Escape From Tarkov Devs Say The Ban Hammer Is Coming For Dataminers

Escape From Tarkov is a hardcore first-person looter-shooter set in the fictional world of Tarkov. With semi-regular updates and changes, players are always looking for an edge to give them an advantage in combat, up to and including data mining the game for stats and other information. However, the developers, Battlestate Games, are not too keen on that taking place anymore and are threatening bans.

Data mining is the process by which players reverse engineer a game, either by means of tearing into the game’s binaries, analyzing network traffic, or otherwise collecting information that might not have normally been public. In the case of Escape from Tarkov (EFT), this might mean collecting boss spawn rates at different locations or publicizing quest information before it is available to the general public.


In an announcement made June 23rd, the EFT developers noted an increase in datamined information making its way around the internet. Given this, they feel the need to remind people that “any data retrieval without official permission is a direct breach” of the license agreement of the game. As such, the company will “start taking action towards all the personalities sharing the datamined information.” This includes both those doing the data mining and the platforms sharing the data.


The day following the announcement, a streamer and EFT personality known for data collection, LogicalSolutions, received a ban from Escape from Tarkov two hours into their stream. While this ban was lifted, it is wholly unclear what Battlestate Games is trying to do with this announcement. We expect it would be difficult to enforce these policies given the cheating and other issues that the game faces. However, a recent tweet from the head developer of Escape From Tarkov might give us some insights.


On the 24th, just before the announcement on data mining, Nikita Buyanov tweeted, “EFT API.” If there is an API coming to Tarkov, the developers might have a plan to make using an API more lucrative than datamining to collect information. However, that cannot be the full story, as the API will likely not have boss information or data on specific items and quests.

As the game grows, it will become more necessary to lock it down to keep it fresh and fair for those who want to experience Tarkov in the way the developers intended. In any event, the community is currently up in arms over this announcement, given the other, perhaps more pressing issues in the game, such as cheaters.