Many players of ARK: Survival Evolved are frustrated with the game’s performance. Especially on the PS4 and Xbox One, there are often lags, crashes, and bugs. Studio Wildcard is releasing more content at a rapid pace, which leads to more problems. Players wish that the performance issues were thoroughly resolved.
The mood seems to be divided regarding Ark Survival Evolved. The survival MMO offers interesting gameplay, a lovingly designed world, and a large, active community.
The Dino MMO does not get boring quickly. Studio Wildcard continuously provides events and new content.
Recently, there was a huge update, which brought a lot of new content into the game. This includes new dinos, a massive overhaul of the center, and new Tek technologies.
New Content in Ark Comes at the Cost of Performance
This seems to be a problem that frustrates many players. With every new update, new problems arise. Older bugs have not yet been resolved, and new ones are already piling on.
Especially PS4 and Xbox players complain about crashes, full servers, and find Ark unplayable. Console players are used to their games running flawlessly. Therefore, Ark’s poor performance stands out particularly.
Players Want No More Content, But Fixes
Players are currently especially wishing for fixes and stability. For example, it can take hours in Ark to tame a single dino. When you lose it due to repeated crashes, it is not a pleasant gaming experience.
At times, the game stutters so badly that it is not even possible to interact with the game world. Many players only wish for a content break. The developers should focus on the existing performance issues and thoroughly resolve them first,instead of establishing an endgame.
Constant Hype and Content Creation is Part of Studio Wildcard’s Strategies
A few months ago, Studio Wildcard spoke at the GDC developer conference about the success concept of Ark Survival Evolved. In a presentation, the developers emphasized how important it is to create and maintain hype.
Players are fed with trailers, videos, detailed dino descriptions, and an exciting world. This leads to animated discussions and joy in the community. Players should not only play Ark Survival Evolved but also experience and feel it.
This joy, however, increasingly turns into frustration. Because even though players are excited about Ark and love the game’s content, they are not getting much out of it at the moment.
Apparently, the studio wants to further fuel this hype. They shy away from a quiet phase in which no new content is released, and only the existing game content is optimized and polished. During such a phase, the “hype” might diminish.
Ark is officially still in “Early Access” and plans to go into “Full Release” soon. A precise date is not yet known. It remains to be seen whether the performance issues will be resolved by then.
What experiences have you had? How do you see the issue of fixes vs. content?
The last major update for PC should not take long to arrive on PS4 and Xbox One as well.
