The recent controversy surrounding a new DLC for Escape From Tarkov has refused to die down, with fans still unhappy about having to cough up such a large fee for it. However, this seemingly saw the game's Twitch viewership receive a boost while also affecting the sales of other games in the same genre.
The addition of The Unheard Edition — priced at an astronomical $250 — to this extraction shooter, which brings a full PvE version, larger pockets for PMCs in the full version, and an equippable item to make AI-controlled Scavs less aggressive to players, has received lots of backlash from fans and its first esports team.
The core of this controversy stems from the fact that developer Battlestate Games had brought in the top-tier $150 Edge of Darkness edition in the middle of 2016. The community has argued that this version promised users free access to every future DLC coming to the game. According to them, this should mean that the addition of The Unheard Edition, essentially a PvE version DLC, should be free to at least EoD owners and not available for such an exorbitant price.
What has angered content creators, disgruntled fans, and Reddit users on the Battlestate Games Discord server further is that the publisher initially tried to explain that the new mode was not a DLC. Ultimately, with fans not ceding, the company backtracked a few days later and disclosed that all EoD owners would get six months of co-op play for free.
Have a nice 20 minute adventure in the blatant plagiarist game. In and out pic.twitter.com/DZe3A0I8Z4
— Battlestate Games (@bstategames) April 25, 2024
However, even this proclamation had a catch: Battlestate Games could not do this immediately as it didn't have the server capacity for everyone owning the EoD edition. Moreover, in a clear attempt to appease fans, players with this existing DLC would be given priority matchmaking and a series of new items.
What does this mean? Players without the Edge of Darkness edition (which is no longer on sale, so they have no way to purchase it even if they want to) will be stuck in longer queues for their games. This seemed to have been the final nail in the coffin, as those who bought the standard edition of the game for $50 are basically being treated like second-class citizens.
Viewership stats for Escape from Tarkov since April 25 controversy
Interestingly, the title's numbers on Twitch have seen a rise in fortunes since April 20. In fact, The Unheard Edition's controversy has seemingly led to an even higher rate of growth since April 25, with Tarkov in 19th place among the most-watched games on the purple platform.
What sets this rise apart is the rate of growth, with the game's watch time seeing a 92% growth in this period, the highest among the top 20 when not counting new releases. Its peak viewership, too, has seen a massive upward swing of 262%, more than double that of any other top 20 entry by this metric.
A big factor in this rise has been Escape from Tarkov's biggest streamer LVNDMARK, whose own watch time concerning the game has shot up by more than 200% since April 25. He even won over the community by hosting a live broadcast on April 25 where he criticized Battlestate Games and all the negativity it has been spreading thanks to its recent moves.
From the looks of it, players are looking to enjoy the game as much as possible before perhaps uninstalling it for good once the new edition's final details are confirmed. After all, nobody would want to spend $250 on a DLC especially after it created such a furor and brought out the worst in the developer.
Moreover, those with the standard edition who are not planning to shell out such a large purchasing amount will not want to waste time on a game that has clearly stated they are not as important as those with the existing $150 DLC, especially when they know waiting times for games will be much longer and that their opinions won't really matter after a point.
What the controversy around Tarkov has also done is benefit other games, including new releases. For example, Gray Zone Warfare, a rival extraction shooter that made its early access available on April 18, has become Steam's bestseller, beating another newly released title, the city builder Manor Lords, and the omnipresent Counter-Strike 2.
It had already been doing well on Twitch, sitting at 11th on the table of most popular games between April 18 and 30. It was also the 17th most-viewed title during this timeframe, ahead of popular names like Hearthstone, Genshin Impact, and Tarkov itself.
However, with the reviews for the game mostly being negative, including on Steam, things could change soon enough. Luckily, the game being in early access means there's lots of time for developer MADFINGER Games to change things and put out the best possible product during its main launch.
Fixing things up would especially be crucial if Gray Zone Warfare wants to take a large chunk of the disgruntled Escape from Tarkov player base and make them its own. For now, it will be interesting to see what updates come out of Battlestate Games' bunker and how well these announcements are received by fans, content creators, and critics.
