Escape From Tarkov studio boss says he "did not foresee" players would get mad about charging extra for PvE

The Escape From Tarkov developers' efforts to escape from a DLC paywall quagmire of their own quagmiring continue with an update and apology from Battlestate chief operational officer Nikita Buyanov, who says he "did not foresee" the adverse reaction to selling a new PvE mode as part of a new special edition, after telling purchasers of a previous edition they'd get "all subsequent DLC" for free.

Are you new to the scandal? You lucky devil! Hey, take a seat, let's go through it in mildly exhausting detail. Actually, let's not. The crux is that last week, Battlestate revealed that a new PvE mode would be exclusive to the $250 Unheard Edition, much to the displeasure of people who'd bought the previous and now delisted Edge Of Darkness edition, which came with the above promise of free future DLC. Edge Of Darkness buyers were offered the Unheard Edition at a discount, in fairness, but still - pretty cheeky.

Facing a backlash, Battlestate argued that the new game mode is not DLC because "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". They also argued that the game doesn't have the server capacity to support everybody playing PvE right now.

Tarkov Escapees were far from appeased by this splitting of hairs (the stuff about server capacity is more convincing), and the developers eventually U-turned over the weekend, promising that everybody would get to play the new PvE mode - but only after the game leaves early access. Now, here's the latest from Buyanov. "First of all, I would like to say that I am very sorry that fans and the game community in general are experiencing these feelings," he wrote in a Reddit post. "Unfortunately, I somehow did not foresee the fact of such a reaction and now I have drawn conclusions for my future decisions." He also thanked players "for your time, love and hate, and thank you for your increased attention to the current situation".

Battlestate have decided to let Edge Of Darkness edition buyers into the forthcoming PvE mode for free, Buyanov added, but only in waves so as not to overload the game's current server capacity. "We will start this process as soon as possible", he wrote. They'll still be selling the Unheard Edition, despite calls to remove it, "but we will balance items, perks in this edition, as well as we will provide more rewards for those, who upgraded with the old price". They're also working on mod support for the PvE mode.

As for the older Edge Of Darkness edition, it'll continue to receive updates and additions. "New EoD perks will be balanced too," Buyanov wrote. "We will remove prioritized matching option to keep everyone in the same spot. And we will add more unique stuff to highlight the EoD version in general." Expect a final list of those new Edge of Darkness perks shortly. What do you think - have they U-turned enough?

The above notwithstanding, Escape From Tarkov is by most accounts quite well-made - a brutish pseudo-military shooter and a generous source of anecdotes about, say, toilet roll. It's currently 9th on our list of the best survival games on PC.