Escape from Tarkov devs won’t call its controversial PvE mode DLC, but it is making it free for players who own a now delisted edition of the game

After facing controversy over an incredibly pricey Escape from Tarkov gamemode, Battlestate Games has decided to release it for free after all – kind of.

Earlier this week, Battlestate Games made the quite baffling decision to announce that Escape from Tarkov’s upcoming PvE mode will cost a whopping $267 for new players, which obviously did not go down well with the game’s community. Further frustrating was the fact that those who owned the Edge of Darkness edition were meant to get all future DLCs for free, except that edition has now been delisted, and those who do own that version of the game would still have to pay $100 to upgrade to the new Unheard Edition. It’s a ridiculous amount of money for not even a full game, just a single mode, and following the reaction, it seems like Battlestate Games has changed its mind on how it will be selling the mode, mostly for the better.

Update on current situation
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Battlestate Games studio head Nik Buyanov shared a post on the game’s official subreddit to “clarify the situation.” According to Buyanov, the PvE gamemode “is not DLC. DLC in our understanding is the major additions to the game, including various functionality and content that are released after the official release of the game as a themed DLC pack (Scav Life DLC for example, which will add a lot of new mechanics and content for Scav gameplay and levelling).”

Buyanov also explained that because the PvE mode is “necessarily located entirely on a separate network infrastructure” it “is not possible” to give Edge of Darkness owners early access to the mode. However, the developer is making it so that all Edge of Darkness owners will get the mode for free when it launches with the full release of the game. Edge of Darkness owners will also be able to purchase early access to the mode at a 70% discount, though a price for this hasn’t been set so it’s yet to be determined how generous that is, and they’ll also be able to upgrade to the Unheard Edition at a 50% discount (which is still about $130, don’t forget).

Overall, a mixture of weird choices, and again the game’s community has not responded well to Buyanov’s statement, but for now we’ll just have to wait and see how the mode actually plays.