INTERVIEW: GamerLegion’s Winning Squad on The Future of Tarkov Arena

Tarkov Arena is making an impact on the world of esports, having entered its closed beta state on December 17 following the deployment of a successful, first-ever tournament. It was a monumental event that saw some top-tier gaming talent take to a stage at DreamHack Hannover, with a whopping €100,000 prize pool hanging in the balance. When the dust had settled, it was GamerLegion that stood victorious, and following the event, we caught up with the squad to get their thoughts on this all-new shooter.

For those not in the know, Tarkov Arena is an offshoot of Escape From Tarkov, an intense, challenging, and deeply realistic extraction shooter that has been around since 2016. It boasts complex ‘military’ mechanics, authentic physics and weapon handling, and it’s notoriously unwelcoming to newcomers, offering almost no ‘hand holding’. Tarkov Arena is a traditional, session-based multiplayer game that uses almost all of these features and mechanics, but it’s perfect for an esports ecosystem, which is being developed.

Let’s hear what GamerLegion had to say after winning the grand prize in the world’s first Tarkov Arena tournament.

To Be The First

GamerLegion has made history by becoming the first-ever Tarkov Arena champion. As a five-man squad, Cocao, ThaTAce, StrngerPing, Codex, and FURL3x stormed to victory against some tough competition, namely Virtus.pro, which was the favourite to win the event. In a dramatic playoff round, GamerLegion was sent down to the lower bracket by Virtus but made a valiant comeback to secure the win in the grand final against the very same team that almost ejected them from the running.

At the time, Tarkov Arena hadn’t been released in any capacity, making it a unique experience for GamerLegion – and every other team involved. That was a sentiment echoed by GL’s Codex when I asked what that felt like:

‘It was interesting and exciting. So many new things you could learn, figuring out and creating metas for Tarkov Arena. It was very exciting to spend hours upon hours daily to learn. Overall the game felt good to compete in, of course, some things can be better, but from a starting point it has good potential.’

For the most part, Escape From Tarkov has struggled to attract a casual audience because the challenge it presents is so off-putting. When I asked ThaTAce about his expectations for Tarkov Arena’s success in today’s esports market, he remained positive despite that fact:

‘I think the game has a good chance to succeed since the comp FPS scene is mainly dominated by tacshooters such as VAL or CS and there’s no competition for realistic shooters like Tarkov. I doubt it’ll be bigger than CS or VAL but I’m pretty sure if the devs change some things it’ll find its niche and do pretty well.’

To The Future of Tarkov Arena

There’s a lot of anticipation around what comes next for Tarkov Arena. At present, fans the world over are wrestling with patience as Battlestate Games rolls out the closed beta in waves, meaning that some players are having to wait longer than they’d like for their shot at the game. For GamerLegion, more than a taste of Tarkov Arena has already been secured, and the team is eager to do more in the space, according to FURL3X:

‘I am very excited about the future tournaments and the competition in Tarkov Arena, we want to work and become the best team in the world. We love it.’

I also caught up with Battlestate Games’ Head of PR, Dmitri Ogorodnikov, who assured us that more information will be delivered very soon:

‘In January we’ll announce a detailed plan for esports in Arena, with places, prize pools, and everything – so please wait for it.’

There’s an exciting future in store for Tarkov Arena and for Tarkov fans the world over. I can’t wait!