Escape from Tarkov has been on a blitz lately with its name abuzz, viewership of the game on the rise on Twitch, and higher enrollment of active players. This is despite the fact the game has been playable in Alpha and Beta forms for a while now and is by no means a new game in that regard. There are a few obvious reasons for its sudden rise in popularity, as well as some more subtle and systemic reasons, all of which are potential mixtures of organic growth and initiatives taken on by the game's developers.
Escape from Tarkov is a survival simulator, in a similar vein to others such as DayZ but with a uniquely rich backstory in a lawless Northwestern Russian city engulfed in warfare between two main mercenary factions. As each player picks the role of a mercenary, or PMC as they are called, they essentially decide to desert the war campaign by and large, with the goal of collecting the best loot and technology leftover within its premises, while trying to escape the city alive. This is the main goal of the game.
Similar to most other online survival games, death has harsh consequences in Escape from Tarkov. It often results in a player losing all or most of the equipment, including the initial equipment they chose to take with them into the raid, or mission. Most often, players can not re-obtain gear or loot after dying, except in a few specific circumstances. This quickly makes the stakes climb higher as the player collects more and better gear in a raid, raising the potential cost of death and making victory all the more rewarding, which fosters some serious anxiety-inducing intensity in the gameplay.
Escape from Tarkov recently became a hit sensation on Twitch, with viewership over 275,000 in numbers in recent times, largely thanks to loot drops. The developers created a feature in which active players can obtain in-game loot for Escape from Tarkov by merely observing gameplay streams of particular Twitch gamers who are partnered with the service.
The final day for Twitch's loot drops was January 5, as part of a New Year's event. It will be interesting to observe whether the game can maintain its pace in establish a long-term rise in prominence within the niche genre of online survival games, but since then, it has stayed strong. Prominent Twitch streamers such as DrDisrespect and DrLupo have continued their Escape From Tarkov streams, and the community still appears enthralled by it, as tens of thousands of viewers still tune-in to their near-daily streams.
DrDisrespect's humorous personality, oddball look, and charisma draw many viewers to his content. While the last couple weeks of his streams include an array of shooting titles, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and PUBG, Escape from Tarkov still appears to be the most prominent of his streaming gameplay sessions, especially in the last week heading into mid-January.
This suggests Escape from Tarkov could be a serious contender and mainstay within online shooters and survival games and was not entirely dependent on loot drops which ended nearly two weeks ago. DrDisrespect has expressed much enthusiasm for the Escape from Tarkov, describing its pace as more of a satisfactory and intense build-up, rather than all-out chaos similar to the likes of Call of Duty.
Benjamin 'DrLupo' Lupo, on the other hand, is still almost exclusively playing just Escape from Tarkov for the last two weeks, based on his recent Twitch streams. DrLupo has gained prominence over the last year due to in-game drop activation for viewers. But he is also a very opinionated individual on social media, often utilizing other platforms as well to provide followers his views on games.
DrLupo recently went to Twitter to express his enthusiasm for Escape from Tarkov, describing the game as fulfilling a level of satisfaction for game streaming that he has not felt in some time. His overall viewership on his channel also appeared to double, approximately, as his Escape from Tarkov gameplay sessions gained more traction, suggesting that the game and the streamer in this case were both providing leverage for each other in their own right.
In other words, while DrLupo certainly helped foster attention towards Escape from Tarkov among gamers who may never have heard of the game previously, the game also drew more viewers for DrLupo as well, perhaps from some of the game's already established community of players and viewers.
A high quantity of less prominent streamers, such as Deadlyslob, have also helped establish a hard knit community in both the short and long term. While Deadlyslob does not draw thousands of views per video in similarity to DrLupo and DrDisrespect, one could say he has been streaming Escape from Tarkov before it was trendy to do so. He is one of many examples of players that have helped create an overall sustainable community for the Russian Escape from Tarkov for a much longer period of time by demonstrating helpful skills to get better at it, and paying close attention to his chat window and engaging with his audience very actively, as can be observed in his streams.
Many other streamers, such as Summit1g continue to make Escape from Tarkov their recent mainstay up until the present moment, as thousands of viewers tune in and the momentum does not appear to have slowed down. But one matter that is perhaps harder to gauge is whether the high viewership on Twitch, and its community of streamers, is proportionately reflective of a sizable gameplay base that is growing. Actual numbers of active players are much more difficult to measure.
As has been the case with other online survival games such as DayZ, and partly in similarity to asymmetrical online games in general as well, people often find joy in watching people play these games, which almost resemble real-life simulations of societal conflict and lawlessness at times. However, while these games can be enjoyable to observe, the same people who view the games may not always enjoy playing them as heavily or actively, due to the tension, anxiety, stress, and at times, unfairness, involved in succeeding in the game.
Often times, a player has no real way to determine whether another player will work with them or against them, and life or death is sometimes luck, to a degree. People do not always want to invest their energy into these types or paradigms, and this applies to both casual players who will more easily burn out as a result, as well as competitive players who want the end-result to be more reflective of their absolute skills.
This may also explain, to a degree, why the online survival genre mostly tends to stay within the fringes of the mainstream, at best, and why large game companies have not invested heavily in the genre. For the time being, however, Escape from Tarkov has at least carved out its niche within the mainstream gameplay streaming communities online, while it has also proved itself a serious contender among actual gamers within the niche paradigm of online survival shooter games, and also presenting something very unique and game-changing from the usual PVP and Battle Royale formula as of late. While the momentum continues, we will have to wait and see whether Escape from Tarkov shifts up or down in gear over the coming weeks or months.
Escape from Tarkov is currently in Beta on PC and can be accessed by pre-ordering the game on its official website.