The hacking wasn't actually an issue for the people playing.

Yeah, it was fucked and it led to a lot of "I used to love Tarkov but I quit and this must be why" takes. Famously from Luke at LMG. And a lot of the Influencers talked about how horrible it was but... Game Streamers are ALWAYS looking for an excuse ot not play "their game" anymore because nobody wants to play the same game for 70 hours a week but any other game will be a drop in viewership.

Because the key is "I used to love Tarkov but I quit". Because Tarkov is... kind of a bad game. The very nature of it drastically favors people who can get a head start. That is why streamers like Pestily infamously cancelled family vacations because there MIGHT be a wipe. Because if you roll up with level 4 armor, you can shrug off most of the newbie guns. Same if you pay attention to what 5.56 or 7.62 ammo to buy and have unlocked the tier of traders that let you buy it. Which leads to other players needing to dump a full mag into you and you just needing a three round burst to drop them.

Which means... Tarkov was never fair. Someone is hacking? Okay. As a player, is that any different than someone camping a quest objective that I literally cannot kill?

Which gets to the other side of things: Games like Counterstrike have ALWAYS been about "fucking hackers". And... we kept playing those because the games were fun. And because getting your poopy pushed in meant you had a bad session. Rather than you entered a death spiral where you can't afford ammo anymore.

So yeah. The people who are still playing Tarkov don't care. And the people who do care? They probably played for a week or two and then quit.

As for what can save the game: SP Tarkov. Iti s freaking awesome. All the good parts of Tarkov with only some of the bullshit.