I could see it as being not DLC, but at the same time it really sounds like it's in a whole grey area.  After all, I'd argue a lot of DLC could also be considered a "feature" it's just about to what degree it is a feature.

 

At the very least, I think those who had purchased the previous pack should have been granted a very small fee to also purchase it...as they are the whales and you really should pander to them more instead of making them feel ripped off.

[Brooksie359]

On 4/26/2024 at 12:21 PM, wanderingfool2 said:

Within a company you could have essentially the "publisher" and "developer" still.

 

Just like the whole concept of "engineers vs marketing department" [with almost the real  world case of RCA being the example].  You get the pencil pushers who come in and demand certain things, and the developers are stuck essentially doing that...so in this case there is still a potential the dev team might not have known/wanted it a certain way but the team in charge of essentially the numbers were the ones who pushed it.

 

In general in regards to this case...I would be pretty mad.  It will be interesting to see what the original terms were though, as how they define DLC...if they didn't really specify I could see a class action.

 

Overall as well, I'm not 100% sure how to feel about this.  If it were me, I would be mad, but at the same time if it is a greatly different feature set that changes gameplay itself I could see it as being not DLC, but at the same time it really sounds like it's in a whole grey area.  After all, I'd argue a lot of DLC could also be considered a "feature" it's just about to what degree it is a feature.

 

At the very least, I think those who had purchased the previous pack should have been granted a very small fee to also purchase it...as they are the whales and you really should pander to them more instead of making them feel ripped off.

No they 100% mislead customers. When they said that the 150 dollar version would receive all future DLC an example given was a new PVE mode. I'm sorry but clearly they had originally planned to have the PVE mode be included and then changed their mind so they edited the marketing on the 150 dollar version retroactively so it no longer referenced the PVE mode. Good thing internet archive is a thing so people can see the original. Honestly I don't know why they wouldn't just do more premium skins and other cosmetic stuff to make money. Clearly they have a good game with a dedicated fan base but nope gotta do the dumbest monetization model around. 

[Stahlmann]

Another day, another company ruining themself for (potential) short-term profit. I guess they think the kind of people that want to play Tarkov don't have anywhere to go because there is no other Tarkov. It'll be interesting to see if they're right. Plus, gamers generally have a very short attention span, so most people who were initially upset are probably already playing the game again.

[Caroline]

I can't imagine how long the guys' who paid $150 for a rancid multiplayer game neckbeards are. Unbelievable.

 

And now they double down and charge $250 for the SAME game lmao not even Ubisoft went that far to milk wallets, and they know the true hardcore gacha addicts are gonna pay for it again no matter what.

[Brooksie359]

15 minutes ago, Caroline said:

I can't imagine how long the guys' who paid $150 for a rancid multiplayer game neckbeards are. Unbelievable.

 

And now they double down and charge $250 for the SAME game lmao not even Ubisoft went that far to milk wallets, and they know the true hardcore gacha addicts are gonna pay for it again no matter what.

For people who like the game alot and play it alot 150 edition is a nice way to support the game and didn't really have any elements that were scummy. The issue is that they retroactively changed it so the 150 dollar version wouldn't get the new game mode to force people to buy the 250 dollar version. That is super scummy and likely false advertising based on previous marking of the 150 dollar version. Not only that but the new 250 dollar version has pay to win elements which is huge deal concidered the game had none prior to that. 

[Eaglerino]

On 5/1/2024 at 7:05 PM, Brooksie359 said:

Not only that but the new 250 dollar version has pay to win elements which is huge deal concidered the game had none prior to that. 

It was pay to win with the increased stash sizes, more starting money, and better reputation with the more expensive versions. Fans would huff copium because it wasn't the "pay to get 100 levels instantly" kind of pay to win, but still a large benefit for a new player.