Escape from Tarkov lead admits 1.0 Steam launch was "rough for sure," and problems fixed in the latest version were "not enough"

Escape from Tarkov's game director, Nikita Buyanov, admits on social media that the 1.0 Steam release version is "rough for sure," saying that the bug fixes from the pre-release version are "not enough." He apologizes for the state the game is currently in, and promises to "continue fighting for everything good against the bad."

The closed alpha for Escape from Tarkov launched in 2016, and the full game launched nine years later on November 15, 2025. Looking at the game's Steam page, it currently has a 'Mixed' reception, but if we expand this to reviews in all languages it stands at 'Mostly Negative.'

The most highly rated review on the Steam page, at the time of writing, reads: "This game is still a piece of dogshit, I have been playing for more than 7 years now... HOW THE FUCK YOU CLOWNS CAN RELEASE THIS GAME WITH THE SAME ISSUES FROM WIPE TO WIPE?" The fact that over 500 people gave this assessment the thumbs up shows that many share the sentiment.

Buyanov apologizes on Twitter, writing that "the release was rough for sure, sorry for that", and he also says that the team is "adding more and more servers worldwide to cut matching times." Matchmaking is one of the most common complaints about the 1.0 release, with players claiming that they have to wait several minutes before they can even enter a match.

Adding more servers isn't the only improvement Battlestate Games is planning. "We are also fixing all of the incoming bugs," Buyanov says. "And as I said we will continue to improve and fix the game for the next months." He notes that the team needs to "finally crack" the game's "performance problems, outdated stuff and legacy bugs."

Despite these promises, no timeline has been given for when these necessary bug fixes will take place. Regardless, the dev asserts: "We will continue to provide to you, actual fans of the game, things that you will enjoy."

After 9 years, Escape From Tarkov version 1.0 arrives on Steam full of bugs with obscene matchmaking queues: "I've played 11 hours that recorded on Steam. But I haven't entered the game yet"