Arena Breakout: Infinite and Escape from Tarkov are the two hardcore PC extraction shooters people compare most, and in October 2026 they line up more closely than ever. On Steam at 03:00 UTC on October 23, 2026 we counted 14,814 players in ABI and 14,697 in Tarkov, almost exactly the same. They still cost and play very differently: ABI is free, has no stash wipes and is easier to get into, while Tarkov costs $49.99, has a much deeper simulation and now runs seasonal resets alongside permanent characters.
This guide compares the two side by side, with every number pulled from Steam or the official patch notes, and finishes with a simple way to decide which one to play.
Checked on October 23, 2026. Arena Breakout: Infinite is in Season 7: Utopia (live since September 16, 2026). Escape from Tarkov is on patch 1.2.0.0 (released October 6, 2026) during Season 1: KORD BREACH (since August 3, 2026). Prices, specs and player counts come from the Steam store and Steam's API for app 2073620 (ABI) and app 3932890 (Tarkov).
⚡ TL;DR: Arena Breakout: Infinite vs Tarkov (October 2026)
Price: ABI is free-to-play. Tarkov is $49.99 on Steam, and its separate PVE Zone is another $29.99.
Wipes: ABI resets season rank, seasonal missions and other seasonal progress, not your stash. Tarkov's Seasonal characters reset every 4–6 months, while its PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters don't.
PvE: Tarkov has a full, paid PvE Zone. ABI has ticket-based PvE modes like No Man's Land and the Season 7 co-op Zombie Endless mode.
PC specs: ABI runs on a GTX 960 and 12 GB RAM. Tarkov needs a GTX 1660 and 16 GB RAM, and recommends an RTX 4070 and 64 GB.
Anti-cheat: ABI uses Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE) and publishes ban numbers every two weeks. Tarkov uses BattlEye.
Pick ABI if you have limited time or money. Pick Tarkov if you want the deepest simulation and will put in hundreds of hours.
How do Arena Breakout: Infinite and Tarkov compare at a glance?
| Arena Breakout: Infinite | Escape from Tarkov | |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Morefun Studios (Tencent) | Battlestate Games |
| 1.0 release on Steam | September 15, 2025 | November 15, 2025 |
| Price (Steam, US) | Free-to-play | $49.99 (PVE Zone add-on $29.99) |
| Platforms | Windows PC only (Steam, Epic, official launcher) | Windows PC only (Steam, BSG launcher) |
| Current content | Season 7: Utopia (since Sep 16, 2026) | Patch 1.2.0.0 (Oct 6, 2026), Season 1: KORD BREACH |
| Maps | 6 | More than a dozen |
| Stash wipes | No. Season rank, seasonal missions and seasonal progress reset | Seasonal characters reset every 4–6 months. PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters don't |
| Dedicated PvE | Ticket modes (No Man's Land), Zombie Endless co-op | Full PVE Zone (paid add-on) |
| Premium currency | Bonds (cosmetics, battle pass, Secure Case) | TarCoin (sold as Steam DLC from $4.99) |
| Anti-cheat | Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE) | BattlEye |
| Minimum GPU / RAM / disk | GTX 960 / 12 GB / 70 GB | GTX 1660 / 16 GB / 80 GB |
| Steam players (Oct 23, 03:00 UTC) | 14,814 | 14,697 |
The player counts only cover Steam. ABI is also on Epic and its own launcher, and Tarkov also sells through Battlestate's launcher, so the real totals for both are higher. The snapshot was taken in the early morning for Europe and late evening for the US, so peak numbers are higher too.
How much does each game cost?
Arena Breakout: Infinite is free. Steam lists it as free-to-play, and its premium currency, Bonds, buys cosmetics, the battle pass and Secure Case rentals. The bigger point for anyone coming from Tarkov is that you can't buy Koen, ABI's in-game money. Morefun removed that before 1.0. Its official "coming to Steam" post from September 2, 2025 says it plainly:
"Koens are no longer sold in the store. Top-tier ammo and armor have been removed from the market." — Morefun Studios, Arena Breakout: Infinite coming to Steam on Sept. 15! (Steam, September 2, 2025)
That doesn't make ABI free of paid advantages. The Secure Case, which keeps its contents when you die, is a 30-day Bonds rental in 2×2 and 3×3 sizes, although Morefun regularly gives away 3×3 trial cards and free cases through season missions. We break down where real money does and doesn't help in our is Arena Breakout: Infinite pay to win guide, and the case itself in our Secure Case guide.
Escape from Tarkov is $49.99 on Steam. The PVE Zone is a separate $29.99 add-on, so the full PvP-plus-PvE package is about $80. That's the figure ABI players mention when they compare the two. Tarkov also sells TarCoin, its in-game currency, as Steam DLC starting at $4.99.
Does Arena Breakout: Infinite wipe like Tarkov?
No. This is the biggest difference for long-term players.
ABI doesn't wipe your stash. At the end of a season, your season rank and seasonal missions reset, along with some seasonal progress. For example, the Core Masteries added in Season 7 "reset every season", according to the Season 7 patch notes. Your stash, Koen, character level and Bonds stay. The full breakdown is in our guide to whether Arena Breakout: Infinite wipes.
Tarkov moved from wipes to seasons. The last full wipe was at the 1.0 launch. Patch 1.1.0.0 on August 3, 2026 added a seasons system and a separate Seasonal character type. Battlestate's patch notes, verbatim:
"Seasonal Characters exist on separate servers and are completely independent from PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters. Seasonal Character progression is automatically reset every four to six months with the release of a major content update and the start of a new season." — Battlestate Games, Patch 1.1.0.0 notes (Escape from Tarkov Steam news, August 3, 2026)
So in Tarkov you choose: a Seasonal character that resets every few months with fresh rules and rewards, or a PvP Zone or PvE Zone character that keeps its progress. In ABI there's one character, and only seasonal progress like the rank ladder resets.
Which game is easier for new players?
ABI, clearly. Most of what makes it easier is built into the systems.
- Difficulty tiers. ABI raids come in three difficulty tiers, Normal, Lockdown and Forbidden, though which tiers a map offers changes by season. Morefun's 1.0 notes describe Normal as "a standard region with no requirements to enter… Suitable for new operators in the Dark Zone." Lockdown needs at least 150,000 Koen of gear and Forbidden at least 450,000. You can't be dropped into a Forbidden-level fight while you're still learning. Our Lockdown vs Forbidden Zone guide has the details.
- Season 7 gear caps. In Season 7, Normal raids only let you bring gear with protection and penetration level 4 or below, and Lockdown level 5 or below with a 900,000 gear-value cap. A new player in Normal won't meet someone who brought top-tier armor in, though higher-tier ammo can still be found during the raid. See our Season 7 ammo and gear cap explainer.
- A beginner map. Morefun calls Farm "the ideal place to start". Our Farm map guide covers its key rooms and free safes.
Tarkov gives you far less help. It has no equivalent of ABI's difficulty tiers, the game explains very little, and its systems are much deeper. That depth is why people love it, but it takes far longer to learn. ABI players say the same in this week's r/ArenaBreakoutInfinite thread asking whether ABI is as good as Tarkov. One player who plays both summed it up:
"Tarkov has better immersion, pve (bots are much more dangerous), gunplay, and feels more realistic imo. Arena has lower barrier to entry, much more quality of life, more PvP, and is casual friendly." — r/ArenaBreakoutInfinite, October 2026
Another reply put it more simply: "ABI is for dude with a 9-to-5 job. Tarkov is for anyone with a lot of free times."
Which has better PvE?
Tarkov, if PvE is the main reason you want to play. Its PVE Zone is a full offline-style version of the game with its own character and economy. Patch 1.2.0.0 on October 6, 2026 reworked how PMC bots behave toward each other, added PvE Prestige, and introduced the EXFIL Brothers program, which rewards experienced players for playing with new ones. The catch is the extra $29.99.
ABI's PvE is free, but it comes in separate modes. In Season 7 the AI-focused options are:
- No Man's Land, a ticket-based PvE mode with a fixed loadout where you only fight AI. See our No Man's Land guide.
- Zombie Endless, a co-op horde mode on Airport that unlocks at level 8. It's covered in our zombie mode guide.
Two other Season 7 modes are mostly about AI but still have other players in them: the zombie Infected Zone on Farm, Valley and Airport, which is PvPvE, and Supplies Drops 2.0, a squad mode where you earn crate XP by searching containers, eliminating players and holding terminals. See our Supplies Drops 2.0 guide.
The Hostile Sector PvE mode from Season 6 isn't available in Season 7. One commenter in the comparison thread summed up the trade-off: Tarkov has "a dedicated PvE mode", but in ABI "now in S7 is no mans land".
Which game has more cheaters?
Neither company publishes figures you could compare directly, so nobody can honestly say which has more. What we can compare is how open each one is about it.
ABI publishes ban numbers every two weeks. Its Bans Notice of October 14, 2026 lists, for September 28 to October 11:
| ABI penalty (Sep 28 – Oct 11, 2026) | Count |
|---|---|
| Bans for cheating | 10,848 |
| 10-year bans | 3,706 |
| Device/IP bans | 1,744 |
| Koen confiscations (playing with hackers) | 6,505 |
| Players compensated | 89,618 (116.91 billion Koen) |
Morefun states a "0% tolerance policy" and says that "all suspicious accounts and historical data will be investigated". Its anti-cheat on Steam is Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE), and since August 2026 it has added DMA Guard, a hardware-level check that needs Intel VT-d or AMD IOMMU turned on in your BIOS. If the game blocks you over that, our DMA Guard fix guide has the BIOS steps.
Tarkov uses BattlEye, according to its Steam store page. Battlestate doesn't put a regular ban table in its Steam news feed.
One thing worth knowing if you're coming from Tarkov: in ABI, the penalties for buying currency hit the buyer as well as the seller. Morefun confiscates the profits, lowers the buyer's Merit Score and bans repeat offenders. Every Koen guide we publish sticks to in-game methods for that reason, starting with how to make Koen fast.
Which runs better on a PC?
ABI is much lighter. Here are the official Steam requirements for each:
| Steam requirements | Arena Breakout: Infinite | Escape from Tarkov |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum CPU | Intel Core i5-7500 / AMD Ryzen 5 1400 | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or similar |
| Minimum GPU | GTX 960 2 GB / RX 5500 / Arc A380 | GTX 1660 or similar |
| Minimum RAM | 12 GB | 16 GB |
| Recommended GPU | RTX 2060 / RX 6600 | RTX 4070 or better |
| Recommended RAM | 16 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage | 70 GB | 80 GB |
| DirectX | 12 | 11 |
If your PC is a few years old, ABI is the safer bet. Minimum specs only mean the game will start, not that it will run smoothly, so check your whole system against the recommended column. Tarkov's recommended 64 GB of RAM is unusually high for any game.
Neither game is on console. ABI doesn't support controllers or Steam Deck either. See our ABI on PS5 and Xbox explainer.
What are the Tarkov terms called in ABI?
Most Tarkov ideas have something similar in ABI, but they don't work the same way. Don't assume a Tarkov rule applies to ABI. Here is what each one is called:
| Tarkov term | Closest ABI equivalent | How ABI's version differs |
|---|---|---|
| Roubles | Koen | Can't be bought with real money since 1.0 |
| Flea Market | Market | Player-driven. Community economy guides report limited sell slots and a listing fee |
| Traders | Contacts | Contacts give missions, sell gear and offer barter trades |
| Loyalty Levels | Loyalty Levels | Same name. Raised by doing a Contact's missions |
| Hideout | Trophy Room | Shows off red items and crafts ammo and armor |
| Secure container | Secure Case | A 30-day Bonds rental (2×2 or 3×3), and red ammo can't go in it |
| Scavs / bosses | Militants, Elites, bosses | Elites include breachers, snipers, grenadiers and fumigators |
| PMC | Operator | Morefun's official word for players |
| Wipe | Season reset | Rank, seasonal missions and seasonal progress reset. The stash stays |
Ammo works differently too. ABI rates bullets by Pierce Level and armor by Armor Level, so Tarkov's ammo charts don't apply. Our ABI ammo and armor guide explains how it works.
Should you play Arena Breakout Infinite or Tarkov?
Answer these in order and stop at the first "yes":
- Do you mainly want PvE? → Tarkov's PVE Zone, if you're happy to pay about $80 for the PvP and PvE bundle. If you only want occasional free PvE, ABI's No Man's Land and Zombie Endless will do.
- Do you play under 10 hours a week? → ABI. It doesn't wipe your stash, and its tiers and gear caps keep new players out of high-end fights. (If resets are your only worry, Tarkov's PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters don't reset either.)
- Is your PC below a GTX 1660 or 16 GB of RAM? → ABI. That's below Tarkov's minimum, while ABI's minimum is a GTX 960 and 12 GB.
- Do you want the most realistic simulation and don't mind it taking a long time to learn? → Tarkov.
- Still unsure? → Start with ABI. It's free, so you lose nothing. Plenty of players learn extraction shooters there before buying Tarkov.
If you go with ABI, start with our solo guide for Season 7 and the best budget loadout.
FAQ
Is Arena Breakout: Infinite better than Tarkov? Neither is simply better. ABI is free, doesn't wipe your stash and is easier to learn. Tarkov has the deeper simulation, more maps and a full paid PvE mode. Most players who play both pick based on how much time they have.
Is Arena Breakout: Infinite a Tarkov clone? It's in the same genre and borrows a lot of ideas, like a player Market, vendors with loyalty levels, a secure container and tiered ammo against armor. Its own systems are different, though: Normal, Lockdown and Forbidden difficulty tiers, season resets instead of stash wipes, Pierce Levels and the Mastery System.
Is Arena Breakout: Infinite free? Yes. It's free-to-play on Steam (app 2073620) and Epic. Bonds, the premium currency, buy cosmetics, the battle pass and Secure Case rentals. Koen can't be bought.
How much does Tarkov cost in 2026? $49.99 for the standard game on Steam, plus $29.99 for the separate PVE Zone add-on (US Steam prices checked October 23, 2026).
Does Tarkov still wipe? Not the way it used to. Since patch 1.1.0.0 (August 3, 2026), only Seasonal characters reset, every four to six months. PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters keep their progress.
Which game has more players? On Steam at 03:00 UTC on October 23, 2026, ABI had 14,814 players and Tarkov 14,697. Both also sell outside Steam, so neither number is the full total.
More Arena Breakout: Infinite guides:
