Games that are in Early Access are, by definition, unfinished.
They're in Early Access so developers can continue to improve the experience, while still making money. It's a way to build a community and incorporate fan feedback before formally and officially releasing a polished and finished game.
It's easy to see, then, why fans might be upset if an Early Access title was to get a paid DLC expansion prior to the full release of the finished game. That's exactly what recently happened with Ark: Survival Evolved, and fans aren't happy about it, to say the least.
However, first, some context. Ark is a wildly-popular survival and crafting game, filled with dinosaurs and all manner of creatures for players to tame. When it first hit Early Access in June of 2015, it sat atop the Steam charts for weeks, and has continued to sell incredibly well. The game is also in Early Access on Xbox One and slated to arrive on PlayStation 4 in the future.
Yesterday, the developers at Studio Wildcard released the "Scorched Earth" expansion pack, which adds a massive new desert environment to the game, complete with new items, gameplay elements and enemies. The expansion pack costs $20.
"We don't want to charge players more than we have to," Studio Wildcard co-founder Jesse Rapczak recently told Polygon in an interview. "That's why we give away a lot of free DLC. Some people might see that this is an Early Access title and we're selling an expansion pack and they might have an ideological issue with that. I don't think we're ever going to please those people.
"But what I would say to them is that this expansion pack represents much more closely the final look and feel and polish of the game. We've been working on it for a long time. We always planned to release it close to the launch of the game, so why sit on it? Let's get it out there and let players enjoy it."
If something about the above statement rubs you the wrong way, you're not alone. More than a few players are angry that Studio Wildcard would put so much focus on the game's expansion pack, going so far to say that it "represents much more closely the final look and feel and polish of the game" than Ark: Survival Evolved proper. Essentially, the developer is telling fans that the $20 expansion pack is a more complete, polished and finished product than the one they've already paid for and have waited for months to see finished.
Players who have poured hundreds or even thousands of hours into the title are now flooding the game with negative user reviews on Steam, where it currently sports a "Mixed" rating for recent reviews.
"Started off as shining example of how to do early access," writes one fan. "Ended up a complete disaster after the developer went off on adventures of making SOTF, console versions and paid expansion while still in early access! No wonder the game is so behind schedule."
Another writes, "Ripping people off by not even finishing making the game we spent our money to fund and then charging for a DLC while its [sic] still an EARLY ACCESS! I feel like they should refund the people who bought the original game because this is just ridiculus [sic]."
So far, Studio Wildcard has yet to address player concerns. It's clear that the game's most dedicated community of players is unhappy. Studio Wildcard took a gamble asking for more money for DLC when the core game was far from finished, and it doesn't look like it's paying off. The expansion pack may bring in more money in the short-term, but it's the fans and early adopters that will ensure the game's survival in the long-term. Lose them, and Ark goes with it.
