Battlestate Games

Battlestate Games spent July 2026 reshaping Escape from Tarkov around a new live-service structure. On July 9 the studio opened the Expansions Hub, a store that uses TarCoin, a currency earned in raids or bought with real money through Steam or the official site. The store sells costumes, stash expansions, and PvE mode unlocks, and some items previously available only for real money can now be bought with TarCoin. TarCoin no longer takes up stash space and is auto-converted after raids.

Later in July, the studio announced changes to the task system for update 1.1.0.0. The update relaxes the conditions for the Kappa Container, cutting prerequisite tasks to four, raising trader loyalty and Fence reputation requirements, and lowering the effective level to 40. The current Kappa Path achievement will become unobtainable after Season 1 begins. The studio also said the update would overhaul tasks entirely, tying unlocks to trader loyalty levels instead of a linear chain, letting players skip disliked tasks, and shifting rewards toward currency.

Update 1.1.0.0 began installing on August 3, bringing Season 1, Kord Breach, to PC. The season system introduces dedicated season characters separate from PvP and PvE modes, with global modifiers (disabled insurance, an armor shortage, halved crafting times) and personal modifiers that players combine within a cost system. The season runs until December 7, 2026, with progress resetting every four to six months. A free battle pass rewards players for collecting TerraGroup documentation items, with progress shared across PvP, PvE, and season accounts. Side tasks now depend on trader loyalty levels, party members can help progress tasks, a spectator system lets dead PMCs watch teammates, and new weapons include the Norinco QBZ-191 and Howa Type 20. Server maintenance began at 3 PM JST and was expected to last six to eight hours.