Escape from Tarkov recently landed itself in some incredibly hot water, as it gave some players access to a PvE mode that was otherwise locked away. To get access to this mode and some other pay to win mechanics, you had to spend €250 for the Unheard Edition.
This rightly and immediately angered long-time fans, who called out Battlestate Games for offering pay-to-win and locking content behind a paywall. Battlestate has since backed down on this decision, and is offering some players with other editions of the game a chance to join the co-op PvE mode, but it is not yet available for everyone due to server capacity.
COO of Battlestate Nikita Buyanov outlined the response to the feedback over on Reddit. "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. Unfortunately, I somehow did not foresee the fact of such a reaction and now I have drawn conclusions for my future decisions," he began.
The Unheard Edition will still be available for purchase, but it is having some of its perks and equipment balanced to better match the state of the game. Following on from this, Battlestate will continue to work hard but it is also taking this backlash into account for future additions to Tarkov.