Battlestate Games CEO Nikita Buyanov unveils new sci-fi project in Singapore
thevirtualgazette.com · post 59672 · 2026-07-01
It started with a game called Escape from Tarkov. Bitingly hard. Unforgiving.
A shooter that punished every mistake and rewarded patience. For years, Asian players — whole families sharing rigs, streamers building careers on its back — learned its rhythms.
They memorized its extraction points. They died. A lot.
Then, on July 1, Nikita Buyanov stood up in Singapore and changed the trajectory. The head of Battlestate Games did not announce a sequel.
He did not announce a Tarkov expansion. He announced Fragmentary Order. A hardcore first-person shooter set across the entire solar system.
Science fiction. Not the grimy corridors of Russia, but the vacuum of space. Buyanov is the man widely credited with inventing the extraction shooter mechanic.
That is his legacy. Escape from Tarkov is that legacy, locked in concrete.
But he is not finished. To build this new game, he did something deliberate. He created a separate studio.
Called Rant Gaming. This was not a side project slapped onto an existing team.
It was a clean break. A new house for a new vision. Buyanov stated plainly that this allows Fragmentary Order to be developed independently of Tarkov.
The timeline is clear. The announcement came first. But the work had already begun.
The studio was already formed. The decision was already made.
Buyanov is not abandoning the old game. He said he remains committed to the extraction shooter that started it all. That means the familiar brutality of Tarkov continues.
Side by side with the new, more expansive vision. For the communities of extraction shooter fans across Asia, this matters.
They have invested hundreds of hours into Tarkov’s punishing realism. Now they have a chance to apply those skills in a completely new environment. The shift to science fiction opens up possibilities that the grounded, modern-day setting of Tarkov could not offer.
The genre Buyanov created is no longer his alone. Arc Raiders offers a more accessible take. Even Call of Duty is getting in on the act with Modern Warfare 4’s upcoming DMZ mode.
Mainstream imitators are everywhere. But Buyanov is not resting on his legacy.
He is pushing forward. Fragmentary Order is, by design, a hardcore first-person shooter. Much like its predecessor.
The story unfolds across the solar system. That is all that is known so far.
The details are scarce. The ambition is not. Players do not have to wait for the full release to start engaging with this new world.
The announcement itself is the first step. The door is open. The work is underway.
The timeline has begun.
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