The developer of Ark: Survival Ascended has pulled the Windows PC version from PVP crossplay amid a vociferous backlash over cheating.
Ark: Survival Ascended came out on Windows PC and Xbox on November 21, and since then players have called on developer Studio Wildcard to remove the Windows PC version from PVP crossplay due to the use of cheats such as speedhacks and the ability to kill through walls.
Now, with the community in uproar over cheating, Studio Wildcard said it had made the “difficult” decision to temporarily disable Windows clients from joining official crossplay PVP servers while it works with Microsoft and anti-cheat software BattleEye to add “robust” anticheat measures for the Windows version of the game. “We apologise to our Windows players but we feel this is the best course of action for the health of the game,” Studio Wildcard added.
The developer said it expects to bring Windows clients back into official crossplay PVP servers “early next week”.
— ARK: Survival Ascended (@survivetheark) November 29, 2023
Ark: Survival Ascended is Studio Wildcard’s Unreal Engine 5 remake of the original Ark: Survival Evolved. (If you're playing, check out IGN's comprehensive Ark: Survival Ascended guide). While its Steam launch was declared successful, with Snail, Inc., owner of developer Studio Wildcard, announcing the game sold over 600,000 copies on Valve's platform in the two weeks following launch, players soon ran into performance issues. The game currently has a ‘mixed’ Steam user review rating of 58%.
The console versions of the game were delayed a number of times before the Xbox version launched last week. The PlayStation 5 version finally launches on Thursday, November 30, at 9am Pacific, but Studio Wildcard warned users it will do so with a significant issue.
In a tweet, Studio Wildcard said the join failure issue it had previously fixed on PC and Xbox “is going to be present on PlayStation until our next patch goes through certification”.
“We hadn't identified the issue at the time of submission so it won't be available at the time of launch,” Studio Wildcard explained.
Meanwhile, Survival Ascended’s Thanksgiving event, dubbed Turkey Trial, is delayed further, to next Friday, December 8. “The Turkey Trial event required a new major version that would have been incompatible with Playstation,” Studio Wildcard explained. “In order to fully test our event pipeline and allow everyone to fully experience Turkey Trial, we've moved the start date to next Friday, December 8th.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
