Escape from Tarkov players are once again making it clear that not enough is being done to prevent and punish cheaters. Escape from Tarkov launch in 2017 pioneered a new subgenre among online multiplayer shooters. Yet surging popularity can prove incredibly challenging for growing studios like Escape from Tarkov's Battlestate Games. Cheating is one of the ways that popularity can prove debilitating, if not destructive to online games.
Cheating has long been a criticism of Escape from Tarkov due to the game being built around death leading to loss of gear and loot. Losing a match in another game is of different scale compared to losing valuable, hard-earned loot in Escape from Tarkov. Battlestate Games has previously stated that cheating is one of the developer's "most prioritized tasks," but it's understandably not so simple. Even major publishers like Activision and Electronic Arts don't have perfect answers to cheating in online games.
The Escape from Tarkov subreddit, one of the game's most active online fan communities, is currently vocalizing their frustrations with what feels like a wave of unpunished cheating. Nearly the entire front page of the subreddit is full of posts showing video clips of cheaters, discussing cheating, or having meta discussions revolving around how to talk about cheating. The current top post is titled "(Serious) BSG, the entire front page of the subreddit is plastered with clips cheaters."
What's clear from the clips is that Escape from Tarkov has no recourse against the current wave of cheating. There are clips of wall hacks, auto-aim, no-clipping through walls, hovering to get rid of footsteps, infinite health, and other cheats that are so strange it's impossible to see what's actually going on. And the worst part is that most Escape from Tarkov players just die instantly, with no opportunity to escape or counter cheaters before losing all of their gear and loot.
There are contributing factors to the current controversy, of course. Escape from Tarkov went through a server wipe and new update less than two weeks ago, which always brings back a surge of players. A special Twitch drops event is also ongoing. Speaking of Twitch, major streamers including Shroud and Summit1G have been playing a lot, which also brings in new players. Both players have also had encounters with cheaters recently.
There's a reason that Battlestate Games has kept Escape from Tarkov in Early Access since 2017. Battlestate has a vision for its game that it hasn't arrived at yet, and dealing with cheaters is clearly one area that isn't up to expectations. While the game remains massively popular, it is unclear how much will players put up with before they stop playing. There is also no telling how long before another game that does what Escape from Tarkov does except without cheaters comes along. Hopefully, Battlestate addresses these concerns sooner rather than later.
Escape from Tarkov is available now on PC.