The team behind Ark: Survival Evolved are in a bit of hot water with the gaming community after seemingly trying to buy votes with the promises of free downloadable content. The developers revealed that they have been nominated for in the upcoming Steam Awards, stating the following:
“Head over to https://store.steampowered.com/SteamAwards/ on Thursday the 29th of December, as you’ll have the opportunity to come show your support for ARK by voting for us! If ARK wins the award, we will ensure that our fluffy friend quickly makes its debut on the ARK in the next major version update!”
The statement indicates that the only way to ensure that the Ovis Aries will be apart of the next major update is to vote for them as “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” Award in the upcoming Steam Awards (even though the animal hasn’t even been released). The original has since been taken down and replaced with an almost identical post except for stating, “We want to make it clear that regardless of whether ARK wins a Steam Award or not, Ovis will be making its debut in the next major ARK version update!”
Either the original write up was simply a poorly worded gaffe, or the company quickly switched gears after swift community backlash. There is evidence that supports both but, given Ark: Survival Evolved troubled track record with DLC, many believe it is the latter.
Regardless of their intent, it’s obvious that the focus of the statement doesn’t revolve around the Ovis Aries and the new content, but around the upcoming award for which they are nominated. The full original statement (screen-capped above) talks about the award in every paragraph, and while the redo does a better job of spacing it out, the main focus of almost each one again revolves around the nomination.
It’s a shame that, at least PR wise, Ark: Survival Evolved seems to have its priorities out of whack, reveling in their own grandeur instead of focusing on developing new content for fans. Either way, the company’s PR should seriously considering studying basic phonetics if they want to avoid angering fans again.
