History of Escape from Tarkov in Timeline

By Popular Timelines Editorial Team · Updated: April 26, 2024

Escape from Tarkov is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game set in the fictional Norvinsk region of Russia. The game revolves around a war between two private military companies. Players participate in "raids" where they fight other players and bots to gather loot, survive, and escape the combat zone.

2012: Development Begins

Escape from Tarkov began development in 2012.

August 2016: Closed Alpha Launch

Escape from Tarkov was launched as a closed alpha game that was first made available to select users on August 2016.

December 2016: Extended Alpha Launch

Escape from Tarkov entered extended alpha on December 2016. This stage was available to select users who preordered the game.

2016: No Female Characters Controversy

In 2016, one of the game's developers stated that there would be no playable female characters in Escape From Tarkov.

March 2017: NDA Lifted

The non-disclosure agreement for Escape from Tarkov was lifted in March 2017. This allowed for more widespread coverage of the game via streaming.

July 2017: Closed Beta Launch

Escape from Tarkov entered closed beta on July 2017. This made the game available to all players regardless of the pre-order edition they purchased.

March 2019: Raid Miniseries Premiere

The first episode of the Escape from Tarkov live-action miniseries Raid was released on March 2019.

December 2019: Twitch Account Banned

The Battlestate Games Twitch account was temporarily banned in December 2019 after an employee pointed an empty gun at his head and pulled the trigger on stream.

May 2020: Peak Concurrent Players

Escape from Tarkov hit its peak concurrent player count of 200,000 in May 2020 following the release of a major update.

2020: Clarification on Female Characters

Battlestate Games clarified its stance on female characters in 2020 stating that there would be no female characters due to "game lore and more importantly, the huge amount of work needed with animations, gear fitting, etc."

2020: Crackdown on Real Money Trading

In 2020 the developers of Escape from Tarkov cracked down on real money trading by warning players against "constant distribution of items in raids to other players."