Community Crunch 355: ARK Roadmap, EVO Event, and More!

I had about 10k hours in Ark when the game magically decided to delete my character. Since then I never touched Ark again and, instead, I'm playing all the PS4/PC games I've never touched.

When I heard about the UE5 news I gave Ark another chance but after the actual news I'll keep working on my "pile of shame".

10 minutes ago, DomiDarko said:

I had about 10k hours in Ark when the game magically decided to delete my character. Since then I never touched Ark again and, instead, I'm playing all the PS4/PC games I've never touched.

When I heard about the UE5 news I gave Ark another chance but after the actual news I'll keep working on my "pile of shame".

Exactly this. I just got back into Ark a month ago because of the ue5 hype and as soon as I hit my stride playing they go and do this. I won't spend any money on future products if this isn't fixed. 

My question is ark remastered and ark2 bundled for 50 however PS users pay 40 for remastered then what? Another 50 for ark2. 

I've supported since released on console all dlcs purchased why are PS users getting punished with high prices no bundle option/s

Where's the loyalty to these players? And then is unreal engine 5 only on ps5 killing PS4 users off. I know Xbox have ark 2 as exclusive and PS has to wait a year (assuming period).

And all of this comes of Jeremy's tweet of "free upgrade".

I played this Game for a long Time and had a lot of Fun. but what Wildcard does now spoils all fun for me and for me it's the end of this Game after 16000+ Hours when the Servers shut down. Nice Game but Stupid Developer.

Ark Ascended - Why will it cost money for this previously stated "free upgrade"?

At the end of 2022, Snail Inc launched on the NASDAQ. In their registration statement, the first risk factor listed was:

Quote

We are dependent on the future success of our ARK franchise, and we must continue to publish “hit” titles or sequels to such “hit” titles in order to compete successfully in our industry.

Fast forward six months, and after an initial starting price of $3.00, SNAL currently sits at $1.33.

Additionally, Snail Inc. recently released their Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2022 Financial Results, a key highlight being:

Quote

Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $74.4 million, a decrease of $32.3 million, or 30%, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease in net revenue was due to a decrease in sales of ARK, attributed to the age of the game, an increase in the number of free week promotions run in 2022 and the Genesis II release in 2021; there were no DLC releases in 2022 or free download promotions in 2021. ARK sales decreased by $33.0 million...

While the initial plan by Wildcard may have been to offer the upgrade free, decreasing revenues from the self-proclaimed 'dependent franchise' and a prolonged delay before Ark 2 hits the shelves (see you in 2025) may have resulted in some prompting (or pushing) from Snail Inc to monetise the upgrade.

The cash grab might not directly be Wildcard's fault, but it's what happens when a company becomes a subsidiary to another who doesn't neccessarily share their values.

Another amusing risk factor as part of the registration statement:

Quote

Mr. Shi, our Founder and Chairman [of Snail Inc], controls us, and his ownership of our common stock will prevent you and other stockholders from influencing significant decisions.

Good luck with making those decisions Studio Wildcard! Full statement from the SEC website can be found here "https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1886894/000110465922100894/tm2128835-10_drsa.htm#tSUM" and Forth Quarter Financial Results here "https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/03/29/2637127/0/en/Snail-Inc-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-Full-Year-2022-Financial-Results.html" 

Unreal Engine 5

So ARK 2 is significantly delayed due to complexities of the UE5 engine, and "new technologies". The main question i have is therefore, why is Ark Ascended going to be ready in a mere four months?  Or will it be a buggy, laggy, unmitigated disaster, and essentially a paid test server for Ark 2?

Disclaimer - Everything above is speculation on my part, and has potentially no basis in truth or fact.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Scoffy

3 hours ago, Coyal said:

My question is ark remastered and ark2 bundled for 50 however PS users pay 40 for remastered then what? Another 50 for ark2. 

I've supported since released on console all dlcs purchased why are PS users getting punished with high prices no bundle option/s

Where's the loyalty to these players? And then is unreal engine 5 only on ps5 killing PS4 users off. I know Xbox have ark 2 as exclusive and PS has to wait a year (assuming period).

And all of this comes of Jeremy's tweet of "free upgrade".

Wildcard sees PS customers as 2nd rate since the Microsoft deal. Hence the PS5 upgrade that never was. A 2nd rate customer who gets milked to fund a new game for XBox/PC at that. Some say by paying you support the Devs, but why would a PS customer pay more to get less every time? That's just being the sucker! 

There were so many other good ways this whole thing could have gone, especially given Ark2 is not a sequel but a spin off since it's a completely different genre for all intend and purpose. Alas, the only thing that matters is how you vote with your money and I ain't paying a penny until it's on sale for a small fraction of the asking price and the content & good mods are available. 

Edited April 2, 2023 by KingOfAshes

So let me get this right. After supporting you as nobodies purchasing your beta game, collected all Delayed DLC over the years. Even purchased your delayed Collectors Edition. And now even owning a ps5 I have to repay for everything and I don't even get Ark 2. 

This is literally a con and your not even subtle about it. 

If this is not an April 1st joke, then what I wished in the comment to the previous Community Crunch is being implemented. And I wished for a paid DLC based on Ark 1 with new dinos, engrams and new mechanics. As it was with Aberration, Extinction, or Genesis. I honestly more expect that kind of DLC over Ark 2.

Dreams come true. I'd love to buy this DLC.

If you at least wrote the truth that you don't have funds for the realization of ark 2 and for the maintenance of servers from ark1 then we would digest it better. And I think that without such solutions, there would be a group of fans who would charitably add their contribution or solutions by selling their shares. I would understand it. And as a reward to those who gave support e.g. a monthly closed beta for them. OK there was but not such boorish games. I feel similar emotions to what EA did to me with ,,BattleForge" by shutting down the servers. You are doing the exact same thing, even worse. 

21 minut temu slejo powiedział:

Jeśli to nie jest żart na 1 kwietnia, to, o co prosiłem w komentarzu do zachowania Community Crunch, jest terapeutą. A ja marzyłem o płatnym DLC, na Ark 1 z odstępstwami, engramami i mechaniką nową. Jak to było z Aberration, Extinction czy Genesis. Szczerze bardziej oczekuję tego rodzaju DLC od Ark 2.

Marzenia się spełniają. Chętnie kupię DLC.

if this is not sarcasm then you are a masochist

Edited April 2, 2023 by RidersOfNightmareDEJW

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeremy Stieglitz

 

@jeremystieglitz

·

Mar 19

 

The ARK 2023 roadmap post is coming on March 31 specifically, hang in there beloved fans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!         now that is funny right there...

Its not fair for de ps4 players how about all of dam hoe play ark servers dat you are upgreating to samthing new and de 4 players can notnplay it

I would suggest leaving ark survival evolved alone and maybe make ark 2 sometime before 2030 lol. There is no need to screw up a game that is fine and delete everyones stuff/time.

So am I right in thinking that our current Ark will be ending and there will be no further support due to the new updated version and that people will be starting from scratch, that is for those with the latest consoles of course. Legacy all over again.

 

14 hours ago, Xenodragon77 said:

Welp, guess I'm done with ark now. I'm not buying a new console AND a game I already paid for AND all the dlcs I already paid for, just for none of my years of past progress to be carried over.

This is shameful. You said it'd be free upgrade, everyone would get it, and progress would carry over. Now it's paid and content from the 1st game is gonna be drip-fed into remake, everyone has to start over, and anyone who doesn't have a brand new console or good enough pc is just left behind. Not to mention, you are wiping out official servers and killing off the people who stay on the old version. AND you are forcing people to buy ark 2, which despite its long development time, hasn't had any gameplay shown whatsoever. I doubt it exists at this point.

If this is some pathetic attempt at a joke, it's not funny and whoever's idea it was should be fired. If it's serious, then you just lost a ton of players, and deserve that loss for intending to take away so much time, effort, progress, and money from the players thatve kept this game alive so long despite your incompetence and the game being a broken mess. 

....WC LISTEN YOUR PLAYER....

(and read well all in this page)

On 3/31/2023 at 6:06 PM, Zite said:

They are going to sunset 7 years of my life back into the code......😐

So you need an Xbox X/S to get the newer incomplete version, what about the people still play on the Xbox one because they either can't afford the next gen system or can't find because of limited availability

Ark 2 will be released when modern games will be made with Unreal 6 and ver.5 will be outdated technology.

And here's another question...I did a quick search and UE5 is compatible with PS4/Xbox and Fortnite UE5 is also running on those consoles. So, even though they may not get all the visual bells and whistles/features as next Gen, given UE5 can deliver at least the same results as UE4 on them and remain cross-platform...I don't see why the upgrade isn't the same as what Fortnite did. 

Edited April 2, 2023 by KingOfAshes

4 years wasted.

You guys honestly suck. 31k hours wasted on a game you half assed throughout its entire existence, only to be wiped the second you have the opportunity to make money. 

You lost half your community over night. Congratulations 

 

since no one does it I'm saying what everyone really thinks... but do you really think we spend even just $1 after you wasted years of gaming, time and money? shutting down the official evolved survival servers… ark 2 and ascension are dead games before i start good luck if you do i will stop playing ark as i only have that on my console… ALL THIS IS SHAMEFUL AND A VERY HUGE LACK OF RESPECT FOR ALL OF US 

Edited April 2, 2023 by haberd95

Yeah thanks but no thanks. Time to look for something different to play.

All those thinking that shutting down so early ALL official server isn't a big issue, they never played long on official. Each server becomes a unique community. For each - non-empty - server there is a parallel community with their discord and established friendships and all those community made a damn parallel net which is far bigger than you think. Killing all servers, both played and unplayed while for years we got legacy servers still running wasting the company money and support resources (since legacy has a slightly different codebase), and while for years there was never a live-ops review (like checking what server should shut down for being literally unplayed, what maps needed more servers, settings review about tribe tame limits and structure limits) is no-sense and just a huge atomic bomb on each of those communities which are along with big un-official clusters the back-bones of the ARK community.

Edited April 2, 2023 by darkradeon

On 4/1/2023 at 1:41 PM, oGlitchedX said:

19 out of 20 People I have spoke with feel this way, ARK going to loose a huge percentage of it's player base. I know people that have already uninstalled the game after years of playing...  RIP ARK

There's a lot of people that have unclaimed all their tames and tore down their bases on a server that I play on as well. If it's a joke for April fools it's a terrible joke. And if not, it's terrible anyway. The damage has been done already.  was fun while it lasted boys  🫡

Having been with Ark since the beginning, I am profoundly disappointed in what this company is doing to its customers.

I did not expect the upgrade to the UE5 engine to be free, despite the fact that you made that promise. People do need to eat and the bills have to get paid after all.

But I had no idea you would be so greedy and hateful as to charge full price again for a game and all the DLCs I had already paid for so that I could recieve what is, at least on paper, nearly a drop in engine upgrade. Moreover I had no idea that you would also be destroying the existing community on top of this.

Worse by far is that you are also using this to artificially inflate the pre-order sales numbers of a game that many of your customers do not want, Ark 2.

This is the sort of behavior I expect from an EA or Activision/Blizzard, companies I haven't bought games from in a decade or more. I can only hope this was a terribly ill-considered April Fools joke.

Edited April 2, 2023 by VonJaeger

I hope that no one will buy ARK: SA and ARK 2 when ARK: SE shuts down in September. fu*k you UE5!