Escape from Tarkov Won't Add Playable Females Because It's Hard Work

Escape from Tarkov, a PC title from Battlestate Games, has been around for a while (around two years, as a matter of fact), but you’re only hearing about it now because one of their recent publicity stunts - which involved people getting in-game loot by watching someone stream the game, went far, far better than anyone could have expected. A few Twitch streamers realized the game is actually pretty great, people started playing it, and the whole thing basically unfurled like a marketer’s wet dream.

And while it’s good for the Escape from Tarkov team to get all this publicity, now that the public has their eye on the game, expectations are way, way  higher. Which is awkward, considering their newfound popularity of the game has caused fans to uncover a 2016 interview from the developers, who claimed that there are no playable female characters in Escape from Tarkov because… and this is a direct quote: “We came to the conclusion that women are not allowed to be in the war.” When the interviewer pointed out that women are in the military, they responded with: “We came to the conclusion that women can't handle that amount of stress. There's only place for hardened men in this place.”

That, uh, is what we in the business call a “big oof.”

Now, BattleState games has gone to Twitter to apologize, saying that the employee who made that statement was misinformed and reprimanded (even though many people on Twitter were doing the usual “ugh SJW” song and dance), but then also clarified that they were never going to add female characters to the game.

Because it’s a lot of work.

Given that Battlestate is a smaller studio, it’s hard to give them the kind of flack Ubisoft rightfully received when they made a similar statement back in 2014. Still, game design is a lot of work, guys. If that’s what stops you from doing a job well, maybe consider doing something else.