Ark Survival Ascended, No thanks

[Huck]

Da ja mittlerweile feststeht das es Ark Survival Ascended Server exklusiv nur noch bei Nitrado geben wird, werde ich es mir nicht mehr kaufen.
Es wird genau das mit Ark Ascended passieren wie zum Beispiel mit Valnir Rok, die Spielerzahlen gehen schnell zurück und das Spiel verschwindet in der Versenkung.
Man beraubt uns der Möglichkeit Ark Ascended selber zu hosten was für mich ein Ausschlusskriterium ist es nicht zu kaufen.
Dazu muss man noch sagen das Nitrado dann die Monopolstellung inne hat und die Preisgestaltung ganz bei Nitrado liegt.
Ich hoste alle meine Server selber auf meinem Rootserver welcher in einem Rechenzentrum in Frankfurt steht, ich werde nicht noch zusätzlich bei Nitrado etwas anmieten wo ich keinen Komplettzugriff auf sämtliche Dateien haben werde.

Ark Survival Ascended ist jetzt schon für mich gestorben.
Wildcard lernt aber auch nicht aus alten Fehlern dazu.

-------------------------------------------------------

Since it is now clear that Ark Survival Ascended Server will only be available exclusively at Nitrado, I will not buy it anymore.
It will happen exactly the same with Ark Ascended as for example with Valnir Rok, the player numbers go down quickly and the game disappears into oblivion.
We are deprived of the possibility to host Ark Ascended by ourselves which is a criterion for me not to buy it.
In addition, Nitrado has a monopoly position and the pricing is entirely up to Nitrado.
I host all my servers myself on my root server which is located in a datacenter in Frankfurt, I will not rent something from Nitrado where I will not have complete access to all files.

Ark Survival Ascended is already dead for me.
Wildcard doesn't learn from old mistakes either.

[zerassar]

Originally posted by Huck:

Since it is now clear that Ark Survival Ascended Server will only be available exclusively at Nitrado,

Just to clarify this a little... This is ONLY referencing rental server providers.
It has not made any reference to people self hosting their own servers. The post was entirely discussing the licensing that rental providers buy from Wildcard.

Yes Nitrado will have a monopoly for 3 years on the rented server market.
No Nitrado will not have a monopoly on the "Ark Survival Ascended Server" market.

Those of us using our own hardware, or renting a virtual server that we then install the game server on top of that... Are not affected by such licensing discussions.

Based on your OP, it sounds like you'd be unaffected by this exclusive license agreement.

[Huck]

I understood that any private servers would only be available through Nitrado. Then I will wait until the release is there to get a picture of it.
Thanks for your answer

[🦊 Hermit]

I've seen a couple of people reference announcements of server exclusivity now, but I haven't seen any actual announcements on it myself. Any chance someone could provide a link to where it was stated that this would be the case?

[Sgt Griss]

You should be able to host your own private server or rent a server from a 3rd party host on a virtual machine. It is not possible for Wildcard/Snail to limit a server hosting 3rd party company from renting server space to host the game for PC. Now i cannot speak for X box but for PC there will be other 3rd party server hosting companies that will host server space for rent.

[RiChuF]

Originally posted by 🦊 Hermit:

I've seen a couple of people reference announcements of server exclusivity now, but I haven't seen any actual announcements on it myself. Any chance someone could provide a link to where it was stated that this would be the case?

this?
https://server.nitrado.net/en-GB/news/new-era-for-ark-server-hosting-nitrado-partnership-with-studio-wildcard-and-snail-games

[🦊 Hermit]

Ah so it's been announced by Nitrado themselves but not WC yet? Ok gotcha, ty for the link Ri.

[[LGC] Weerwolf]

Link to the actual agreement[investor.snail.com]
Asa far a i understand reading it 3 times ^^, hosting your server self is possible, as long as you do not receive any money for it.
b.t.w. Section 6.2.C also states clearly that is will also go for Evolved at a point, no later than 31.12.2024.

[Scourn]

nitrado is one of the scummiest server hosts out there and this was just a direct shot at Gportal since those two are the big dogs that own most of the smaller server hosting companies. Scummy ethics with high prices that teach their tech support to only upsell and not fix issues. I personally hope this game fails and teaches both companies a lesson but the whales are going to buy it regardless to get their pixel dino fix because saying no to a new shiny toy is nearly impossible these days ethically or not.

[🦊 Hermit]

Hmmm...I admit I'm no legal expert, and it does look like a lot of the Ark Evolved exclusivity in that contract is dependant on other events happening before that clause will be brought into effect. However I'd have to agree that it does indeed look like there is the potential for Snail to demand shutdown of any other company hosting Ark Evolved in the future. If that does indeed go through, then I will not be impressed at all, and I highly doubt many others in the community will be either.

[Zera_Fox]

To clarify here, Nitrado is the only person allowed to rent server space out to host ASA servers.
No third party company may rent server space to host ASA servers for the first 3 years.
After 3 years WC may accept bids from other server hosting providers to host servers for ASA.
Server Exclusions include your personal machine at home, you are free to host your own ASA server on your own hardware and do as you like with that server, (sell kits, receive donations, etc;)

The limitation is only commercial hosting based limitations, aka no third party hosting such as Survival Servers, Server Blend, Ping Perfect, etc; may offer hosting for ARK: Survival Ascended within the first 3 years of ASA's life cycle.

[Scourn]

Originally posted by Zera_Fox:

To clarify here, Nitrado is the only person allowed to rent server space out to host ASA servers.
No third party company may rent server space to host ASA servers for the first 3 years.
After 3 years WC may accept bids from other server hosting providers to host servers for ASA.
Server Exclusions include your personal machine at home, you are free to host your own ASA server on your own hardware and do as you like with that server, (sell kits, receive donations, etc;)

The limitation is only commercial hosting based limitations, aka no third party hosting such as Survival Servers, Server Blend, Ping Perfect, etc; may offer hosting for ARK: Survival Ascended within the first 3 years of ASA's life cycle.

and this is going to basically start a contract war similar to xbox/sony watch and see. This is beyond stupid it was stupid when SCUM did it with Gportal but that game was dead on arrival anyways so exclusive did not mean much as no one hardly wanted to play it. With a game as largely known as Ark all those smaller less known hosting companies that actually have real customer support and service are going to be locked out of most larger games due to those two idiot companies from now on bidding to get exclusives. Stupid move period its going to hurt the consumer in the long run.

[Zera_Fox]

Originally posted by Scourn:

Originally posted by Zera_Fox:

To clarify here, Nitrado is the only person allowed to rent server space out to host ASA servers.
No third party company may rent server space to host ASA servers for the first 3 years.
After 3 years WC may accept bids from other server hosting providers to host servers for ASA.
Server Exclusions include your personal machine at home, you are free to host your own ASA server on your own hardware and do as you like with that server, (sell kits, receive donations, etc;)

The limitation is only commercial hosting based limitations, aka no third party hosting such as Survival Servers, Server Blend, Ping Perfect, etc; may offer hosting for ARK: Survival Ascended within the first 3 years of ASA's life cycle.

and this is going to basically start a contract war similar to xbox/sony watch and see. This is beyond stupid it was stupid when SCUM did it with Gportal but that game was dead on arrival anyways so exclusive did not mean much as no one hardly wanted to play it. With a game as largely known as Ark all those smaller less known hosting companies that actually have real customer support and service are going to be locked out of most larger games due to those two idiot companies from now on bidding to get exclusives. Stupid move period its going to hurt the consumer in the long run.

I'm not thrilled with it either but it is a stipulation that Nitrado put on WC/Snail in contract based on the loan they were given to stay afloat.

Either way you look at it, the ball is/was entirely in Nitrado's court and they're taking full advantage of it.
I am quite upset that the host I've been using for years won't have access to ASA for a minimum of 3 years and that's assuming they get lucky enough to have a bid accepted by WC after that period to be able to host the game.
This was not Nitrado "bidding for exclusive" so much as it was Nitrado bailing out Snail and WC to finish their games, ontop of the fact that apparently WC/Snail already owes Nitrado money ontop of this load in the first place. WC/Snail will have to pay back Nitrado the money that they're giving WC/Snail as it is a financial loan at it's core.
WC's hands are entirely tied. Take the money as it is offered and continue to develop and market your game or don't take said money and you (and your publisher) are dead in the water.

For all we know WC didn't want to agree to all of these terms, but since Snail owns WC and WC ultimately has no say in these matters... Well, we all know Snail isn't the greatest and doesn't exactly have everyone else's best interest in mind all the time.

[Mister Oogway]

@Zera_Fox not disagreeing with what you're saying, but do you have a link or anything regarding this news? I'm just finding it a bit difficult to believe that Snail needed to take a loan since they're one of the scummiest biggest publishers especially in the Asia side.

[🦊 Hermit]

Originally posted by Zera_Fox:

To clarify here, Nitrado is the only person allowed to rent server space out to host ASA servers.
No third party company may rent server space to host ASA servers for the first 3 years.
After 3 years WC may accept bids from other server hosting providers to host servers for ASA.
Server Exclusions include your personal machine at home, you are free to host your own ASA server on your own hardware and do as you like with that server, (sell kits, receive donations, etc;)

The limitation is only commercial hosting based limitations, aka no third party hosting such as Survival Servers, Server Blend, Ping Perfect, etc; may offer hosting for ARK: Survival Ascended within the first 3 years of ASA's life cycle.

But as was posted above, the actual terms of the contract state that this limitation could be extended to Ark Evolved as well as Ark Ascended.

From what I understand, the document says that if Ark Ascended is delayed any further than the current date of October, Nitrado will be given exclusive rights to extend the lifespan of the official Evolved server network. And in addition to that, Snail can (far as I can see it's optional not obligatory, but it opens up the possibility) deliver an ultimatum to other server hosting companies saying that they must terminate service for Ark Evolved, and only Nitrado can host unofficial servers too. What is more, the contract does specifically state that if this clause is triggered and Ascended is not released before December 31st 2024, Snail are legally bound (this part is mandatory!) to deliver that ultimatum.

So basically, there's a chance that if Ark Ascended is delayed again, all unofficial Ark Evolved servers that aren't hosted by Nitrado or privately hosted could be arbitrarily shut down, and all players on them will be forced to switch to Nitrado or find their own means of hosting.

[Zera_Fox]

Originally posted by The Real Master Oogway:

@Zera_Fox not disagreeing with what you're saying, but do you have a link or anything regarding this news? I'm just finding it a bit difficult to believe that Snail needed to take a loan since they're one of the scummiest biggest publishers especially in the Asia side.

You can see this by viewing their stock values online, they're going downhill pretty quickly.

I also highly doubt that either WC or Snail would want this sort of limitation applied to the server-hosting if they could help it. Consider how much money they make by having so many different Hosting Providers paying them license fees to host their game(s) and with this it's being limited to and restricted to just the one Host Provider and even more so should they some how fail to release ASA later than October 31st..
They'd lose all the money they're getting from other Hosting Providers for ASE that they've been getting over the last 8 years as they've have to terminate those contracts to hold true to this one or face legal consequences and so forth.

Originally posted by 🦊 Hermit:

Originally posted by Zera_Fox:

To clarify here, Nitrado is the only person allowed to rent server space out to host ASA servers.
No third party company may rent server space to host ASA servers for the first 3 years.
After 3 years WC may accept bids from other server hosting providers to host servers for ASA.
Server Exclusions include your personal machine at home, you are free to host your own ASA server on your own hardware and do as you like with that server, (sell kits, receive donations, etc;)

The limitation is only commercial hosting based limitations, aka no third party hosting such as Survival Servers, Server Blend, Ping Perfect, etc; may offer hosting for ARK: Survival Ascended within the first 3 years of ASA's life cycle.

But as was posted above, the actual terms of the contract state that this limitation could be extended to Ark Evolved as well as Ark Ascended.

From what I understand, the document says that if Ark Ascended is delayed any further than the current date of October, Nitrado will be given exclusive rights to extend the lifespan of the official Evolved server network. And in addition to that, Snail can (far as I can see it's optional not obligatory, but it opens up the possibility) deliver an ultimatum to other server hosting companies saying that they must terminate service for Ark Evolved, and only Nitrado can host unofficial servers too. What is more, the contract does specifically state that if this clause is triggered and Ascended is not released before December 31st 2024, Snail are legally bound (this part is mandatory!) to deliver that ultimatum.

So basically, there's a chance that if Ark Ascended is delayed again, all unofficial Ark Evolved servers that aren't hosted by Nitrado or privately hosted could be arbitrarily shut down, and all players on them will be forced to switch to Nitrado or find their own means of hosting.

Yes, if WC does not release by October 31st then they will be required to start including all games WC has made/will make until Nitrado is paid off in full. From what I understand it isn't termination of current hosting abilities but rather a portion of said profits from that hosting to be paid to Nitrado. This part I'm not overly clear on and I haven't seen any sources ultimately clarifying this part of the contract as of yet, though i am watching what Nitrado is releasing on the matter and what little WC is giving us.

The UnOfficial ARK: Ascended Community Discord is making videos and tweets and so forth on what they find out as well. You can find that here if you're not already part of it: https://discord.gg/playarkascended

Nitrado has said that they are working on an F.A.Q to be released to the public concerning it all though so I'm also waiting to see that be made available and given the fact that this is indeed their contract to WC/Snail I am inclined to believe whatever they'll give us more than any "random joe" who might give their "view" on the matter (and attempt to pass for facts as they seem to do).

The only things I know for certain based on what I've gathered from the document and discussions had with Nitrado staff is that:

• UnOfficial servers hosted on your home-machines are yours to do as you so please
  
• Commercial selling of Hosting for ASA is exclusive to Nitrado for the first 3 years, no other Commercial Company can/will provide Hosting of ASA to the consumers or be in violation of Contract should WC/Snail not report the infringement of this clause.
  
• WC can accept bids from other Hosting providers that meet certain qualifications and agreements after the first 3 years
  
• The 3 year period started when the document was written, presented and signed and not from the time that ASA releases
  
• After 7 years Nitrado will lose all exclusive rights, whether or not the debt is paid off.
  
• Terms of payment "plan" will be limited to only the profits of ASA if the game is released by October 31st to PC (No other platforms were mentioned)
  
  • Release after October 31st then defaults to any income from any ARK game, including ASE, ASA and ARK 2 and any variations, DLCs and so forth until the debt to Nitrado is paid in full
    
  • Failure to release by October 31st (seems to and this is just what I'm gathering, I've not heard anything official on this matter) will force WC/Snail to pull licencing from third party Host Providers for ARK Survival Evolved.
    This however does not effect privately hosted games, personal PC hosting in your home is unaffected by any of this. Even if they happen to release later than October 31st, if you run a server from your home on your own hardware it is not under penalty and being forced to shut-down as you (the end-user) is non-commercial and non-monetized, ergo not profiting off of directly hosting a server off your hardware.

Ultimately those of us who are hosting servers from say "our basement" aren't effected by this in anyway. Whether it's ASE or ASA, released before, by or after October 31st you "the end-user" can continue to host your server(s) "in your basement" indefinitely if you so choose to. And this is coming from Nitrado themselves saying so.
This is only pertaining to a company selling/renting hardware using a purchased license to host the game on their hardware on your behalf that this has any effect on.

Nitrado Statements I have seen thus far that back-up the "End-User servers are Excluded Servers" in this regard:
https://gyazo.com/b7f0c5b7f59c555fd3a926393ea16ea6
https://discord.com/channels/370262040323031040/1140736078114988195/1141093353354706964