Tag: Escape From Tarkov

I can’t imagine that Battlestate Games thinks there is any possibility of them coming out of this on top.

It must be the end of the year, because everyone’s favorite “Worst Developer of 2018” awards are coming up on your choice Youtube channels and Battlestate Games has decided to make a last minute entry. The Russian developer behind Escape from Tarkov, a tactical first person shooter, recently issued at least 47 DMCA takedown notices against a Youtuber named Eroktic for spreading false information regarding a data leak and due to his criticisms of the game itself.

As part of an effort to dig its grave deeper, Battlestate Games has made several posts confirming that it had in fact filed the spurious DMCA takedowns against Eroktic to silence what they call “negative hype” and because Eroktic had supported people who took a “hostile” position toward BSG, with hostile translating to “critical.”

“Lately Eroktic decided to settle on the concept of negative hype and started ardently supporting people who obviously designate their position as hostile to us. Eroctic released a video in which he, in a tendentious manner, accused us of incompetence that allegedly led to a leak of two million profile credentials. The video was based on someone else’s document which described the process of obtaining basic information about profile through rating tables (a nickname, ID, statistics from the rating). Nevertheless, after our check we were convinced that no leaks have ever happened. Eroktic began to spread rumor that cheaters can steal your account and get you banned for cheating. All of this was and remains false.”

Right, except this isn’t a copyright claim and you filed a copyright claim to bring the videos down. Youtube, incidentally, has defamation claims you can file against channels that can be used in cases of defamation. Instead of going down that road, BSG decided to abuse the copyright process and commit perjury in the process. Now their chances of being punished? Slim, I would even argue nonexistent especially since they’re a Russian developer.

Thankfully we don’t have to look far to show that Battlestate Games is flat out lying about not being receptive to criticism because they admit to filing the takedown notices due to Eroktic’s “hatred” in the same message. How does one dodge the claim that they are silencing criticism? Refuse to acknowledge the criticism as valid criticism, that’s how.

“The decision to address YouTube concerning video on the Eroktic’s channel had to be made in order to stop misinformation and hatred. Moreover – we did not want and we do not want this person to be associated with our game in the first place. His purposefully destructive actions cannot be considered “criticism” no matter how you look at it. Eroktic has a long history of negative attitude towards our project, the company and players, and with the recent actions he crossed the line.”

The backlash to BSG’s conduct has prompted content creators to begin dropping their coverage of Escape From Tarkov, including the resignation of one Emissary (affiliated content creator), as well as several other Youtubers. Meanwhile, the news revolving around BSG’s conduct has spread all over the web, including to websites that hadn’t previously covered Escape From Tarkov. The result? In its heavy handed attempt to silence criticism, BSG has ensured that more people than ever will see not just the accusation that the game’s data was leaked, but that BSG is willing to abuse the copyright law in order to silence people for criticizing them.

So Battlestate Games took down two videos, and it only cost them their public relations, the good will of their community, an avalanche of negative press coverage, business relations with content creators, and the long term trust of their customers. Hope it was worth it.