Enshittification in Action: Escape from Tarkov's Unheard Edition
Today, EFT's developer Battlestate Games released a new addition to Escape from Tarkov, the Unheard Edition. This is a new pricing tier above the previously retired 'Escape from Darkness' edition, which notably was sold with the bulletpoint of "Including all future DLC". Unheard is incredibly expensive, clocking in at approx. $250 for a new purchaser, or about $100 for someone upgrading from the EoD edition.
What does Unheard include? A very barebones single player or Co-Op PvE mode (EFT is traditionally PvPvE) that replaces the traditionally human-operated PMC opponents with bots crewed by some of the Boss goon's AI routines. Importantly, this 'single player' mode is still hosted on BSG's servers so even starting a single player game requires several minutes of matchmaking time, you can suffer disconnects from the server, and so on. In addition to this there are pay-to-win aspects that touch the existing PvPvE mode such as larger inventory size and an item that prevents the AI mobs from shooting at you until you're closer to them. There are also some unique-to-Unheard-owners items like a new melee weapon and an armband that appear to be Unity store asset flips.
Naturally, corners of the internet that care about this game are in an uproar about this, primarily around the revoked promise of the EoD edition including all future DLCs and the supremely barebones version of the single player mode that BSG has introduced compared to the feature full and modable 3rd party versions of the same, such as SPT or Single Player Tarkov, complete with concerns that BSG will now C&D those projects since they have their own offering.
I just thought it was interesting to see another live running enshittification in progress. In some respects, EFT was in a great place owing to several very good updates in a row and new changes/additions to the game mechanics. This move seems to be purely profit chasing and appears to be poisoning the well at a time when the community generally holds the game in decent regard.
Did they actually sell any copies of the 'Escape from Darkness' version? Because if I understand your post, failing to honour the promise to provide future DLC sounds like it should be solid lawsuit territory even for the most uninformed gamer.
It truly is a shame how the gaming industry has fallen from grace; it used to be the darling of the computer world and the future of art, but it doesn't seem to be seen that way any longer.
I guess I'll just stick to my OpenSpades :)
> Did they actually sell any copies of the 'Escape from Darkness' version?
While I've never seen sales numbers, reportedly the game has sold a couple of million copies and, anecdotally, a good ratio of the more dedicated/hardcore players bought the EoD version for the advantages it brings. On reddit there is the idea of a lawsuit kicking around.
If they would ask 10 bucks a month for good servers without cheaters I wouldn't have a problem. But 100 bucks after they lied about EOD and bring the same thing all over again and not improving the game its just shooting themselves in the foot.