In ARK Survival Evolved (PS4, PC, Xbox One) even the lead developer is not quite happy with how the price increase has gone.
Jeremy Stieglitz is the lead developer of ARK Survival Evolved, but he was not allowed to say that for a long time.
Only after Studio WildCard reportedly reached a rather expensive out-of-court settlement with Stieglitz’s former employer, he can now publicly be the lead developer. Before that, Stieglitz is thought to have hidden under the pseudonym “Drake,” while his wife handled the business interests as a co-founder of Studio Wildcard.
Anyway. Stieglitz and ARK came under fire when the price for ARK Survival Evolved was significantly raised a month before the official release on August 8th.
The DayZ creator Dean Hall called the new price incredibly outrageous, as ARK was not ready to be released yet. There were still performance issues and the game had too many bugs. Hall is not alone in his opinion; many fans feel the same way.
Studio WildCard should have raised the price just before the release of ARK, not weeks earlier
In an interview with PC Gamer, it becomes clear that even Stieglitz did not want this early price increase. If it had been up to him, the price would have been raised only at launch, not weeks earlier. But the distribution partners did not want to go along with that. They wanted the “pre-order business,” and therefore the retail price could not be higher than the digital version, otherwise no one would have pre-ordered in stores, feared the retailers.
Without pre-orders, the distribution partners would not have taken ARK into their program.
Therefore, the developers were left with no choice. They had to go along with the deal. Stieglitz understands that this has annoyed some people. But the studio had no choice here. As a developer, you cannot control all variables.
The lead developer is not concerned about money, but about vanity
According to Stieglitz, ARK is worth the price being charged. They are confident that the features, fun, and gameplay justify this price.
They did not need to raise the price, but then ARK would not have made it to retail.
However, the path to retail is important to Stieglitz. It is not about money, but about vanity. Stieglitz apparently wants as many people as possible to play ARK. This is important from a “vanity standpoint”.
Release is important to reach half of the players who still buy in stores
For Stieglitz, it is important to get ARK into retail. There they reach the target audience that has nothing to do with digital commerce. They want to reach them and bring them to ARK. An influx of so many new players will benefit ARK, believes Stieglitz.
Stieglitz did not comment on the performance issues and bugs that ARK was accused of within the context of the price increase in the interview.
Mein MMO says: Lead developers are special people. That one says “It’s not about money for me, it’s about my ego and my vanity. I simply want as many people as possible to play my game” is not so rare. The head of Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida, also seems to pursue the mission that the whole world can play his MMORPG.
The interesting thing about Stieglitz is that he was not allowed to tell anyone for years that ARK Survival Evolved was his, as he would have been sued otherwise. A weight must have been lifted from his shoulders once it was finally out. Being able to be so open about one’s vanity is a nice thing.
Much about ARK is different from the major studios – precisely because of this closeness to the fans, the game has also become such a hit.
More on the topic:
ARK: Price goes up and down – Why is ARK suddenly so expensive?
