Studio Wildcard seem to repeatedly mess up Early Access for ARK: Survival Evolved [Steam]. First with a DLC for an unfinished game that caused a bit of an uproar and now this new eye watering price.
Previously, the game set you back a reasonable ~£22.99 but it has just increased by more than double to £54.99. That's priced higher than a lot of finished AAA titles and I really am struggling to comprehend their thinking here. This is what they said about it on Twitter:
QuoteARK: Survival Evolved has increased its price on Steam to ensure retail parity for the upcoming launch.
So essentially they're using the price of their console game to push up the price of the PC version, or else people would likely go for the cheaper version on PC. It's interesting that they haven't mentioned this at all on Steam itself, likely in fear of the backlash. It wasn't even mentioned in their release date announcement, but it is mentioned in the Early Access pull-out (if anyone ever bothers to read those).
The Linux version is, to be absolutely blunt, terrible. It looks nothing like the Windows version graphically, performs very poorly for me (lots of reports of terrible performance on Windows too though) and some of it is completely broken on Linux.
I've tried reaching out to the ARK developers many times through Twitter and Emails, no reply on either. I admit Twitter isn't the best place, which is why I also emailed them multiple times over the period of a few months. I've frequented their official forum to see them seemingly ignore all Linux graphical issues. Caves on Linux are basically impossible to do due to the graphical bugs, which makes other parts of the game impossible to do as well.
Honestly, if this wasn't one our streamer's favourite games there's absolutely no way I would continue running a server for it. Our current one is quite expensive so we will be looking for a cheaper option since a few people do enjoy it still. To be clear: Unless there's a mass exodus from it, our server will continue as normal.
Due to the massive price increase along with the awful quality and support of the Linux version, I suggest this goes firmly in your nope pile. I'm sad to say that, truly I am, as I was so very excited about playing this one, but they've done nothing to earn my respect. It could be a great game, who wouldn't want to tame and ride on a massive dinosaur? There's just too many issues right now and this new price I fear will lock out a lot of potential new players.
HyperRealisticRock Jul 7, 2017
Cyba.Cowboy Jul 7, 2017
Quoting: SamsaiDon't think I've ever seen as insane pricing with a video game before.
That's roughly what you'd typically pay for a so-called "AAA title" in Australia... But we're talking the biggest games you can name, not an everday game (let alone one that is a work-in-progress!).
Quoting: XpanderQuoteretail parity
:D
i wanna see that retail parity on linux client when it gets released
Yeah that won't happen... Though given the high price-tag, it should.
Quoting: aldyDeleted from the wishlist.
Same here.
With sub-standard performance under Linux-based operating systems, no firm guarantee that this (the performance) will change in the foreseeable future and such a high price-tag, there's no way I'm picking this up...
Quoting: EgonautThe Linux version has still the same bugs as 2 years ago. Right, they never fixed any Linux specific bug in 2 fucking years. Not a single one, believe me. Worst developers ever.
And that just confirms that I'm making the right decision by removing it from my "wish" list...
Quoting: RyzenLinuxMasterRaceQuoting: SamsaiDon't think I've ever seen as insane pricing with a video game before.
Heh welcome to Australia where we constantly pay insane pricing for digital content.
Physical games are no better... But at least EB Games/The Gamesmen/JB Hi-Fi have various specials throughout the year.
TheRiddick Jul 7, 2017
I'd say their ready to shelf this title, seen this happen before were a company releases their game to retail market broken and then just moves on to another title.
Sadly this developer is going to use this as evidence why not to develop for Linux, even thought it's their fault for putting %99.9 of their team and effort into content and not actual engine saving patches and fixes along with perf updates...People may come for the content but they stay for the gameplay which largely involves engine improvements.
Last edited by TheRiddick on 7 July 2017 at 3:02 am UTC
Quoting: RyzenLinuxMasterRaceQuoting: SamsaiDon't think I've ever seen as insane pricing with a video game before.
Heh welcome to Australia where we constantly pay insane pricing for digital content.
While that's true, there are places that will *usually* have them a little bit cheaper (£45-£50 ish)
Quoting: GuestI tried it in linux when they had a free weekend event a while back, it was trash performance wise. IC they've yet to improve it any if at all. This is related to UE4's linux support or more on their side I wonder.
Probably a bit of both. Developers always seems to have massive linux problems developing on UE4. Crossing my fingers for a good Insurgency sandstorm but a lot is working against it on linux with it being a UE title I think.
lucifertdark Jul 7, 2017
Quoting: razing32HmmmFrom what I saw the last time I managed to get Rust to even start a game it's in a very similar position to ARK, absolute rubbish performance & no sign of any true fixes coming any time soon, I'm happy to be proven wrong as it's been a while since I last fired it up.
Whelp , into the bin with this one.
Any thoughts on Rust ?
Can we persuade Sin to play that ?
Quoting: lucifertdarkRust performs amazingly well. Just needs to be in windowed mode for me.Quoting: razing32HmmmFrom what I saw the last time I managed to get Rust to even start a game it's in a very similar position to ARK, absolute rubbish performance & no sign of any true fixes coming any time soon, I'm happy to be proven wrong as it's been a while since I last fired it up.
Whelp , into the bin with this one.
Any thoughts on Rust ?
Can we persuade Sin to play that ?
Crazy Penguin Jul 7, 2017
lucifertdark Jul 7, 2017
Quoting: liamdaweI'll have to give it another go then, My machine had an upgrade since the last time I tried so perhaps it'll be better for me now too.Quoting: lucifertdarkRust performs amazingly well. Just needs to be in windowed mode for me.Quoting: razing32HmmmFrom what I saw the last time I managed to get Rust to even start a game it's in a very similar position to ARK, absolute rubbish performance & no sign of any true fixes coming any time soon, I'm happy to be proven wrong as it's been a while since I last fired it up.
Whelp , into the bin with this one.
Any thoughts on Rust ?
Can we persuade Sin to play that ?
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