Escape From Tarkov's community is currently pushing back against the game's pricey new edition--one that costs $250, features an exclusive offline PvE mode, and now comes with a number of additional benefits players have been quick to call out as "pay-to-win."
Developer BattleState Games recently unveiled a new special edition for its popular extraction shooter, The Unheard Edition. It features a number of different perks and exclusive items for buyers, but the biggest selling point of the $250 edition is that it grants owners access to a new offline PvE mode that can be played co-op and features persistent character progression.
The announcement of the new PvE mode being locked behind a $250 paywall didn't exactly go over well with the game's community, especially those who bought the last special edition of the game, the $150 Edge of Darkness version, which was removed from sale in January. That edition promised owners all future DLC, something that BattleState Games now says doesn't apply to the PvE mode.
According to the game's lead community manager in a post on the official Escape From Tarkov Discord server (via Polygon), the PvE mode is a "feature and a game mode" and not DLC, and therefore won't be available to those who bought Edge of Darkness. Reader-added Community notes on X in response to BattleState Games' statements point out that "new game modes are generally accepted as DLC" and that owners of the Edge of Darkness edition were promised "free access to all subsequent DLCs," something that BattleState is not honoring.
Backlash against the new edition was swift, causing BattleState Games to change it so that Unheard Edition owners will instead be able to play the mode exclusively for six months before it comes to all players. Though that technically made it so all players will be able to play the PvE mode eventually, BattleState Games made a whole other mess for itself in the process. In order to sweeten the pot of the Unheard Edition for those who already bought it, BattleState Games announced a number of other new perks that will come to owners of the edition, including "high priority" matchmaking, the ability to skip some daily quests for free, unique clothing items, increased pocket space, faster return of insured items, and more.
The changes to the Unheard Edition have, unsurprisingly, also not gone over well, with the community now accusing the developers of separating its community into have and have-nots and turning Escape From Tarkov into a pay-to-win experience. It's not the first time Escape From Tarkov has offered in-game perks for those who bought a special edition. The previously mentioned Edge of Darkness edition gave players who owned it a bigger stash and other benefits, but the Unheard edition does seem to go a step further by giving priority matchmaking to those who pay up, which looked to have crossed a line in a way advantages from previous editions have not.
Escape From Tarkov players on the game's subreddit are now trying to get the United Kingdom-based BattleState Games to make further changes to the Unheard Edition, calling on it to honor the "all DLC" promised to Edge of Darkness owners. Some players are even considering taking legal action, with multiple threads on the subreddit instructing players how to file a complaint to the UK's office of Trading Standards and accuse BattleState Games of misleading customers and false advertising.
BattleState Games has not yet issued a response to complaints in regards to the various pay-to-win aspects of the new edition or if it will change its mind in regards to giving Edge of Darkness owners access to the PvE mode, but it's clear that the community is currently up in arms. As one commenter on The Unheard Edition's YouTube reveal trailer states, "They call this the Unheard Edition because they refuse to listen to us."
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