Escape From Tarkov Gets Hit by Hardcore Wipe, While EFT: Arena Sees Partial Wipe

Extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov received patch 0.16.8.0, bringing Hardcore Wipe, while Escape from Tarkov: Arena got patch 0.3.2.1 with a Partial Wipe on July 8, 2025.

In addition to the details of Escape from Tarkov’s Hardcore Wipe, which were previously outlined by the developer in a roadmap via a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) and reported in full by Gaming.News, the game won’t feature any quests for an unspecified period of time, except dailies and weeklies, according to the head of the studio behind the game, Nikita Buyanov. On top of that, according to a statement from Buyanov, the chances of key spawns in the game were increased, and a new spawn point for them was added.

According to the patch notes, Escape from Tarkov got balancing adjustments to trading mechanics, AI behavior, in-game tasks, skill gain, availability of weapons, equipment, loot and a Flea Market.

The game also received several planned stages of progression, along with additional changes.

The update also added two new Prestige levels with exclusive rewards, such as new PMC character voices and outfits, new mannequin poses for the Gear Rack, new posters for the Hideout, new target styles for the Shooting Range, new Hideout customization options and new Dogtag styles.

On top of that, following the Wipe, after earning Prestige 3 and 4, skills and weapon mastery will have their progression preserved by 15% for Prestige 3 and 20% for Prestige 4, while weapons, helmets, armor and attachments will become available for Prestige item transfer.

The AK-50 anti-materiel sniper rifle was added to Escape from Tarkov, along with a related task chain for those who want to obtain it.

The update also fixed several issues with sound occlusion and incorrect audio propagation in all locations.

It is worth noting that the PvE mode wasn’t affected by the Hardcore Wipe changes.

As for Escape from Tarkov: Arena, the Partial Wipe reset character level, skills, weapon mastery, stash, in-game profile statistics, unearned achievement progress, trader loyalty level and standing.

Meanwhile, armory progress, BattlePass progress, presets, weapon builds, earned achievements and ARP rating remained unchanged.

As of the time of writing, Escape from Tarkov, developed by Battlestate Games for Windows PC, has over 1.2 million monthly active users and around 261,000 daily players, according to ActivePlayer. Also, since its closed beta launch on July 27, 2017, the game reached a milestone of over 10 million registered players.

Escape from Tarkov is set in the fictional Norvinsk region of northwestern Russia, in the midst of a war between two private military companies: United Security (USEC) and the Battle Encounter Assault Regiment (BEAR).

The game features three different modes: online PMC raids, scavenger raids titled Scav and a temporary offline training mode without progression or loot gains.