Survival shooter Escape from Tarkov isn’t available in China, but it’s popular anyway

Some Western gamers accuse Chinese players of cheating and want a region lock… but the game already has one

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Survival shooter Escape from Tarkov isn’t available in China, but it’s popular anyway

Published: 1:29am, 27 Feb 2020Updated: 3:20am, 27 Feb 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

After a major overhaul, Escape from Tarkov has suddenly become one of the most popular games of 2020. The 3-year-old ultra-realistic shooter on PC was developed by small Russian studio Battlestate Games, but it’s now amassing more views on Twitch than Fortnite and League of Legends.

The game’s popularity is also catching on in China now that it supports Chinese. At the time of publication, the game had double the views of Apex Legends on Douyu, China’s largest live-streaming site. And it had five times more views than Monster Hunter: World.

Now that surging popularity in China is starting to get on the nerves of gamers outside the country. People on Reddit called for a region lock to keep Chinese gamers from logging on to the game because they think Chinese gamers use software to help them cheat.

Ironically, Escape from Tarkov already has a region lock -- and Chinese gamers are just as angry about the cheaters.

Escape from Tarkov prides itself on being extremely realistic -- so much so that you can trigger friendly fire. (Picture: Battlestate Games)

Escape from Tarkov has some similarities with PUBG, but they’re different in many ways. Both are realistic shooters in which players are trapped in a location and have to survive by looting and scavenging weapons, but Escape from Tarkov isn’t a battle royale in which the last man or team standing wins. Escape from Tarkov allows multiple survivors as long as they manage to find the right extraction points located inside the fictional city of Tarkov.

Similar complaints about Chinese cheaters have arisen among players of other games, such as Apex Legends, and many Chinese gamers sympathise with them. They point out that many gamers in the country have used cheats to get famous on live-streaming platforms.