Escape From Tarkov faces backlash over the $250 Unheard Edition, seen by players as pay-to-win with locked PvE content. Gray Zone Warfare emerges as an alternative to Tarkov, but is plagued by early access issues such as unpolished features and bugs. Despite problems, Gray Zone Warfare receives praise for gameplay mechanics and visuals, potentially becoming a competitor in the extraction shooter genre.

While backlash to recent decisions from extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov has caused some players to jump ship, even popular alternatives have pressing issues of their own. Released in 2017, Escape from Tarkov, developed by Battlestate Games, was one of the original pioneers of the popular PvPvE extraction shooter genre which continues to grow with big names like Bungie reviving its Marathon series in the space and swiftly gained popularity for its unique gameplay and unforgiving mechanics. Despite several controversial decisions and ongoing problems, however, the game has mostly managed to retain its relative popularity.