Nikita Buyanov says Escape From Tarkov is still his main thing, even as Fragmentary Order moves ahead
Escape From Tarkov players can chill a bit. After the reveal of new sci-fi shooter Fragmentary Order sparked worries that Tarkov creator Nikita Buyanov might be shifting focus, he has now come out and clarified that the new game is not replacing Tarkov.
In a social media post, Buyanov said Fragmentary Order is being made by a separate company that he created, staffed by people from around the world. At the same time, he stressed that Escape From Tarkov is still a major part of his life and that he is continuing work on it with the Battlestate Games team.
His message was very direct: "Tarkov for life."
That clears up one of the biggest concerns floating around the community. Ever since Fragmentary Order was announced, some fans were unsure how closely it was tied to Tarkov and Battlestate Games. Buyanov had already said earlier that the new project was not connected to BSG or Tarkov, but that did not fully stop the speculation. A lot of players still wondered if this was the start of him slowly moving away from Tarkov.
Based on his latest explanation, that does not seem to be the case.
Instead, Fragmentary Order sounds like a passion project Buyanov has wanted to make for a long time. He said he has always dreamed of creating a proper hard sci-fi game, and that the idea has been in his head for years. He also described wanting to build a new universe with a future-predicting angle, while still trying to add something fresh to the genre, similar to what he believes Tarkov did for hardcore shooters.
Buyanov also admitted this decision makes his life "twice as difficult," but said he chose to go for it now rather than risk never making something new later on.
For Tarkov fans in Malaysia and the wider SEA region, that is the real takeaway here. Hardcore FPS communities here are small compared to the big mainstream titles, but they are super dedicated. Tarkov has built a loyal audience among players who love high-stakes gunfights, loot tension, and that brutal learning curve. So naturally, any hint that the game's creator might be stepping back was always going to set off alarm bells.
It also matters because SEA players are usually the first to feel it when support or development momentum slows down. If a live-service or long-running PC shooter loses direction, regional players can end up dealing with longer waits, fewer updates worth caring about, or a shrinking player ecosystem. Buyanov's statement does not solve every concern, but it does at least signal that Tarkov is still actively part of his plans.
There is still one big mystery around Fragmentary Order, though: what kind of shooter is it actually?
The premise apparently involves fighting across an intergalactic setting to recover information and valuable items, which obviously makes people think of the extraction genre straight away. That would be the easy assumption, especially because Buyanov's name is so closely tied to Tarkov. But when a fan asked if Fragmentary Order would be an extraction shooter, his response was basically: why assume that?
So for now, that part is still up in the air.
Maybe it ends up being another brutal loot-focused FPS. Maybe it goes in a different direction entirely. Either way, the important bit right now is that Buyanov is presenting this as an additional project, not a handoff away from Escape From Tarkov.
For SEA shooter fans, especially the hardcore PC crowd, that means there is no need to panic yet. Tarkov is still on his plate, and Fragmentary Order looks more like a risky side ambition than a full-on replacement.
Source: PC Gamer
