The Ark community is frustrated and that is now reflected in the user reviews on Steam. Because the announcement of a UE5 remaster is not exactly without its problems.
There’s a battle going on right now on Ark: Survival Evolved’s Steam page. Players are blasting the survival hit with negative reviews in protest of developer studio Wildcard’s remaster plans.
At the time of publishing this article, the recent reviews are still on mostly positive. However, that is likely to change soon if the current trend in user reviews is anything to go by: Since the first 1 April 2023, negative feedback has been increasing under Ark: Survival Evolved:
Negative Steam Reviews for Ark: Survival Evolved have spiked ever since the developer announced the UE5 remaster would only be sold as a bundle with Ark 2 for $50.
The developer initially announced that existing owners of the game could upgrade to the new UE5 edition for free. pic.twitter.com/xuBPnuFPS3
– MauroNL (@MauroNL3) April 4, 2023
Why are players protesting on Steam?
This is what’s behind it: At the beginning of April, the developers of Wildcard unveiledArk: Survival Ascended This is primarily a technical upgrade of Ark: Survival Evolved, which moves to the Unreal Engine 5. Basically not a bad thing, right?
This is the problem: Originally, Wildcard communicated that the UE5 update would be free. However, those plans have changed: The base game itself will cost 40 euros, and two DLC packs will require an additional 20 euros each. Those who already own Survival Evolved will also have to pay and will not get a discount.
But not only that: Also, with the release of Ark: Survival Ascended, the official servers of Ark: Survival Evolved will go offline. Those who are not already on private servers will therefore only be able to play on their own from this point onwards.
This is causing criticism in the Ark community: Fans of the survival game call Wildcard money-grubbing
, accuse the developers of breaking promises or even a fraudulent scam. Players had already spoken out about this on (Reddit) but they are apparently also making their displeasure known on Steam.
Wildcard
by u/Overall-Shine-8610 in ARK
This is not the only bad news about Ark: The direct sequel of the survival hit was recently postponed from 2023 to the end of 2024. New information or even gameplay will also be a long time coming. You can find out more about this topic under the following links:
What do you think about the controversy surrounding Ark: Survival Evolved and Ark: Survival Ascended? Can you understand the frustration of the community or do you perhaps not see the matter so closely? Are you an Ark player yourself and looking forward to the release of Ark 2, which is still a long way off? Let us know in the comments!
