The lead developer of ARK Survival Evolved admits that communication often falters. The community team is overwhelmed, as they also handle quality assurance and balancing.
We have often reported on how difficult it is to follow ARK Survival Evolved’s communication. Most information is shared through Twitter posts by the developers and community managers. Sometimes, lead developer Jeremy Stieglitz tweets at 2:00 AM local time before heading to bed.
However, what he tweets doesn’t count the next morning because something has gone wrong – usually the certification of a patch for PS4 or Xbox One, or there is some other issue.
These weaknesses in communication are usually harmless, but still annoying.
Generally, this results in patches arriving much later than originally announced. The “ETA” – the estimated time of arrival – is almost always exceeded, sometimes even drastically.
What was supposed to be a Wednesday one week can turn into a Tuesday the next. But most fans have long gotten used to this.
Community team quite overwhelmed
ARK faced backlash due to the price increase ahead of the imminent release on August 8. This was poorly communicated, leading to much uproar.
Stieglitz is currently on a major press tour and is talking to various outlets. He shares interesting insights.
When asked about these communication problems, lead developer Stieglitz stated in an interview: “I don’t know if we really communicated well with the player base about what is happening. To be honest, sometimes we’re not as focused on communication as we should be.”
This is because, the community team also manages quality assurance and game balancing, Stieglitz explained: “So they are quite overwhelmed,”
How this “management” exactly looks like, and how involved the community team is, he leaves open.
“Dean Hall should finish his own games first” – but it’s great that he plays ARK
With Dean Hall, who was particularly upset that ARK is released so early and at such a high price, Stieglitz apparently has no problem. While he pokes a bit and says to GameStar: “Dean Hall should finish his own games first.”
But on the other hand, he also expresses admiration for Dean Hall and his DayZ. Stieglitz finds it great that Hall played ARK and apparently enjoyed it. He hopes Hall continues to play ARK.
Sympathetic and competent, but somehow chaotic and overwhelmed
Mein MMO says: The special thing about Studio Wildcard is that their very first game became such a hit. Indie studios with a million-seller are rare. In a way, Stieglitz and his late-night tweets are relatable, and the whole studio seems fan-friendly, authentic, and approachable. Stieglitz and the ARK team must be highly skilled; otherwise, they wouldn’t be so successful.
However: The community team also manages balancing and quality assurance? That seems a bit too indie for a game of such scope as ARK Survival Evolved. This character of “brilliant but chaotic” is reflected in the game itself. Many fans would wish for: ARK to be a little less brilliant and significantly more stable in performance and “cleanliness” – especially now, as the release approaches.
The core team of ARK is said to consist of “30 something” people, according to Stieglitz. That’s too few for a game like ARK. The studio needs to grow and should have done so over the past few years.
ARK: Ragnarok PS4/Xbox finally postponed, server wipe prevented
