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Escape from Tarkov developer will ban dataminers and any players who share "hidden" information

"Illegal infiltration of in-game code and databases" violates the license agreement, says Battlestate Games.

An Escape from Tarkov screenshot showing a masked sniper hiding in long grass.
Image credit: Battlestate

Escape From Tarkov developer Battlestate Games has vowed to ban "all personalities" found to have datamined "information that is intentionally hidden from users" and any players who share it.

In a statement, the studio defined what it believed datamining to be – the practice of "extracting information from massive datasets" and "illegal infiltration of in-game code and databases in order to extract information that is intentionally hidden from users" – and said that "in-game accounts involved in datamining and/or sharing data originating from datamining" will be banned, and "further actions taken afterwards".

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"Throughout the past few years, there was an increase of datamined information circling around various websites as well as accounts on social media," the team explains. "While some players believe that the developers of Escape from Tarkov are not sharing information about hidden changes of the game, we also would like to remind that any data retrieval without official permission is a direct breach of [...] the license agreement."

After explaining what it believes to be the difference between leaks and teasers, BSG went on to add that by "supporting datamining", players are not supporting the game but "the particular person which is behind retrieving the information" and that it wasn't "fair" on the development team to have its work "revealed by a dataminer".

Statement from BSG regarding datamining
by u/saiik in EscapefromTarkov

"From the time of this statement being published, we will start taking action towards all the personalities sharing the datamined information," the statement continues. "This will result in all the in-game accounts involved in datamining and/or sharing data originating from datamining being banned and platforms getting involved receiving warnings."

"Further actions" will also be taken "afterwards", too, but Battlestate stopped short of detailing what, exactly, such actions may entail.

"We do this for the majority of our community who want to enjoy the events, the game and the development of it, as the company intended," it concludes. "We thank you for all your ongoing support and are looking forward to the future of Tarkov and your part in it."

The Escape from Tarkov team also recently shared a document with the public of all the accounts it had banned thus far for cheating.

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