ARK: Survival Evolved Co-Founder Jeremy Stieglitz has posted to Reddit an unreleased interview he did for Eurogamer, which apparently won’t be published there. In it, he addresses some of the criticisms the game has received, specifically the Scorched Earth expansion — paid DLC for a game that hasn’t technically launched yet.
“We should have messaged it sooner and explained our goals with it before launch, rather than at the last-minute of release. In the long-run though, it’s been good for ARK’s gameplay: the new metagame-expanding feature called ‘Cross-ARK Travel’ which allows players to dynamically travel their characters, items, & creatures between servers is entirely due to the technical work done for the launch of Scorched Earth, which was the intent: to get our key technical & design systems to support expansion ARKs down the road.”
He also says that he was surprised the game ever made back its original $2M budget and that the console launch is a necessity.
“With a game this large and a team this small, if we didn’t release it on consoles early in order to gain the critical gameplay and technical feedback necessary for a reasonably smooth retail launch next year, we’d likely end up with a massive QA nightmare upon trying to ship the complete version. In essence we get to leverage the millions of console ARK players to help quality-check & polish the game, and they get (by popular demand) to play the game early, and get it at a steep discount compared to its final retail price. It’s fairly win-win in that respect!”
Unrelatedy, Stigelitz notes that the game’s planned Valentine’s Day content was delayed for the Max and Linux versions of the game but should be out by tomorrow.
Massively OP’s resident ARK streamer and server hostess MJ Guthrie recently wrote at length about the game’s struggles, from missed patches and the lawsuit to bugs and the Scorched Earth snafu.
Wow, my experience seems to be significant different than most of the other commentors. I’ve only been playing for around a month or so and I have been really enjoying it. I have had no significant issues (lag, occasional rubber-banding, etc.) but nothing game breaking or even “internet tragic”. I’ll just keep my head down, keep playing with my friends, and hope other players experiences improve.
Geez, how did games ever release on console before, with out being “QA nightmares”?
Seems like it used to work.
Ask Atari about good ole ET
While the overall idea of the game is good and there’s a lot to like, this game is alpha quality at best.
This is one of the first games I’ve ever played that overwhelming technical issues and rubberbanding has caused me to uninstall.
Fix your shit.
“if we didn’t release it on consoles early in order to gain the critical gameplay and technical feedback necessary for a reasonably smooth retail launch next year, we’d likely end up with a massive QA nightmare upon trying to ship the complete version. ”
Wow, im dizzy from all the spin. Why didnt they finish the PC game? Because they needed critical feedback from console players?
Obviously, games were never ever created with out player feedback before…..
They had that for 2 years before console. But they needed console feedback to finish PC game? Which still isnt finished?
I do not think them releasing SE was a bad move. Given the game’s popularity it would be stupid not to expand development and keep momentum going. I would not be surprised if they don’t have more maps in the works as well. Presumably they will finish implementing features and dinosaurs and get the kinks ironed out eventually, and that should be good enough for an EA game.
Ark in its incomplete state already far surpasses what most games have to offer. The most vocal critics seem to be the people who have made it there life to put thousands of hours into the game. It seems to me it is there own damn fault for putting that much into an alpha product.
When you have a project like this you don’t sit on your ass for years nitpicking over bugs you work on new content in parallel. The end result is the players are not waiting years for a new map or content. I read somewhere they will be announcing something at GDC next month and I bet it will be another DLC map.
They have been busy on other projects since 2015 heres why.
I don’t hate on this game one bit, or it’s “launch status”. I seriously don’t see how people can criticize ARK or a paid expansion “whilst still in beta” when other games sell you pixel spaceships “before Beta”, or keep asking for money whilst still in development, before Beta. ARK is a living breathing world, the only thing “unlaunched” about it is semantics. Yeah maybe it has bugs. Yeah, maybe it’s a hot mess. But, dinosaurs. Checkmate.
And this, I suppose, is exactly why they get away with it. And why things won’t get better from here.
Videogame business practices are a target rich environment. I don’t think anybody said otherwise. And that certainly includes Ark. The game is built on a fraud.
I don’t see how anyone can NOT criticize ARK for it’s paid expansion, because it is a clear example of mis-communication or an out-right lie. The initial launch date was June 2016.
The cited delay of the launch was because of game-breaking bugs. Yet the expansion ‘launched’ with the SAME game breaking bugs!
The PS4 version then ‘launched’ with the SAME game-breaking bugs.
The gameplay, the world, the dinosaurs and the crafting mechanics, all make ARK an amazing experience.
The business model, the community interaction, and the honesty of communication stinks!
Your dinosaur gambit feels more like a spite-check than a checkmate.
Well, just so you know, I commented on selling ships for a unreleased game as well. Its possible to be displeased with more than one thing.
Because thats SC’s business model and we all know it.
I resisted the urge to pick this up when it was on sale for like $9 a little while back. I heard good things about this game about a year ago or so, but recently I keep hearing how they’ve made a wrong turn somewhere. This really just confirms that for me a little more. DLC on an Alpha? Console launches for an unfinished game? That is some serious bullshit IMO.
Its entirely worth it for $9. Just dont buy SC.
What deep discount for console owners is he talking about? On the Canadian Playstation store ARK is $80, which is the same price as a full retail release.
He’s going back to 90’s era game pricing. $80 (USD) RETAIL PRICING AT LAUNCH, BABY!
Who is Max?
Since it is mentioned alongside Linux, Max is likely some sort of incredible operating system.