Escape from Tarkov is an incredible mix of shooter mechanics and a rather interesting commitment to realism. The shooter has a rather interesting potential with a growing PC playerbase, but can that grow? So what’s coming? Is Escape from Tarkov coming to consoles? The game will likely come out of its current phase at some point, but it’s not entirely clear what the future holds.
Well, the FPS was originally made available to PC users when it launched back in August 2016, and then it went into a closed beta period the next year. After the July 2017 beta the game has been in a bit of a holding pattern. For now, the game has only been on PC, and there’s clearly some stuff to change and improve.
So far, no plans have been announced, other than previous statements. There was a 2015 FAQ suggesting that a console version was in consideration. But the reality is that there’s seemingly no movement on that. As of now, the plan looks to be to complete and refine the existing MMO features and other content before rolling it out to other platforms.
DayZ, a game in a similar state to Escape from Tarkov, did eventually jump over to the likes of the PS4 and Xbox One. But of course, that hasn’t happened for this particular game. There are some things standing in the way as well, so let’s talk about that.
The biggest impediment to the game moving to consoles is the core gameplay loop. The online structure of the game requires multiplayer, which all console makers charge for. That’s not all either. The nature of the gameplay itself is very much dependent on mouse and keyboard. Everything from shot precision to inventory management are reliant on the keyboard and mouse setup to allow for quick and easy play.
Porting complex games like 4X strategy game Stellaris do happen, so it’s very much possible. If the developers put in the work, it’s possible that we could see a console port.
