The decision to release premium DLC for Ark: Survival Evolved while the main game remains in Early Access is consistent with realising the game’s early vision.
That’s according to developer Studio Wildcard, which has reacted to the disquiet that greeted its recent announcement of the £15 Scorched Earth expansion.
“We are absolutely committed to driving aggressive development towards a solid, feature-robust game launch for Ark: Survival Evolved,” a statement said. “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.
“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’."