In an interview, Nikita Buyanov, the game director of Escape From Tarkov and head of Battlestate Games, said that he does not like it when people play the controversial PvE mode, and that he would rather people stick to the classic PvP mode.
The interview was with Russian channel Луцай, with English language subtitles added to the video. So before getting to the quotes, there is a chance that there may be some things that are lost in translation. But when talking about the punishing nature of Escape From Tarkov, Nikita revealed that he does not like people playing the PvE mode so they can play solo.
“We really have a lot of people who want to play PvE so that no one bothers them,” said Nikita. “Which I actually don’t like! I want people to play PvP. Because this is there, this is confirmation, for me at least, that… ‘wow, she plays directly online, she’s not afraid of anyone.’”
I actually agree, somewhat, with the point Nikita is trying to make. I love Tarkov because it is punishing, and a bad session on Tarkov can leave you thoroughly dejected. But it’s those moments that make the successes feel even better, and, in my experience at least, it doesn’t happen as much in PvE. If I solely played PvE I feel it’s a little too easy to make the big wins feel like true achievements, and that is what keeps me coming back to Tarkov almost every wipe.
Of course, the flip side of this is that players can, rightly, choose the style that works for them. If PvE is what you enjoy the most, then more power to you, and I hope you have fun. Having the mode there seemingly takes nothing away from the PvP mode and gives players more options, which is never a bad thing.
Elsewhere in the hour-long interview, Nikita revealed that over 350 people are working on Tarkov in one way or another, confirming that Battlestate Games is, by now, a very large studio. With both the main Tarkov game and Arena in active development that isn’t too much of a surprise, especially with how popular Tarkov remains to this day. But as Nikita mentions in the interview, some fans still seem to believe that it is just a small team working on the game.
The other interesting bit of information was Nikita confirming what most people suspected, that having to give Valve a significant cut of all sales is the main reason why Tarkov is not on Steam, or any other platforms for that matter. While there has been muted suggestions before that Tarkov could one day find its way onto the store, this comment suggests that likely won’t be the case unless Valve changes its policies on how much of a cut they can take.
