Extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov is finally approaching its 1.0 full launch and a Steam release, but the good news has been slightly dampened for some players since playing on Steam will require buying the game again.
This week, developer Battlestate Games released a Q&A covering Tarkov's impending Steam launch. Right near the top, it confirms that, "To play Escape from Tarkov through Steam, you must purchase any edition of the game on Steam." You will also need to fully reinstall the game via Steam.
"You can then link your existing Battlestate Games account with an active copy of the game to your Steam profile," the dev continues. "If the editions differ, it will automatically use the higher edition of the two when launching the game through Steam.
"For example: If you bought the Standard Edition on Steam but your Battlestate Games account already has The Unheard Edition, launching the game through Steam will grant you access to The Unheard Edition profile."
Steam players will be able to link their Battlestate Games account, including their Tarkov characters and progression, and "all users will play on the same servers, regardless of where the game was purchased."
Some disappointed players have pounced on the fact that Tarkov accounts are linked on Steam and the highest-value edition on that account is transferred. "Youre just buying in to play your account on Steam at that point," one user writes in a reply to top post on the Tarkov Reddit community.
"There are no excuses for buying an extra Steam copy just to play from an existing account," user Sovishee argues. "The developer has the tools to hand out Steam keys to players who already own the game outside Steam- as the developers of [Path of Exile] 2 did etc."
Some Tarkov players have pointed to other games which were initially released off Steam, and then offered Steam keys to existing players when they did eventually come to Valve's storefront, like Elite Dangerous. Fallout 76 likewise gave out Steam keys to existing players who linked a Steam account within two weeks of its relaunch. Others have gone to impressive lengths to skewer what's been called "A final f*** off to the fans."
"Tarkov isn't just a game – it's an endurance test to see how many times a loyal fanbase can be slapped in the face before they start asking for another slap," user peterprank reckons in a short video edit.
It's definitely not unheard of – or, to be fair, guaranteed – for games to give out Steam keys, and it can save some money and hassle for the folks who contributed to a game's growth. But it's worth reiterating that, since the game will be functionally identical, the only advantage of playing Tarkov through Steam will be accessing Steam's native features.
Tarkov will support Steam achievements and friend synchronization, but Battlestate says there are no plans to support family sharing, Steam Workshop, or the Steam Deck. You can add the non-Steam version to your Steam library for convenience, but you won't get access to Steam's features.
You don't need to buy the game again to keep playing, but plenty of Tarkov players have wanted to see the game come to Steam for a while because loads of PC gamers just like the convenience of one big library, so this price barrier has rankled some.
There are some limitations on free Steam keys, per Valve's Steamworks documentation, but other developers have clearly made things work in the past. It's possible Battlestate Games is worried about Steam key resellers, but that argument doesn't all that well for a game as big and old as Tarkov.
Some folks have floated the idea that the dev may want a fresh start with Steam reviews, with this buy-it-again approach naturally biasing new and potentially less jaded players, but I'm not convinced this tactic would improve Steam reviews. "This game is gonna get ratioed into the ground on release," one user predicts in yet another post on the topic. With system requirements recommending 64GB of RAM and an "RTX 4070 or better," I wouldn't be surprised.
"I have had Steam for decades and play lots of games on there - but I will personally leave it off Steam if they want me to pay them again," says another user.
