Even though the game is now a few years into it's closed beta, Escape from Tarkov has experienced a rise in popularity recently due to some popular streamers on Twitch showing off their crazy John Wick-like skills. The Russian-made action RPG has players trying to escape the titular city by working for private military companies, each with their own different agenda.
While the game provides plenty of action, role-playing, and loot drops, some players are worried that once the full game comes out it will be riddled with microtransactions, like so many other modern shooters. Coming as a surprise to many, Escape from Tarkov's project lead Nikita Buyanov has said this will not be the case.
According to an interview from 2016, Buyanov has said Escape from Tarkov will be "a traditional, full-purchase," so players won't have to worry about any new content, equipment, or updates being hidden behind a paywall. A pretty surprising move considering this is the same developer that just a year ago took down YouTube videos en masse for being negative about Escape from Tarkov. So, how much will this full-purchase cost? There are currently a few editions available for pre-order on the official website. The Standard Edition costs $44.99 and comes with a few starter items.
Of course, there are also more expensive advanced editions which come with more items and a bigger stash, where players store their in-game loot after completing raids. Some skeptical players have started to question whether or not the pre-order model is itself a "pay to win" mechanic, due to the more expensive editions granting players more items and larger stash sizes. However, most other players agree that the game's high-stakes perma-loss system does enough to level the playing field for all players.
Bucking the more common trend amongst many other AAA shooters, Buyanov and the rest of Battlestate Games seem confident that the full price of the game alone should be enough for the studio to turn a profit. Of course, this means the Russian studio will be relying entirely on initial sales of Escape from Tarkov. Despite it's current popularity with streamers like Dr DisRespect, the MMOFPS could end up getting overlooked by other shooters once the full game finally releases. If sales aren't high enough, it could mean significantly slower development of updates in the future.
However, since Escape from Tarkov is an indie game developed and self-published by a small studio, Battlestate Games doesn't need to make as large a profit as AAA shooters do. Part of the reason why so many modern shooters have microtransactions is they need to make a larger profit for their parent companies, like Call of Duty's Activision and Star Wars: Battlefront's EA. A lot of that profit also goes to marketing and investors, whereas indie developers like Battlestate Games only need to worry about paying themselves and keeping their game running.
The closed beta for Escape from Tarkov is currently available on PC from the game's official website. The full game's release date has yet to be announced.
Source: GameSpot