I want to make a point here about discussing the stakeholders section (nikita etc.) as I think this may bring some negative attitudes towards certain people. I believe people deserve to be paid and compensated for their value of bringing an idea to fruition. Otherwise Tarkov would of never existed in the first place or grown to what it is now. So whilst they've been paid a lot I think they deserve the money personally.

Thank you so much for your points! I’m of course honored that you took the time to watch this and break it down, but especially because you provided elaboration on many points I didn’t get the chance to include. This video was originally FAR longer and much more opinionated; it was rewritten and cut down drastically. I agree with every point you made, and I honestly think this acts as a great partner analysis to my video, so again, thank you!

Imagine if they added different variations of the Hideout? Same unlocks, same everything - but graphically different. Subway hideout? Skyrise hideout? Forest cabin hideout? That'd be neat and relatively easy to implement. Wouldn't help you ingame, just give you cosmetics to splurge on.

When a game is 8 years in early access, I dont see why it would be crazy for the player base to become hyper critical about it by that point.

I love the auto-subtitles that tell me this is another "estate for taco" video 👍

No one thinks that the sound system should be finally wrapped up? New and new content, but such a game without competitive audio system is just sad.

Accountant here. Ending a year in a loss position isn't really necessarily a bad thing or an uncommon one. Financial projections and data require year over year trend analysis to really understand the true specifics and while I'm also skeptical about the motives, I think it's important to mention that there's is a heavy cost associated with maintaining a game like this and its server/player base. "Going back on your word" isn't necessarily the bad thing it has been painted as, and if they've realized they need a consistent income stream to ensure that Tarkov stays online, I can say that as a reasonably informed consumer, I can make the logical leaps necessary to understand it. Admitting you were wrong and telling the truth about what's necessary in a modern business environment is something I can commend. Definitely going to be skeptical, but I'm hopeful for the future of it, and am glad to see the barrier to entry reduced slightly.

This was aawesome vid homie, thanks for keeping us up to date

Riloe did a great job with that vid! Thanks Pest for touching on the subject. I don't do microtransactions at all, but if I gotta buy myself a Hideout Pet to help keep my favorite game in the green that seems like a win-win and an easy choice. At the end of the day, it is still a business and making $ while doin what you love is the name of the game. I personally don't think any numbers involving wages were unreasonable, nor do I think Nik and team would straight up let greed interfere with their dream of making something great that has no problem succeeding naturally. IMO.

Arena was a foolish move. Making a new game before the actual one is completed. But now we're here.

This was a great break down and very insightful both your reaction and the original. Thank you for always breaking these videos down and being helpful as always. Much love farther pest

In the video (I have watched it thoroughly) the Cost of Goods sold is grossly misunderstood. That usually includes development costs. I am non qualified accountant (have a degree both accounting and finance). Also completely ignores the fact that the UK entity is used to funnel the goods to several offshore entities to Russia (as Russia is embargoed country).

ty for bringing some light to this amazing creator i’ve following riloe for quite a bit and i think he deserves more exposure ❤

For anyone wondering the creator they copyright striked is called Eroktic the DMCAed all his tarkov videos because he made a video telling people to enable 2FA since there was some backdoor and people were getting their accounts stolen Nikitia didnt like that and issued 47 false copyright claims effectively trying to kill his channel because if you have 3 claims on your account KZfaq will ban the account this was honestly one of the scummiest things Nikita has done and its a shame people have just forgotten about it

To the algorithm and beyond! Great work like always!

Thanks for this as always very comprehensive

I understand. At the same time, micro transactions ALWAYS end up going further than was originally intended. Once the cash flow starts coming in, owners/stakeholders can’t help themselves. Eventually it usually ends up breaking the tone. At first it’s a small amount. Then it slowly but surely builds.

when you love something so much and you see it disappoint you time and time again its not hard to see why people who love it a lot become its harshest critic cause those are the people who want it to be the best it can be.

It’s so nice to see riloe get some attention, probably my favorite tarkov content creator

Good work as always, Pest!

Everyone just glosses over the fact that apparently they sold roughly 900k copies but they definitely have nowhere near the player count to make that seem reasonable without cheating being a HUGE issue.

To go to 1.0 WE NEED SOUNDS REWORK TOO

Thanks for making another great video

great breakdown bro!

I think if the arena was a pure copy of CS they would have succeeded, imagine having a good eco round and then buying an m4 and being able to afford to mod it for that round. But BSG chose to go the Contract Wars way and that game is really popular, or not

“ Game is not supposed to be fun haha “ He was always gonna kill this one.

Thanks for the video.

great video, thanx to Pestily who explained a bit how low quality some videos (about Tarkov) are

Two thoughts: The idea that legitimate player nicro-transactions will compensate for the loss of revenue they make from cheats rebuying accounts is laughable. The fact that a Saint Petersburg based company can get around sanctions by being "based" in London is baffling. I suspect they've just not been investigated yet by HM Govt.

first wipe player here. I agree that Arena was an amazing jumping off point for me to get started in regular eft. My speculation of at least another reason arena flopped was they wiped EFT and people had to get back on that grind. had to make sure they stay ahead of the curve before quests got annoying to do... at least thats my take on it

nicely done. both videos

Thanks for showcasing this situation and video by Riloe. Definitely puts things into perspective for players who want a little shred of knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes.

Yknow, glad Riloe is getting more and more attention these days. He's a great creator, good videos and so on. Despite the focus of the video, he's got some good stuff on gaming as a whole.

Yearly profits(losses) are nothing if we're not looking at retained earnings and the carryover year to year.

Agree that the Riloe vid was a great take Pest. One of the things that drew me to EFT, aside from the game itself, was the fact it seemed to have an older player base on average. As an older gamer I really appreciate a more mature and well considered take on these issues. As long as they don't introduce OP cosmetics like ghillie suits etc, then let players pay for their drip and everyone wins in the end.

Very well done 👍

The community is hyper critical because of the risk/reward system of the game. In most games where u get nothing for losing a 30+ minute "match", the community is going to notice every little thing wrong with the game and shout about it from the mountain tops. Not just games like Tarkov with loot, but league of legends comes to mind also...

I don’t think anything will change with “1.0”

Great video Pestily!

Thank you good sir!!

People talking about audio and cheating, but the biggest problem to me is the performance and frame rate of the game. There is no excuse for a game that looks this bad, and the maps being this small, that this game struggles to get past 100 FPS on a very good machine. To me that is an embarrassment in the industry. I'm not a programmer so I don't know the technical shit involved, but it's almost like each texture is fully modeled on each side and the map is being double rendered. There is something that programmers in BSG are not doing that practically every other first world dev is doing. There is some type of engineering technique that is lacking for this to be happening.

Side Note: His Server Calc is nothing but ridiculous. As Someone who's Job is (for over 1 Decade already btw.) Server-Rent-Scaling for all our Software Partners, i can assure you 300 Dollars per Server if you Rent 5.000+ Servers is nothing but weird, ridiculous and all other words you can find for it. Its realisticly something closer to 20% - 25% of this. I think you should not Report about Things as a Fact if you have no clue - but first get someone interviewed that knows what you try to Communicate.

I joined in late this wipe when i decided to play randomly and was pleasantly surprised by how great the game felt. 180fps+ on almost all maps (except streets), recoil is great, time to kill seems fine.

Riloes videos are top tier.

2019-2021 = peak tarkov I even got kappa once 2021-2024 = I dont even go to max traders anymore

I’m possibly not the first but i think they need to also have a PvE mode that also allowed you to rank up. I know a few friends that would love that option.

Keep up the good content

Recently found out Riloe, glad to see his video on here

This was relaxing to watch in the bath, thanks.

Great vid

I'm glad to see this video get more publicity. He's a really good upcoming content creator.

I’m sad they got rid of that edition because i was going to get it but didn’t realize it was going away.

watched this the other day, Rilogaming puts out great edits. 15:32 did dude clip in a cameo of his cat lol

The original video was very well done and I really enjoyed it. I liked the research he did and I love the narration he did during the video. I agree with you though at the end I think micro transactions is a good move on BSG's part and personally as long as it is limited to cosmetics and stash space I don't care as it beats paying a monthly price for a pay to play scenario and it helps secure the future of a game we all enjoy.

Love your content Pest. Unfortunately, I managed to play Tarkov for over 1k hours and made very little progress. I just never got better, so I quit. Still hurts but I can't force myself to play something as stressful as Tarkov. I don't like how it affects my mental state, which is something I have never encountered in a video game before or since.

Every game I pick up someone else's gun and reload my hands bug and I have disconnect to fix it. Mostly I just die in the first 3 bullets head eyes before I even see anyone.

Love seeing riloe getting the recognition he deserves!

I don’t really play tarkov anymore (started in 2016) but my thoughts are that this would make more sense if the game was at full release. Also perhaps I haven’t seen the correct info but are the stash expansions permanent? As in do they carry over each wipe? Because this means again this is a temporary injection of cash until they add the next micro transaction and there are only so many things you can monetise until it does become p2w.

@pestily If you look at the Statement of Cash Flows for the financial records from dated 1/31/2023, no money was taken out of the company by the shareholders. This does not include the salary paid to Nikitia for him to live/devote his time to the project. But no dividend paid for 2023. There were also no dividends paid in 2022, so the only comp to shareholders would be salaries paid to employees who are also shareholders. In fact, it looks like in 2022, due to the loss for the year, Nikita and Dmitriy took a portion of their salary in an IOU (Almost 5 Million each) This may indicate they are paid over this amount each year in salary, which is also included in the cost of sales figure. Moreover, in the notes, they indicate only one person works in the administration of the back office. This cannot be correct with a multinational business. All the tax implications for sales of digital product in the US alone would require a full time person, or a massive amount of third party contractors inputting this information.

let me ask a few questions. do game Publisher on steam get a discount on server costs, or is that steams part of the deal for the 30% commision? cuz like why didnt BSG put the game up on steam if they arent in it for the money?

One thing that i have yet to see anyone bring up is that they also have or had to pay for licensing all the weapons amd attachments. Almost or no other game uses such a wide variation, high detailed, and trademarked arsenal. That isnt done for free.

Nice cut G

The only way bsg will be able to really help cover costs WILL BE to charge for the server usage, just like many other FPS games have done over the years.

Hi Pestily ! Everything is explained quite well from your point of view. But you have overlooked the part of the original video where he makes an approximate calculation of what BSG spent on the 4 events in which he participated and this is where I think the main controversy is. Nikita invested a lot in the spectacular stands, such as the one in Las Vegas. We are talking about a position that overshadowed those of some AAA companies!!!

Got the game in 2017 and man I want to hope that BSG isn’t gonna be another Ubisoft or EA but how it’s going it feels like it

Last wipe patch and content which brings to the game is amazing, I think there extra space in stash is not P2W more like QOL thing. I would say I would buy even some exclusive clothing tbh thx for vid

i dont understand why they dont sell merch in a shop in the launcher somewhere. or maybe they do and i just havent seen it

Nikita has Archive the Band tshirt. Never expected from him

Where did some of the other maps dissappear to? Terminal is still there but there was like suburbs, town, etc before. Decisions been made to not add these anymore?

How much of this "low flow" is due to A) arena and B) inflation? I do believe it's entirely possible for the no-micro route to still be pulled off. Instead of falling down the cats, stats, and "blue" rabbit hole, you focus on cool new game mechanics similar to the old Battlefield formula. Where this expansion added this faction and their vehicles, that expansion added spec-ops, zip-lines, and grapples etc. Seems a lot more fitting to Tarkov. A hell of a lot cooler than virtual cat-care, boring time-sinks that every other game is doing, and things that make the game easier...

Wasn't there supposed to be a "Special box set" that was to be given to the first group of people that got the limited pack is that still going to be sent out once the game drops

thats the problem with micro transactions is that it always STARTS with a cat or small things or whatever, but as the money slows from the cat dlc, then the next DLC that comes out will be closer to selling weapons and money.

I thought it was fairly obvious that they run the UK incorporated company reported profit very lean and bake a lot of their real profit somewhere it the "Cost of sales" in some way, actually realized in Russia. We don't see the "Cost of sales" broken down in this report to suggest otherwise

Pest makes the BEST reaction videos

I bought Tarkov in 2020. My first thought after playing it was "how are they going to keep the servers up without a monthly fee". Monthly fees are off the menu due to the original sales, but they could do some sort of parallel wipe with a small fee for entry or rentable private servers.

this video and the financial report are very well made videos. My personal opinion on what this game needs is an anti cheat like Valorant's, not because its hyper competitive, but by all accounts, the popularity of the game skyrockets, then the hoard of cheaters come back, and people get sick of it and move on again. That and BSG is what will kill tarkov. Mixed with server issues and all the slight hiccups in game design/bugs only amplifies the frustration in a game based on life and death decisions that only take a few seconds to make. In addition to that, my only real gripe is the Quest progression and how gating good gear works, so an actual cohesive story line like you mentioned, would probably fix a lot of that. Arena probably needs to give access to better gear faster and implement existing Tarkov areas/favorite hotzones as maps, ie: Underground area of Reserve, Dorms 2/3story, Shop to shop fighting in Interchange, etc. That would give new players a way to learn how to fight in Tarkov CQB easier since it is round based and you have more lives to work with quickly, as well as help learn sections of a map so they dont feel so lost.

Arena for me was just meant for practicing fights and mechanics without the risk or the time going back to the stash every time I die. I never thought it would or could be a good standalone competitive e-sports experience.

alternate skins for gear would be cool. like realistic color changes for rigs/body armors you can purchase then apply to that piece of gear as a modifier

My problem with micro transactions for stash space it that it sets a hard/ physical cash value for each slot. RMT'ers (hackers/sellers) will know exactly what they need to make money back on those slots and how much to ensure the're making profit from the base account + the extra slots. Before they had to consider time loss to unlock the rest of the stash space.., now they can stay low till they hit proffit point then start hacking like crazy till they get banned.

Cycle frontier is a perfect example of a game that freaked out and did crazy stuff just to die anyways. I truly believe asking as tarkov sticks to the core game that it was supposed to be from the beginning and make a truly freeroam across all maps then it will succeed. They just need to deliver on what was promised from day 1.

can say, i was never even close to be interested in arena, i couldnt care less even when i own the EoD Edition and i got it included.

Arena has a lot of potential, while yeah it’s an entirely different experience it still has the amazing gun play (while yeah it has some issues with hit registration and ammo types being wonky sometimes) and movement. It could be something great if new maps, gamemodes and classes being actually customizable were brought in. Also make it so that in match there could be loot to turn in so you could change attachments mid game could be a fun way to change your ability to fight if your not able to properly fight the other team. Just some thoughts, I’d love to see arena grow instead of becoming a failed decision.

I think arena is actually a lot of fun, and can get pretty competitive. At least in some the matches I've had, especially when you cap a huge come back in team fight. Sure its a bit clunky at times, but so is main tarkov.

All Im saying is if I could have a case hardened blue gem RPK I would buy it

Great vid for the algo

I wish arena was even more like CS. I wish instead of preset loadouts there was some customization in them or buying gear preround like CS. As an entry point for Tarkov mechanics where you can run whatever gear you can afford I feel like it would make sense as well.

I actually don't mind the idea that they sell useful functionality that doesn't directly impact raids. Offline co op. Maybe a raid review tool. A scenario editor (WOULD LOVE THIS). Cosmetics for the hideout. Additional character slots. Maybe immersive settings that make raids HARDER (i.e., an official hardcore mode, or extract determines next raid location) That kind of thing is vastly preferable to character skins, ruble purchases, etc. Plus, some of these can be sold per-wipe.

Thanks for this video pest!!!

Imagine if they introduced MTX like POE. Not over the top animations, obviously something more realistic like the clothing could even partner with big name brands. Then have Hideout cosmetics and even gun skins, that would be more than enough to make this game float for a looooong time IMO.

Hey got stakeholders and shareholders mixed up but other than that it was a very informative video.

Did anyone else notice they removed the maps Suburbs and Town from this wipe's map select screen, or was that just me? Haven't noticed anyone else even talk about it. I think they just scrapped the idea of making those maps or will just be a DLC or something for the future

Nice

Another option is too look to a single player route and not just online. Where they can save money on more servers and such. I stopped playing online and been playing SPT due to the fact I don’t have time to grind. And don’t even have time to play SPT anymore. But they could possibly add the single player as a dlc and add content into there as the future of SP progress. There is definitely ways they can keep afloat

With all of the money they spent on marketing, I’m wondering whether they could make money selling Tarkov branded merchandise. Imagine being able to buy Killa/Tagilla helmets or an IDEA rig. There could be huge potential there

I think once arena links to main it will be more worth it to the regular joe.

@pestily what would you do if someone you know about is boosting, what would you do ?

I've always thought some kind of MTX was going to come along. There was no way they could keep it afloat without them. I've also felt that there was a plethora of ways they could add them in without making it pay to win (anymore than EOD already was).

Edge of darkness cost about $250-280 in Australia

image you fly away at terminal, only to crash down in woods.

have to say, it already had p2w tones from EoD kit, try with small "assbox" after you had gamma container