As you may have seen recently, the team behind the "Ark" games made two big announcements - the first was a delay for Ark 2 until late 2024, and the other was a new remaster for ARK: Survival Evolved, coming out in August 2023.
Ark: Survival Ascended, which will be releasing on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, was originally supposed to be packaged with Ark 2 for a price of $49.99, but instead it's now going to be launching standalone for $59.99.
The team explained the reason behind this in a Steam update a few days ago:
"First things first, we are scrapping the ARK Respawned Bundle. Our intention behind this was to provide a package where you essentially got two products for the price of one. In hindsight, not the best move. Our bad; we recognize how combining ARK Survival Ascended with ARK 2 and requiring further DLC upgrades wasn’t optimal, especially since you wouldn’t be able to judge ARK 2 as no gameplay or content would be available yet."
So, the new plan is for Ark: Survival Ascended to launch on its own alongside multiple DLC packages which will now be included in the package rather than sold separately. However, the fact that it's going to cost $60 at release, along with the decision to sunset the ASE Official Network on August 31st, has led a lot of players to complain about the plans - with over 44 pages' worth of discussion about it on Steam:
VII on Steam: "I don't want to appear hostile. But this goes beyond insanity. You continue to charge us way too much for very little, on top of not including ARK 2 anymore. ARK 2, the Remaster, and all of its DLC went from costing $90 to $120, respectively. This is beyond awful."
Windwalker82 on Steam: "Splitting the ASA/Ark 2 bundle is good: not everyone is interested in Ark 2. Combining the base ASA game and all DLCs into one package is less good: people have their favorite maps but also their least favorite maps they might not want to pay for, again.
A price of $60 for a game we already paid for is still ♥♥♥♥. We already paid for it, we've already experienced the content, graphical updates and bug fixes should not be behind such a massive paywall."
That said, the decision has also had its supporters:
Margifish on Steam: "Sheesh people....the earlier plan was going to make you buy Ark 2 if you wanted ASA, PLUS at least two more $20 packs if you wanted Scorched, Ab, Extinction, and Gen 1 and 2. Now it's 10 bucks more for ASA but you get ALL the maps included (no more having to buy the base plus two more packs), so yes, you're saving money and you're not being forced to buy Ark 2 (which frankly, some of us have zero interest in).
It's not just a graphics upgrade, they're making drastic gameplay changes so no, you're not 'having to buy a game I already own over again'. All of us own the original version of the game, ASA is essentially Ark 1.5. If you don't want it, take your save data and move to hosted servers. I'd rather pay for a game I *know* I'll pour hours in than pre-order a game I have no idea if I'll enjoy or not."
There's been a lot of back and forth about this over the past few days, but the overwhelming majority definitely seem to be disappointed with the decision. It'll be interesting to see how things evolve in the lead up to launch this August.
If you're intrigued about all of this and want to know more, you can find the Ark team's full explanation about the decision to change Ark: Survival Ascended's pricing (as well as a few related details) in the latest official blog on Steam.