how can you wipe and cancel official servers when people are still playing them

[Darkweapon]

i am not getting the logic behind what is being done with the servers we are still playing on them and there is no game for sale and we are going to wipe and cancel them ? wtf. I stand by my original boycott comment.

[Pixel]

Doesn't matter they'll be fully wiped including characters in 20 days.

[Darkweapon]

it actually does matter its scummy

[Pixel]

It's a good thing cause official was a trash bin of RMT and so much duped trash and bugged out dna and broken stuff. It all needed to be purged.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by 123:

it actually does matter its scummy

You may find it scummy, but thats how online games operate. Eventually, all online games reach that point. Some reach that point quicker than others. They aren't going to stop you playing. You will always have single-player, and there will be unofficial servers to play on. You know, the servers the majority of the playerbase are already using.

[Darkweapon]

yes they do operate this way but if you havent released your other asc project why take away what people are doing now? makes no since but all good can see your a unoffici your opinion is void

[retsam1]

Originally posted by 123:

i am not getting the logic behind what is being done with the servers we are still playing on them and there is no game for sale and we are going to wipe and cancel them ? wtf. I stand by my original boycott comment.

If you do some searching here, youtube, gaming news etc, you'll come to understand that Snail games, owners of Wildcard, are in financial trouble. 9+ million in debt with 2 outstanding loans coming due in December and next January respectively.

They also owed Nitrado(group hosting the 1800ish official servers) over a million in arrears for their server hosting just from March-June of this year. This is why they negotiated with Nitrado to not only forgive their debt to them but give them a cash influx of another 3 million or so in exchange for the exclusivity rights for ALL ark ascended hosting services(ie other host companies cant now.. but private players can use their rigs though once ASA releases) AND 20% of the revenue from Ascended if it releases in October and 20% of ASE if it doesnt.

By shuttering all their official servers in October:

1. They are intentionally incentivizing the minority of the player base who play those previous 1800ish official servers to migrate to the UE5 Ascended version of ark.

2. Obviously with just only the Island map releasing in October AND Ascended being released in Early Access, they'll not have to worry about 1800ish servers as they did previously. It'll be a much much smaller fraction of official servers to start. That's a cost cut and not a small one. Nitrado's agreement doesnt mean Nitrado is hosting for free. They're still having to pay out of Snail's pocket for the official server rentals they intend to do.

Once Ascended is released into EA, then the other 12 maps are to be staggered in release and likely not per the previous staggered release plans they stated before. That too means they can slowly add servers and at a cost equivalency that the company is better able to manage in their current financial situation.

------

So essentially the why's are money. They are literally banking on official players to make the transition to buy Ascended, they'll not need to be paying for as many servers and support as now. (Keep in mind again official server players are a minority. The majority of the player base have been playing on the 60k+ unofficial servers instead...)

There's more to it than that and as well there's no guarantee based on the constraints and release/development intentions of Ascended that they'll succeed either and for all we know they could end up shuttering(after all Snail as a company relies on over 80% of its revenue from the Ark IP even if they have 20+ other titles under their portfolio). Its not a good time for the company.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by 123:

yes they do operate this way but if you havent released your other asc project why take away what people are doing now? makes no since but all good can see your a unoffici your opinion is void

The new game will require server space. By removing the current official servers, those could be turned into servers for the new game. Trying to keep the current servers up while adding more servers for the new games might not be possible for them due to space or money reasons.

[Carpe Noctem]

Originally posted by retsam1:

Originally posted by 123:

i am not getting the logic behind what is being done with the servers we are still playing on them and there is no game for sale and we are going to wipe and cancel them ? wtf. I stand by my original boycott comment.

If you do some searching here, youtube, gaming news etc, you'll come to understand that Snail games, owners of Wildcard, are in financial trouble. 9+ million in debt with 2 outstanding loans coming due in December and next January respectively.

They also owed Nitrado(group hosting the 1800ish official servers) over a million in arrears for their server hosting just from March-June of this year. This is why they negotiated with Nitrado to not only forgive their debt to them but give them a cash influx of another 3 million or so in exchange for the exclusivity rights for ALL ark ascended hosting services(ie other host companies cant now.. but private players can use their rigs though once ASA releases) AND 20% of the revenue from Ascended if it releases in October and 20% of ASE if it doesnt.

By shuttering all their official servers in October:

1. They are intentionally incentivizing the minority of the player base who play those previous 1800ish official servers to migrate to the UE5 Ascended version of ark.

2. Obviously with just only the Island map releasing in October AND Ascended being released in Early Access, they'll not have to worry about 1800ish servers as they did previously. It'll be a much much smaller fraction of official servers to start. That's a cost cut and not a small one. Nitrado's agreement doesnt mean Nitrado is hosting for free. They're still having to pay out of Snail's pocket for the official server rentals they intend to do.

Once Ascended is released into EA, then the other 12 maps are to be staggered in release and likely not per the previous staggered release plans they stated before. That too means they can slowly add servers and at a cost equivalency that the company is better able to manage in their current financial situation.

------

So essentially the why's are money. They are literally banking on official players to make the transition to buy Ascended, they'll not need to be paying for as many servers and support as now. (Keep in mind again official server players are a minority. The majority of the player base have been playing on the 60k+ unofficial servers instead...)

There's more to it than that and as well there's no guarantee based on the constraints and release/development intentions of Ascended that they'll succeed either and for all we know they could end up shuttering(after all Snail as a company relies on over 80% of its revenue from the Ark IP even if they have 20+ other titles under their portfolio). Its not a good time for the company.

It's a shame the fanbase will inevitably bail them out of their absolutely moronic financial decisions.

[retsam1]

Originally posted by Moonrider:

It's a shame the fanbase will inevitably bail them out of their absolutely moronic financial decisions.

While it remains to be seen, I'd just simply point to any other title produced to date other wise, to say that may not happen. Given we've known about the shuttering of official servers now for months and we still get people coming to the forums, like the op, acting like it was a sudden announcement, it doesnt help Snail's hopes going forward.

A slight parallel to what's going on(though very different) would be how Atlas (again this is a Snail title and the office for them is the same as the Florida office for ark(as devs were shifted back and forth between it and Ark and most now back on arkl) launched amid controversy and criticism in 2018. Its launch month it managed a measely 58k peak concurrency. 3 Months after that, its peak concurrency was 9k. Now 5 years later the last 30 days peak concurrency is around 2k. Most other titles by Snail havent faired much better.

Come October, if the quality is poor of the release and if their intentions to stagger the other 12 maps to release get delayed or showing signs of not doing well(remember players on ASE have 12+ maps extensive library of mods etc... transitioning to ASA is just 1 map for the time being and a very small number of mods still intended AND with some popular ASE ones potentially going behind a charged paywall for them on overwolf).

Also currently its just to be a Steam EA. All platforms, playstation, xbox etc are losing their official servers too and the non steams ones arent going to be getting Ascended for quite a while yet.

The potential then to turn into a perfect storm of issues is there. Then again, something else may occur otherwise but I personally do not see much evidence in the way to support a complete turn around, especially given the pattern over the last 8 years with things.

[123]

Originally posted by 123:

makes no since but all good can see your a unoffici your opinion is void

you official people are the minority, so your opinion is actually null and void.

[dnelson135]

As stated above, Snail Games is in financial trouble and I suspect they are going to fold and go under. Add to what they did regarding the PVP scandal, they deserve everything that is coming to them.

With that said, each person can do as they like. I for one will never purchase another Snail Games/Wildcard title again. Taking choice step further, I wont game with anyone who has Ascended in their library as I believe everyone should be holding them accountable for their actions. If you disagree, we can agree to disagree and go our separate ways.

[william_es]

Servers rentals run on contracts. If they previously arranged for them to end on a certain date, they need to end. They're not going to re-up for a month or two because of delays.

This is adult grown up stuff. If you don't understand it, have a parent or guardian explain it to you.

[dnelson135]

Originally posted by william_es:

Servers rentals run on contracts. If they previously arranged for them to end on a certain date, they need to end. They're not going to re-up for a month or two because of delays.

This is adult grown up stuff. If you don't understand it, have a parent or guardian explain it to you.

It is possible to explain your perspective without being condescending, suggesting you are but a tween yourself. This company has a history of mismanagement. This is just going to keep happening. Ascended will be launched in October no matter how incomplete it is and then the company is going to fold and you will be stuck with an incomplete product and no ability to get your money back.