After eight years of wipes, bugs, and beta status, Escape from Tarkov is finally getting its full release. Battlestate Games has confirmed that EfT version 1.0 will go live on November 15, 2025, nearly a decade after the game first entered early access. But despite the big milestone, many long-time players are skeptical, and not without reason.
Escape from Tarkov 1.0 drops one day after Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, one of the biggest FPS launches of the year. Whether this is a bold statement or just unfortunate timing, it puts Battlestate Games under serious pressure.
They have three months to prove they can pull this off — and finally deliver the version of Tarkov fans have been waiting for since day one.
A Decade of Beta Comes to an End in Escape from Tarkov
Since 2017, Escape from Tarkov has built a reputation as both a genre-defining extraction shooter and one of the most punishingly hardcore games on the market. With over 400 patches rolled out over the years — from map overhauls to full economy resets — Tarkov has lived in a strange limbo between early access and full release.
Battlestate’s new announcement finally gives players a real date to look forward to, but it didn’t come with gameplay footage or system overviews — just a cinematic trailer and one bold promise: everything new will drop with 1.0.
Is Escape from Tarkov 1.0 Really Ready?
That’s the big question. The game’s most recent update in August introduced new bugs, audio glitches remain unfixed, AI is still inconsistent, and the server issues are as frequent as ever. Add to that a controversial “hardcore wipe” that removed quests and disabled most maps — and the result is a community that’s more nervous than excited.
Even Battlestate CEO Nikita Buyanov is still asking players for last-minute feedback on what to test before release. Some see this as community engagement. Others see red flags.
Escape from Tarkov Gameplay and Cheaters Changes
Cheating remains Tarkov’s biggest issue, and 1.0 won’t fix that overnight. Thousands of bans are issued monthly, yet lobbies are still plagued with suspicious kills and wallhacks. There’s also concern that the full release might signal reduced support going forward, as Battlestate shifts focus to other projects like Tarkov: Arena. On the content side, the studio still owes players several long-promised EfT features:
- A story campaign that finally explains what “escaping Tarkov” actually means
- New maps and expansions
- Movement and engine reworks
- Weapon additions and PvE changes
For now, all of that is “coming with 1.0” — but there’s still no gameplay proof to back it up.