Home Gaming Ark: Survival Evolved developer issues statement over Scorched Earth outcry

Ark: Survival Evolved developer issues statement over Scorched Earth outcry

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Scorched2

The developers behind early access survival smash-hit ARK: Survival Evolved recently released an expansion to their unfinished game, called Scorched Earth. It may be one of the best-selling things on Steam right now, but it’s also raised the ire of many of the game’s fans. To my mind, their anger is somewhat justified – releasing a paid add-on for a game that’s yet to be finished seems like profiteering. But the reality of it is probably far removed.

In a blog post, wildcard community guy Jat tried to clarify in light of the community outburst.

“Put simply: we are absolutely committed to driving aggressive development towards a solid, feature-robust game launch for ARK: Survival Evolved. Everyone at Wildcard wakes up every day thinking about how we can make ARK into a better game today than it was the day before,” he says.

“It’s not always easy, but our intent is ever-forward progress towards a retail release that will be far more ambitious in scope and features than our original vision when we launched ARK into Steam Early Access in June 2015. Your feedback enables us to continually expand the game to become better than ever!”

“Scorched Earth: Our original vision for ARK always included the creation of Expansion ARKs, along with the infrastructure and technical systems to transfer data dynamically between live ARKs. We determined that it is more sound to iterate on these systems during Early Access than after retail launch, given the significant risks involved if we didn’t “get it right”.

“While that meant unveiling the first Expansion early, it also means an easier time integrating further post-launch Expansions into the ARK network. We understand that this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and we appreciate the enjoyment people seem to be getting out of this initial view of how Expansion ARKs can work. Now that we have the systems in place to support them, we can ensure minimal integration issues with subsequent releases after ARK: Survival Evolved itself has launched.”

From their side, it seems like valid reasoning. The realities of game development on any scale are very different from the perception around it – but that still doesn’t mean you have to like it.

Last Updated: September 7, 2016

33 Comments

  1. Ghost In The Rift

    September 7, 2016 at 13:42

    Ill give that man a bells just for saying something to the community at least, unlike Hello games with “What matters now, as always, is what we do rather than what we say”, and yeah pretty much nothing has been done.

    Reply

    • Allykhat

      September 7, 2016 at 14:00

      100% with you here. At least it’s something.

      Hello Games have done next to nothing to address the major concerns about the game. I’ve never regretted a game purchase like I regret NMS. Pretty bummed Sony declined my refund to be honest.

      Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    September 7, 2016 at 13:43

    He sidestepped the issue nicely. People aren’t complaining about an expansion, people are complaining about a paid expansion. For the early access game. Telling people it’s about testing their tech is bit disingenuous, especially since they’ve already paid for that by buying the base game.

    Reply

    • Eric Woodley

      September 7, 2016 at 23:27

      Heavens to Betsy, how dare they charge an expansion price for what amounts to a separate game. The gall, the dastardly intent.
      If you are that outraged, then wait to buy it. Or would you rather a half measure release with things like Cross Ark Transfer, which is sure to be one of their prime features, be broken for 3-6 months following full release. Especially since they just might be on track for a holiday release, given the widening gap in patches, the few and fewer features and the start of actual performance improvements

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        September 8, 2016 at 09:27

        Oh look, you sidestepped the issue too.

        Reply

        • RustedFaith

          September 9, 2016 at 08:41

          Rofl first thing that I thought of when reading his post as well.

          Reply

          • Phil Young

            September 10, 2016 at 00:52

            I don’t see why people are complaining about a paid dlc. we haven’t even paid for the full amount of the release date game price. why complain now we’re getting everything cheaper then it would cost for the who game at release. im assuming were gonna eventually have to pay for the full price game due to things like this. which there’s nothing wrong with that.

          • NOTtheMinority

            September 11, 2016 at 03:28

            Its the same broken record. And they already said they dont care about the playerbase that is unhappy. “Just cant please those people” Dont worry, you wont have to, the ones with some willpower will hold back and not be part of the problem. And not pay for your bloody lawsuit..

  3. Galbedir

    September 7, 2016 at 13:47

    Firstly, I do disagree to releasing paid for expansions for a game which isn’t even finished yet…however, I can kind of understand, they need the money…the game became alot more popular and ambitious then they anticipated, and also the huge settlement they had to paid (Not the customers fault, but it happened). Also the expansion look pretty awesome and seems to have had work put into it, not just new textures…now if they released paid for content for the original Ark at this stage, involving the dinos…THEN I would immediately uninstall and boycott.

    Reply

    • Archdruid Kromas

      September 7, 2016 at 14:11

      SE has content specifically intended for the core game. The desert biome to be exact. Core will now never get what was promised to it right at the start. This means that they pulled content that was meant to be free.

      Reply

      • NOTtheLoudminority

        September 11, 2016 at 03:30

        Noticed some of the “planned features” for the scorched earth dlc. They happen to include tek tier, wouldnt be surprised if the dev’s hold that back for a third dlc, why not, they stooped that low here and alot of suckers went and bought it anyways. Id be ashamed to buy it even as a REVIEWER. a show on Early Access about how its being abused, and how gamers need to make a stand before this becomes the accepted norm.

        Reply

  4. Greylingad[He Charges!]

    September 7, 2016 at 14:01

    As an early access game, is it not already in their nature to change aspects of the game to what the community suggests? Or for that matter, implement systems that were not originally intended? Early Access allows you to change things while in development, does this mean they’ll release paid for DLC for every iteration of “newly implemented ideas” up until the point where they’ve made enough money to not care and just leave the game in it’s broken, unfinished state? Only a few things get my blood boiling as violently as this…

    Reply

  5. Sageville

    September 7, 2016 at 14:06

    Uhuh, hmmm, yup, Oh really? Uhuh, uhuh, no mention of money? Uhuh, yeah, sure, uhuh….

    Reply

  6. Dutch Matrix

    September 7, 2016 at 14:23

    OK. So. The game is in early access. You have to pay R319.00 to get it. Now an expansion rolls about you pay R219 for.
    Now we get mad at that?

    Where does it state that an early access game can not have paid for expansions? (Other than the minds of entitled people?) Early access to Base game, why not early access to Expansion???

    Reply

    • Archdruid Kromas

      September 7, 2016 at 14:28

      It is because they lied to us and cut content to make a paid for DLC that many argue has more elements than just the biome ripped out of core features as well as not a single bug fix on core has happened in well over 4 major patches. They do not respond to the community about any questions like DX12 or Truesky fixes that were planned well over a year ago and sidestep anything that has remotely to do with lag questions. So many people are rightfully worried that they figured out the game is shit and will never be fixed so they are cash grabbing as much as possible before everyone else figures out the game will never be released.

      Reply

      • Lord Jamar

        September 10, 2016 at 18:34

        That’s some heavy tinfoil hat stuff

        Reply

  7. HvR

    September 7, 2016 at 14:39

    “We determined that it is more sound to iterate on these systems during Early Access than after retail launch, given the significant risks involved if we didn’t “get it right”

    If it was for testing purposes give it for Early Access owners for free, I’m pretty sure the payment mechanism of Steam have been thoroughly tested.

    Reply

  8. Archdruid Kromas

    September 7, 2016 at 14:42

    Bohemia and the Subnautica Devs and Fun Pimps are all thats left of my trusted ea dev list.

    And maybe the Forest guys.

    Reply

    • Sageville

      September 7, 2016 at 15:07

      Subnautica do things right imho…

      Reply

      • Archdruid Kromas

        September 7, 2016 at 15:10

        What they do is constant community updates, a public fully active and up to date trello board and a clear cut “we can’t do it cause the game will never be released on time” stance on multiplayer.

        Reply

        • Archdruid Kromas

          September 7, 2016 at 15:11

          I would pay them $20 for a DLC that only has MP in it and it would be well worth it (after release of the main game ofc.)

          Reply

          • Sageville

            September 7, 2016 at 15:15

            I’d still be pissed off if even they tried to release DLC before finishing the core game…

          • Archdruid Kromas

            September 7, 2016 at 15:16

            That is why i made the brackets.

    • The420Freedom

      September 11, 2016 at 03:33

      Heres hoping The Fun Pimps dont let us down on 7dtd, another game with…”potential”….anyone else fed up of paying for POTENTIAL (ly good games)

      Reply

  9. Phasmatis75

    September 7, 2016 at 15:22

    People’s issue isn’t that you are making DLC, their issue is that you haven’t finished you game and are releasing DLC. All the while there are some massive issues with the core game that you still haven’t resolved like rampant hackers on public servers, and a lot of balancing issues.

    Reply

    • TheCellGames

      September 7, 2016 at 19:38

      Well, look at it this way. Some games you pay $60 for have the same issues and they’re finished.

      Reply

      • Mitch Allan

        September 8, 2016 at 07:04

        Lol, that’s what I think. I’ve paid $40 for a game, which plays great on my PC – and it’s expansion pack. Pretty happy about that..

        Reply

  10. Robin Pretorius

    September 8, 2016 at 12:49

    Trying to pull a “We are just doing what we need to do to provide a finished product” fake ethical stance and then give this statement: “Everyone at Wildcard wakes up every day thinking about how we can make ARK into a better game today than it was the day before,” shows it is all bs. That statement shows indication they may not even have committed to a date they will release the game in full, showing these okes are just plodding along picking up the cash as they go where ever they can. The creative aspect of this game should’ve been completed ages ago and right now they should be working on refining the bugs and multitude of performance issues, getting the game ready for release. If this was truly a test, then the dlc should’ve been released as Alpha/Beta and removed once they are finished testing. Then released for purchase after the full game is released. They cannot give that as an excuse, they pulled their free version of Arks competitive mode and made it a paid version barely a few months ago. That was the first sign they were having financial issues, and whamo, full arks still in early access, and a paid dlc lands in our stores. We got early access to test the product and help finish its development, so when it releases, a great game is released and we will buy whatever addons because we know you guys deliver. Want to test an expansion? Then release it as free during early access.

    The bottom line though is, this is the society we live in. Capital gains over ethical behavior. Those who buy into their statement as justification for their actions, good for you, allow yourselves to be lied to. However, the reality of the situation is, Steam should not allow games to release paid additions whilst still marked as early access. Not only are these people being allowed to avoid any negative reviews on the DLC because they will be marked as “early access” reviews, they have already shown behavior indicating a drive for revenue.

    NB: putting this in context with No Mans Lie is not a valid comparison. Ark has delivered on all its promises, this is unethical business practice being brought into question, not failure to commit to promised/advertised/rumoured/hyped content.

    Reply

    • RustedFaith

      September 9, 2016 at 08:46

      Well said, have a bottle of Bells on me ..

      Reply

  11. Phil Young

    September 10, 2016 at 00:59

    I don’t see why people are complaining about a paid dlc. we haven’t even paid for the full amount of the release date game price. why complain now we’re getting everything cheaper then it would cost for the who game at release. im assuming were gonna eventually have to pay for the full price game due to things like this. which there’s nothing wrong with that.

    Reply

  12. S

    September 10, 2016 at 05:36

    It comes down to the old saying,”if you’re good at something don’t give it away for free”
    So wahhh, pay money for a game, nothing new there, on top of all of it, it says right on it, buy if satisfied with current version. Don’t like it? Don’t buy it. The rest of us don’t mind paying someone for their hard work.

    Reply

    • SickOfBlindGamers

      September 11, 2016 at 03:39

      what you should really say, is that your enough of a wallet. AND THATS ALL. That you dont mind paying for Jesse being a terrible businessman, if not an unbearable personality( lets keep in mind WHY he got fired from his previous employer) OH and right, he did go back and steal employees from them. Thats not shady at all. And then right the whole no-compete clause, as in, you dont work on anything in our industry..the video game industry…so he breaks that…Blatantly, so much so he had to open the company under his WIFES NAME because he KNEW what he was doing was illegal.Oh, that AND STEALS thier workers, Gets sued, pays 40 million AS HE SHOULD…and now wallets like you will happily cover for him..feel proud…Baaah (sheep since you probably cant see outside of your box to get that)

      Reply

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