Official Server shutdown without ASA or Ark 2 is messed up

[Atréju]

I just learned of the shutdown. This is so messed up. I thought the servers would be running until Asa. When does it release anyway?? I admit most servers are empty, I can understand to save costs here but then just shut the ones down which have literally 0 players or merge them. There're still ppl playing. The server I'm on has a good population. Would buy ASA immediatly but we can't? No news. The shutdown announcement is very hidden too. WC being WC. Why can't they leave 1 or 2 map clusters online

[FeddyGuru]

Originally posted by Atréju:

Would buy ASA immediatly but we can't?

this right here is why the game sucks... people like you will buy it even though it will be garbage. people like you are the reason gave devs have no incentive to release good, working games.

[Atréju]

Yea bla bla. I'm not one of these people. I never preorder or buy games at full price or release. I will like asa and have thousands of ark hours. Get out of here.

[123]

Originally posted by Atréju:

The shutdown announcement is very hidden too.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/346110/announcements/detail/5515261257635865487

Official Servers: With the launch of ASA at the end of August, we will be taking down all Official Servers on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC for ARK: Survival Evolved – at that time, the final save-datas from the ARK: Survival Evolved Official Servers will be uploaded for players to re-host on their own servers or play in singleplayer/non-dedi, as well as slightly earlier snapshots. You will still be able to play on single-player, non-dedicated, player-dedicated, and unofficial servers. ARK: Survival Ascended will have it's own fully supported Official Network for all platforms.

posted on the 1st of april. not looking doesnt necessarily mean they are hidden. several announcements about it and hundreds of threads on different platforms. people talk but not everyone is listening...introducing you.

[Scar]

I mean to be fair they start posting a lot of dumb stuff like community ♥♥♥♥ instead of straight up news... nobody gives a ♥♥♥♥ about some artwork, screenshots and I especially dislike new fake dino additions.

[Dave]

stupid game

[retsam1]

Originally posted by Atréju:

I just learned of the shutdown. This is so messed up. I thought the servers would be running until Asa. When does it release anyway?? I admit most servers are empty, I can understand to save costs here but then just shut the ones down which have literally 0 players or merge them. There're still ppl playing. The server I'm on has a good population. Would buy ASA immediatly but we can't? No news. The shutdown announcement is very hidden too. WC being WC. Why can't they leave 1 or 2 map clusters online

1. ASA isn't for sale yet. All indications are they're going to wait literally until the day its released.

2. ASA is only releasing in Early Access. It is only going to be the Island map to start with other maps being released in later month in staggered releases over the next 1.5-2 years.

3. ASE servers are shutting down because they have to repurpose the servers for use for ASA. Why? Because (and you should google or do searches on here) Snail-WC are in financial trouble with lots of debt.

4. ASA is supposed to release by the end of October. This is because they have an exclusivity agreement with Nitrado who has forgiven 1.3 million in server hosting fees from March-June that they were owned and additionally gave Snail a 3mil cash infusion. In return, Nitrado gets ALL exclusive server hosting rights for ASA and 20% of ASA revenue..... IF it releases by Oct 31st. If it doesnt, then Nitrado takes 20% of ASE revenue from all platforms sources until the debt is paid off.

5. Snail has 2 other loans outstanding too. 1 due in December and another due in January amounting to around a total of currently 9mil. The December loan(according to financial reports on Snail's website (and articles and vids have covered this) is not expected to be able to be renegotiated nor repaid by the deadline(implying default).


All the above mean that there is a sense of urgency for Snail to publish ASA and keep costs to a minimum. Shutting down 1800ish official servers so they can restructure to only release a fraction of that for the only The Island map next month is a cost cutting/cost saving attempt for them.


6. The shut down announcement has not been "sudden" its been known now for 4 going on 5 months. You just simply weren't reading the weekly community news, coming to these forums (or others) the official discord, following ark news on google, twitter etc to know otherwise.

7. Keep in mind the current 60,000+ unofficial ASE servers will not directly affected by the above as people can still use their current hosts, etc. Whether those owners decide to abandon ASE and move to ASA hosted exclusively through Nitrado though is up to them.

8. If you also on occasion play with mods, be aware that ASA will have mods exclusively to Overwolf(a 3rd party site) and not on steam. Also, Snail and Overwolf will be allowing modders to charge for their mods under a "premium" services if they so choose, unlike being required to be free for ASE here. Some mod makers are indicating they'll stop upkeep on ASE mods, remove, etc their mods and go to being on ASA exclusively so they can charge, others are refusing to move to ASA. Others are going to do both and not charge etc etc etc.


----

So I suggest that you "wait and see" how the situation unfolds with ASA. There's a possibility that its not going to be as viable as some expect/hope it to be. No harm in waiting. And if it doesnt work out for ASA, keep in mind that there's a strong possibility this means no Ark 2 in 2 years either if the financial situation doesnt remedy itself.

[william_es]

Server rental agreements are set up months in advance. If they're shutting them down now, it's because there are already plans for setting up the new ASA official servers. Those plans won't change even if there's a delay on ASA coming out. The rental contracts for ASA servers have _already_ been signed. They're committed. It's all on rails at this point, and decided months ago.

Originally posted by Atréju:

The shutdown announcement is very hidden too.

No, it was front page news on the game's page for month after month. Huge neverending discussions in the forums too. It wasn't hidden. Nice try, keep beating the little drum more.

Originally posted by Atréju:

WC being WC.

WC being a business. There were "free" servers for over 8 years. Did you expect them to last forever? But there's good news! There will be free servers again!!! but... just for ASA customers. Rejoice!

Originally posted by Atréju:

Why can't they leave 1 or 2 map clusters online

So all people who're were playing on allllllll 1800+ official servers are going to pack into 1 or 2 clusters. LOL. Sure. Oh wait, you would have some kind of VIP access to those servers, right? so you wouldn't be waiting in server queues, so it wouldn't matter to you, right?

But seriously, read the part again about contracts above.

[Swiftstickler]

Let's face it. Snail Games is in the hole to NItrado for about 4 mil at the moment. Possibly even more if ASA doesn't ship by the end of October. They needed to shut the servers down and get ready to setup new ones for ASA. Most folks weren't playing on them anyway.

[👻]

ennnn