Escape from Tarkov is planning to launch its biggest map ever later this year. Called "Streets of Tarkov," the new raid will feature between 30 and 40 players, a vast increase over the typical Escape from Tarkov map.
Currently, Escape from Tarkov maps can have up to 14 players and several NPCs. Streets of Tarkov, however, will boost that player count far beyond anything players have seen. The plan is to release Streets of Tarkov with the game’s 0.13 update alongside several other gameplay improvements.
We got our first look at Streets of Tarkov during yesterday’s TarkovTV Live stream. "It will not be the whole planned chunk of the city, it will just be some area," said Battletate games COO Nikita Buyanov. "It still will be really big in terms of different buildings, exploration and everything – and it will be constantly updated and expanded to the final quality that we plan for the Streets of Tarkov."
Buyanov explained that the "first iteration' of Streets of Tarkov will likely have just 20 PMCs as Battlestate first ensures the new map doesn’t break Escape from Tarkov’s networking. "There is a really big task related to networking," he said. "There is a BIGGER task to optimize it and make it playable on the current configurations.
"The main challenge right now is to make it playable in terms of performance and in terms of network performance because as I promised before, it must be playable with at least 30 or 40 PMCs and a lot of Scav AI [and] bosses," Buyanov added.
Buyanov also noted the coming update will include revamped audio, an expanded storyline, more hideouts, and rebalancing some skills.
Earlier this spring, Battlestate revealed Escape from Tarkov Arena will begin beta testing later this year. In yesterday's livestream, Buyanov revealed that there will be four arenas at the standalone game's launch, and it will arrive "ready to use in esports."