Game news You can now pay $250 to win it all! This video game changes its marketing strategy…
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Making a game offering content over several years is not easy, and many studios and publishers have lost their teeth on the service game. Battle pass, season pass, cosmetic bonuses, advantages, scripted content, everything must be thought of to promote player retention. But sometimes it's too much.
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Escape From Tarkov: a new and very expensive edition announced
Since 2016, fans of tactical FPS have had their eyes turned towards Escape From Tarkov, the objective of which is to get as close as possible to simulation, without losing the purely playful aspect. After an alpha phase which lasted a few months, the title entered beta and has continued to improve. 1.0 is planned for release later this year, after which the studio will move on. But for now, the rag burns between the studio and the players.
Besides the base game, Battlestate offers since 2016 an Edge of Darkness edition which, at almost 200 euros all taxes included, allows you to obtain numerous advantages which, overall, accelerated progression to high-level content. However, the content description also indicated that players choosing this edition would have free access to all subsequent DLC. We just knew that the sale of the Edge of Darkness edition would end up being withdrawn from sale as the official release of Escape From Tarkov approached. The title is approaching its release date, so the studio has ended availability of this special edition on January 7 last, without this causing the slightest stir within the community.
However, things took a completely different turn on April 25, when Battlestate Games revealed a brand new edition of the game, titled The Unheard Edition. Presented on video, this edition sold 250 euros excluding tax full of content that a large part of the active community referred to as Pay-to-Win. We're talking about larger equipment pockets, a better reputation with a specific character unlocking real in-game advantages, or even a unique melee army (which wouldn't be that much). But what really sparked the anger of the players was the presence of an exclusive persistent co-op PvE mode, insensitive to the next two planned resets. However, if you followed closely, the buyers of the old edition were supposed to get all the DLC for free.
DLC, not DLC: Battlestate gets tripped up but reacts
Problem, this new PvE mode did not seem to be part of the deal. Suffice to say that players rushed to the official Discord, and the anger was such that many salons have simply been closed. Same thing on Reddit, where players put forward a strategy “unacceptable” And “disrespectful“, even thinking of launching legal action for breach of the contract linking the studio to the players. Before the conversations stopped, the community manager of the Discord, Daniel Mavlyuberdinov tried to provide an explanation on the nature of this PvE mode. A justification which apparently convinced no one:
DLC means additional downloadable content. PvE is a feature and a game mode. Just because you all want it to be DLC doesn't mean it is. This is the mode of the new edition of Escape From Tarkov.
Note also that in the details of this Unheard Edition, we are talking about priority matchmaking during six months. Yes, for several months, buyers of this new edition will be able to attack more quickly than the others. Faced with discontent, and in particular that of owners of the Edge Of Darkness (EoD) version, the studio revised its copy :
(…) PvE mode relies entirely on a separate network infrastructure, because, for the most part, you play on our servers, only in closed mode. At this stage, it is not possible to offer it to all EoD-holding players – at the moment we simply do not have the required amount of resources for this. We note your dissatisfaction and have decided that the PvE mode will be available for free to all owners of the EoD version upon release of the game, when the server infrastructure has been improved to the required capacity.
The studio therefore reacted quickly, it remains to be seen whether this will be sufficient.