'Escape From Tarkov' Economy Is Tanking Due To Sanctions On Russia

As the current crisis unfolds between Russia and Ukraine, the whole world is facing consequences of the invasion in varying ways. Of course, the threat on people’s safety is absolutely the most pressing and important issue to focus on, but the impact on the economy is also influencing one game in a way you wouldn’t expect.

In case you weren’t familiar, Escape from Tarkov is a first-person shooter from the Russian studio, Battlestate Games. Something that makes it very unique is its in-game economy, which is intrinsically tied to the real world one - as trading fluctuates in reality, the same goes for the game’s marketplace. 

As reported by The Loadout, as a result of so much of the world placing Russia under sanctions in response to the invasion, and the removal of the country’s banks from the global payment system SWIFT, the real value of the Russian currency, the rouble, has dropped massively - by around 30%, to be exact. As such, the value of it has dropped in Tarkov, too.

On the game’s market, it seems that all the listings for gear and weapons are now being sold for euros, dollars, and basically anything other than roubles. At the minute, selling anything for the Russian currency is basically just asking for a lower return, and so players have been having to adapt - although as TheGamer notes, this has been significantly affecting new players who don’t have much in the way of alternate currency. 

As The Loadout has pointed out though, this isn’t something that we can really expect the devs to ‘fix’ - reportedly, the only time they took action was when Bitcoin values were going super high, so it doesn’t seem likely they’d do anything this time. 

It goes without saying though that there are much bigger issues surrounding the Russia and Ukraine crisis than the impact on the marketplace in a video game. If you want to do your bit to support Ukraine, right now, a number of game developers are currently donating their profits from certain games towards humanitarian aid efforts - check out our list here. Alternatively, you can donate directly to the British Red Cross’ Ukraine Crisis Appeal here.