Escape From Tarkov Puts Bounties On Cheaters, Rewards Players For Reporting Them

What better way to incentivize players to help keep the community clean than by offering up a reward? Plenty of online video games have a cheater problem, but sometimes developers need players’ help to track them down. That’s what Escape From Tarkov developer Battlestate Games is doing, offering players in-game currency as a reward for reporting the scoundrels they come across while trying to play the game.

Battlestate Games laid this out in the latest Escape From Tarkov patch notes, which explain that players will receive in-game currency compensation for a report that leads to blocking the violator. Those who successfully report will receive an in-game message confirming the individual they submitted has been blocked, and find some in-game cash in their account. The patch notes don’t say how much fake money players will receive.

As PC Gamer points out, fans have suggested Battlestate Games implement this system before, including on places like Reddit, over a year ago. The responses to the idea were fairly negative, not because the idea was bad, but because some members of the community had little faith in Battlestate Games to implement something that could improve the health of the game. After years of feeling like the studio had not been accommodating to issues players had raised about the game, there was little trust it would be handled well. Well, it finally happened, so time will tell if it will actually move the needle on cheaters.

Escape From Tarkov has been in a bit of hot water as of late after Battlestate Games added a new PvE mode to the game that was paywalled behind a $250 The Unheard Edition. Things got worse when the studio implemented a discounted upgrade path after some folks had already paid the full $250, then only gave players refunds in the form of an in-game currency voucher. The team continued to fumble the bag when it was made clear some weird logistics meant that if you bought something for $30 with that voucher, the remaining $20 would vanish into thin air.

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