ARK Devs continue to be one of the scummiest devs on Steam.

UPDATE: https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/articles.html/re-introducing-the-ovis-aries-coming-to-all-platforms-r375/

Backpedaled to go ahead and add Sheep in the Game regardless of Voting Outcome and Bring it to all Systems.

source: http://steamcommunity.com/games/346110/announcements/detail/536324417612602461

Another Update: The Quote I made was before the Announcement was made, I didn't edit what they originally said.

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20161227221559/http://steamcommunity.com/games/346110/announcements/detail/536324417612602461

"Introducing the Ovis, vote for ARK in Steam Awards “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” on Dec 29 to get it!"

Hello Survivors!

We’ve hope you’ve had a fantastic festive holiday so far! If you haven’t heard, ARK has been nominated by the Steam Selection Committee for a Steam Award! We are a finalist in this category;

The “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” Award - Animals are rad and almost any game is better for including them. This game used a farm animal in the best way possible.

Head over to http://store.steampowered.com/SteamAwards/ on Thursday the 29th of December, as you’ll have the opportunity to come show your support for ARK by voting for us! If ARK wins the award, we will ensure that our fluffy friend quickly makes its debut on the ARK in the next major version update!

Let’s face it, ARK does have the raddest animals and what better way to thank them for all farming & fighting they do than by honouring them with the “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” Award!

So be sure to show your support for ARK, if not for your tames: mobilize your Tribe to help win the Steam Award on Dec 29, and then get your Sheep! Thank you for your help everyone, and happy shearing :)

So Vote for Ark Survival Evovled for "Best Use of a Farm Animal" and We'll put in a Sheep in the Game!

I'm pretty sure this is bribery, since why else would they make this post? Gotta get them votes otherwise you're not going to get this neat little thing in the game!

What's even more disgusting to me is that people are defending this.

This is the same game that is still in "Early Access" and has an Actual DLC Expansion for it.

I'm not sure if anyone should support these guys.

I agree. I thought Wildcard was pretty good until they basically screwed everyone over. They've shown multiple times now, that they are greedy, and are going to milk their fans for all their worth. Idiots supporting their behavior isn't helping either.

I never buy anything early access or it is of course that the game is quite fun , like dayz. Ark survival feels like it's coded by a bunch of amateurs.

The fact they released paid DLC for a game that was still in freaking Beta shows what kind of devs they really are.

I dont know why anyone would support these devs, but I dont really get whats going on here. They are just putting in a sheep if people vote for them? Is a sheep good? Is the Award that important? Honestly the whole awards kinda suck and I only vote to get a card...

Fortunately all survival games are a waste of time,

Somehow I doubt that the ARK devs are the scummiest people on Steam...

I've seen much, much scummier, but yeah, I'm fed up. These guys are just f***ing around instead of, you know, finishing their damn game. I don't even know why I'm keeping this game on my wishlist any more.

the survival genre is inundated with disgusting tripe geared towards obnoxious streamers and youtubers, but this move looks more like a poorly-conceived joke than anything malicious.

Paid DLC for EARLY ACCESS?

While I do agree with a lot of the criticism the devs, and they are one vey clear reason why I don't support early acces, I don't really see the problem here???

They have now Back Pedaled and decided to add Sheep in All Versions of the Game Regardless of Winning the Award.

https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/articles.html/re-introducing-the-ovis-aries-coming-to-all-platforms-r375/

adding to the OP.

I don't support early access.

As do a lot of people, really, can you blame any of them of being warry of Early Access ?

I've seen some really succesful EA games: Killing Floor 2 and Prison Architect for example.

I'm really looking forward to Yooka-Laylee, an unproven game from an unproven dev... But a lot of of the times I tend to wait until full release, even for EA games that get constant updates, even from a well communicating dev.

The only Early Access I bought was Space Engineers, but I knew exactly what I was getting because I borrowed it from the interwebs first and played it for quite a few hours and followed the progression of the updates, even if it never got any updates I would be happy with it, and even then the code for it is open source so others could fix it.

This is how Early Access should be done. The only slight downside was no Linux support because they went all in with Microsoft libraries.

They aren't, probably not even a top 5 worst steam devs. Games Foundry, Firefly Studios, Mighty Rabbit Studios, Runewalker, Zero Point Software and I could list more but hopefully people got the point.

As someone that's put in 1200+ Hours into the game I think your topic is kinda bogus.

Even in early access Ark currently has way more creature content than most finished games.

They currently have over 70 tameable creatures, most added during development, that's not counting untamable creatures in the game.

http://www.dododex.com/dinosaurs

They've added so many things to the game, but you are honestly gonna complain about a sheep not being added because of some Steam Award promotion??? Really.

When major quality of life things still need to be fixed?

At least complain about something real like alpha tribe server transfers or problems with the engine like Dino's still clipping thru walls or being able to exploit falling thru the earth.

Cmon man.

Not to mention, a mod already confirmed the topic in the link you provided to not be true:

"This is false. The Devs will give us the Sheep whether we vote or not, and whether they win or lose. They aren't giving it to us "if" we vote as it is coming anyway."

lol people never learn. Thats why I avoid games like Star Citizen pre-release date. I always shake my head for those gamers who blindly pour their money into the game, when it has no release date at all

@trollhunter2: except Ark has twice as much content as most finished games. Most of the people here complaining about it probably didn't play it beyond the trial.

The game has added two continents, undersea biome, winter biome, jungle biome, redwood biome, desert biome. (Biomes being like zones in say WoW) Multiple caves and game modes (pve, pvp, pvpve, primitive plus, survival of the fittest) and hundreds of craftable items and structures, Dino breeding, gardening all since its original release. As well as multiple private server types.

Look at all the trainable ingrams in the game:

http://ark.gamepedia.com/Engrams

Items you can make that add abilities mechanics as well as build structures. The list is huge.

I get people don't like early access, but Ark Survival is probably the EA that has actually delievered more than any other EA game ever in half the time. Keep in mind this is still an indie developer too. I've been playing since day one on PC then switched the Xbox and they always have been transparent with the community.

The only reason it's still in EA is because of the law suit they were involved in.

To top it off the total price of the game with the DLC is still cheaper than a AAA game with only a fraction of the content. It was like $35 with DLC on Black Friday.

Gamers are hypocrites. They hate on EA games but then at the same time shell out $99 for the preorder ultimate edition of World of Weeaboo or whatever the unfinished AAA broken mess of the month is. SMH.

@oflow: Wildcard settled that lawsuit back in April, so get that sh*t outta here.

Despite your opinion on what constitutes a full game, the facts are....

1.Wildcard used early access on both pc, and XB1 in order to develop their game.

2.Wildcard took that early access money and spent it on development for Scorched Earth, which is basically a stand alone game on its own.

3. Wildcard then charged even more money for Scorched Earth. Even for those who had paid for EA.

4. Wildcard did this before Ark Survival was even finished, with several game breaking bugs and performance issues remaining to be fixed.

Some gamers can buy into early access, and some choose not to. It's a choice that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but defending the shitty practices such as you have is one of the biggest problems with gaming these days. Just because Ark is a good game, shouldn't make you become an insta-fanboy and abandon all logic.

@babyjoker1221: which is exactly what I said in my comment. Some people like it and some don't. But coming in here piling on the game when most people here don't even play it is typical system wars bullshit.

And your comment still doesn't change the fact that what I said still stands. Even as an early access game, it's more complete than most finished games. Sure some EA games are BS, but the entire premise of this topic was created on a statement that wasn't true from the start, which snowballed into a bunch of people cosigning the BS.

That's my objection to the thread.

I don't really see why it's such a problem? The game is a survival MMO and MMOs are never technically finished games anyway.

Like I said the game is currently on sale on Xbox for half the cost of a normal AAA game with the DLC included.

And that circles back to the hypocrisy part. Games like Star Citizen get a pass from most people when it's a buggy barely playable pre alpha that people have literally poured money into. But Wildcard are scumbags when they actually have produced.

Like I said, if you want complain about something complain about legit gripes like optimization or bug fixes.

I haven't played it, but it does look interesting.

It seems like the game is pretty complete. I wonder why they are still in early access. The early access message on the Steam page says they are shooting for a "June 2016 [release] coinciding with the console versions".

All that I've been able to figure out is that they are waiting on Sony to give the okay for the PS4 version to be made available. So maybe that's why. The game itself seems complete enough (more complete than a lot of games on Steam). The reviews are generally good, even for the expansion.

The bottom line is: If people buy it and don't feel ripped off, then the ARK devs are doing better than a lot of AAA devs.

It's the most un optimized game I've played on Steam yet. Played like 30 mins and shut it off.

@oflow: You keep stating that the game is more complete than most finished games, and then you double down on that by boldly stating it as a fact.

The undeniable fact is that the game is not complete. The devs themselves will verify that, and have on several occasions. If it were complete, it wouldn't be the buggy mess that it is. To add to that, the game certainly wasn't complete by any stretch when Wildcard began to work on developing the scorched earth dlc... Using EA money to do so.

The game may indeed be on sale for half the price of a AAA game. Ark is not a AAA game. If a AAA game ran the way Ark does, with the bugs that it has... The devs would be dragged across coals.

Your comparison to SC is also completely off. SC gets shit on all the time here because of the lack of progress. I also don't see SC using it's backers money to make a dlc standalone, that it will then charge it's backers for.... All before SC has even released.

What Wildcard has done here is a shitty practice. It's really that simple. You may like their game. You may be completely satisfied with it. That doesn't mean that it is acceptable to do what they did. I love Ark. I've got several dozens of hours playing it. Just because my T-Rex wears rose tinted glasses, doesn't mean I have to.

You get the developers you deserve.

PC gaming is a cancer with all these early access games, that shit needs to die.

lol are people really paying attention to steam awards? The only reason I'm voting is because of the free cards. If not for that I honestly couldnt give a fvck

Good lord! People on the internet get upset over the dumbest things.