Here's a weird one: there are a handful of people on the web furious at Sony because it won't allow Studio Wildcard to release Ark: Survival Evolved on the PlayStation 4 until it's, er, finished. The game is available in Early Access on the PC and Xbox One – and, the last we heard, is in a terrible state – but the Japanese giant doesn't offer a similar initiative on its system.
This is what Studio Wildcard had to say on the matter: "As for the PS4 Release of Ark: Survival Evolved, it is currently up to Sony. We've been informed that we can't release the game on this platform until it has been finished. We would like nothing more than to make Ark available on PS4 as soon as possible, as we already have an awesome PS4 version of the game running internally."
Call us old fashioned, but isn't this a good thing? We know that modern game development is more iterative than it's ever been, and studios can glean a lot of feedback from Early Access releases – but do we really want unfinished games popping up on the PlayStation Store? You could argue that they already do, but let us remind you of the state Ark was in a few months ago.
Personally, we reckon that Sony should stick to its guns here – but do you disagree? Try to survive the comments section below.
[source survivetheark.com, via gamespot.com]
Comments 20
I disagree with early access as it allows some unscrupulous practices from some devs/publishers. Paying a little for an unfinished game means money can just be made for something of poor quality. If they want, they can then cancel the game. If it is about play testing, well, that is why we have a beta release. A good beta is a better way of getting word of mouth then early release. I think they are just cash grabs.
Good on Sony for putting players first.
PMSL!
All you ever read these days are complaints from people moaning about games being released 'buggy' and 'unfinished'. Battlefield 4, Destiny, The Division... numerous others, too... all sparked cries of "this is unfinished!" or "disgraceful that they release games in this state!".
Yet when Sony ask a dev to "finish the game" before releasing it? "Boo Sony! You suck!"
It's not as if we needed more evidence that too many gamers these days are hypocritical but there you go.
The day that the PlayStation Store adopts similar policies to something like Steam Greenlight is the day something's gone horribly wrong.
@Paranoimia I'm afraid to say I agree. People seemingly crave things to whine about.
@get2sammyb ... says the biggest whiner of this website. Oh the delicious irony!
I'm torn.
On the one hand I agree with Sony, finish a game first. I'm still upset years later about Lego Hobbit. First 2 movies and they said the 3rd movie would be available as DLC. But it never was. Everybody who purchased that game thinking the 3rd movie was coming should have gotten a full refund. I'm sure they considered that game "finished", but to a lot of people it wasn't.
Then on the other hand, Kickstarter is a thing, and I regret not backing Yookalaylee b/c I could be messing around in the Toybox right now. And isn't every episodic Telltale game released unfinished? My kid spent $15 on Early Access Lego World on Steam awhile back and he's had alot of fun with it.
PSN had a "Minis" section w/ games under $5 with no online, I suppose they have room for an "Early Access" section if that's what people want. I bought Splatoon day 1 for $60, that was about as early access as one can get, only about half the game was there. I've read PvZ:GW was the same way. "For the gamers".
Either way, I'd rather see games marked "Early Access" then back Kickstarter, too many failures there. And I still don't think Sony needs cross play with Xbox, defeats the purpose.
I had someone moan about new remasters , new sequels and new ip all in 5 minutes so i agree that people moan about anything these days... And it wasn't lack of any of the 3 was moaning about ... Anyway personally i think Sony is right here, i'm okay with stress test betas etc if actually improve stuff (Nioh for example) but anything else no
@Nickolaidas Shame he's the editor innit!
@rjejr You're talking about completely different things.
@ShogunRok I NO RITE?!?!
@Grawlog Surely this is a joke question!
I'll never be on board with early access and will never use it myself, however, IF Sony does decide to go that route I hope the games don't just appear on the store, I'd like there to be a separate section so people don't pay out for an unfinished game thinking it's real, it's easy to read the description of a game (I always do even in games I know I want, you never know if something dodgy is in it you missed elsewhere) but too many people don't read it, I'm part of a group and the amount of people in the group that say they've had money go from there account when they preordered is a joke, especially when it's in bright yellow/orangy writing. 😳
I'm very happy with Sony's policy on this. I hope they stick with it.
Please don't make psn in to steam early access, some dev will abused this system like steam.
I agree with you guys. Release things that just flipping work!! Nothing worse than handing over some dosh and then staring at the screen speechless at how awful a game is. But all we need is a little patience 😄 can't play it now? Do something else: Go milk a cow, grab fresh air, learn how to fly a kite lol! Chat to the homeless!!
Sony will get bashed for this but i for one completely support their stance. I do understand and sympathise with those who think differently on this issue though
Early access has a place in gaming. It allows gamers to feedback on how the the game plays on a much larger scale than any testing the company would do. It brings income into the company that can be spent on developing the game. Gamers get discounts on games and see it evolve. It works well and is a proven system that is deployed on steam. If it did not work then why would gamers be buying games in the millions that are in alpha state on PC.
@Grawlog Tell that to people like Jim Sterling who feel early access has become a dumping ground for so much crap and spawned many a dodgy business practice with just asset flips and early access games that never get finished.
@dryrain Because everyone wants games yesterday and will pay money for it.
With regards to these developers then there's nothing stopping them putting the game on PSN as a free beta but of course they don't want it to be free to beta testers do they? Says a lot about them really.
@get2sammyb I know, I'm talking about a lot of different things - incomplete games, kickstarter games, episodic games, but all of them would fall under the label - "not finished" b/c they are released unfinished and we never know if or when they will be finished. In 2016 gaming is a gamble. Look at all those poor people who bought Battleborn but now can't play it b/c there is nobody online.
It all used to be so simply, buy a game, play it, the end.
all I know is I would never buy an early access game
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