Topic: ARK Survival Evolved confirmed for December 2016 on Playstation 4 and Pro!!

[affinity]

the definitive open world survival game coming to PS4 for real this time!!  Hurray!!

First PS4 gameplay and Q&A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeU11PnEpR8

can be played solo, cooperative, competitive and a mix of all things.   plus casual and hardcore customizable rules.

ARK SE is a hybrid of genres, including open world rpg, except its only populated with real people instead of npcs (though the wildlife count as npcs)
It's the kind of survival mmo rpg that focuses on realistic immersion and open lifestyle instead of a scripted narrative.   We create our own identity and goals.

http://ark.gamepedia.com/ARK_Survival_Evolved_Wiki

http://ark.gamepedia.com/Attributes

http://ark-survival-evolved.wikia.com/wiki/ARK:_Survival_Evolved_Wiki

the wait is worth it!!  Hahaaaa so glad didn't buy a PC or Xbox One.  it's gonna be better on PS4, especially with PS4 dominating the market worldwide, there's a larger install base that can appreciate this masterpiece.  They should add craftable bladed whips so we can form a Belmont tribe.      Well a Contra tribe is easy to do, especially with higher tech tier.  Ah well, I guess a Morris or Aulin tribe is doable (but hey, who's to say prehistoric Belmonts didnt wield spears instead of whips back then? Spears actually are the ancestors of whips.)   maybe just invent an original tribe.  Anyways, maybe the building system allows some kind of prehistoric flavored Castlevania castle to be buildable.   

Though they really should add beautiful long hairstyles to choose from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ZFuwljIJ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlN_t9wxUIg

[Lelygax]

I've played this game and its really good, yet its devs are knowing for delaying things for months (it should be out of early access in July and still nothing) and this known for having bad optimization. I wouldn't be impressed if it overheats consoles on the first days before a patch comes to fix that like happened with Rocket League. Hopefully it will support mods so people could do cool things in the PS4.

I think that you will have a lot of fun with it, maybe even create a "Castlevania Dungeon" tribe if enough people get it xD

[Claimh Solais]

Sooooo... the game still hasn't even left Early Access yet, and not only did it get a paid expansion, but it's also being ported to PS4/Pro? Aaaaaaalright. This is pretty much why I don't support Early Access games. Games like this absolutely ruin the reputation of something like the EA system. Their first step should be finishing the damn game or at the very least optimizing it.

[affinity]

I've played this game and its really good, yet its devs are knowing for delaying things for months (it should be out of early access in July and still nothing)

They are making more progress.  Things were delayed because their success enabled them to set higher goals, they have more wildlife and new content added and being added than originally planned.  Early Access alpha only started June of 2015, in a few weeks they are going to show a roadmap for their upcoming content.  A lot of fans like the direction they go with it, and it's getting bigger and better for not rushing. 

and this known for having bad optimization.

They are not done adding content, so optimization isn't until beta.  even it's current state, people wouldn't clock 1000+ hours if it wasn't playable enough to them. even on Xbox One which surpasses PC's popularity and active numbers

https://gamerant.com/ark-survival-evolved-more-popular-xbox-one-steam/

"ARK: Survival Evolved had been downloaded over 1 million times in a week and that “Survivors had lasted a combined 200,000 real-life days against the dinosaurs and perils of the island, including other players”. Moreover, Rapczak says that “ARK’s daily Xbox One player count is already bigger than on PC” with Steam’s official stats saying that today, ARK has had a peak player count of 55, 936 and that it’s one of Steam’s (current) most popular games."

no "badly optimized" game would be played this long and this much. 

I wouldn't be impressed if it overheats consoles on the first days before a patch comes to fix that like happened with Rocket League.

there weren't any reports of Xbox One's overheating, and PS4 hardware is better.
and starting this month, people have the PS4 Pro as an option and could have a significant enhancement of its performance.  though I think ARK on regular PS4 will be fine and more tolerable than playing FFXIV on PS3. 

Sooooo... the game still hasn't even left Early Access yet, and not only did it get a paid expansion, but it's also being ported to PS4/Pro? Aaaaaaalright. This is pretty much why I don't support Early Access games. Games like this absolutely ruin the reputation of something like the EA system. Their first step should be finishing the damn game or at the very least optimizing it.

You see, it is a gamer stigma how there is a jumbled up misunderstanding going viral and twisting the positive facts into negative misinterpretations.

here's a ARK veteran comment that understands better than most:
"Have you ever played Ark?
I bought Ark on release and picked it up again recently and it has changed dramatically since release. They already had DLC plans and a team working on it so despite a delayed game, the DLC was READY. NO REASON TO NOT release the DLC. The main game is basically done imo they just need to reduce crashes a bit more. But that's mostly server dependent on whether or it the map is over saturated with buildings."

Also, ARK's success, increased their ambitions and expanded their content plans. 
this is a very informative article how the community plays it like a live completed game, even when its still work in progress, the success raised the roof to what they are going to add

http://venturebeat.com/2016/08/23/after-one-year-ark-survival-evolved-developer-is-expertly-navigating-early-access/

ARK Survival Evolved is early access done right.  They are making the game bigger and better than if they rushed to optimize finalize it.

ALPHA phase is for adding content.

BETA phase is for finalized content being optimized.

Focusing on optimizing is just double the work, because future things added is going to break things again. They patch things to fix things, but for it to be fully optimized, that has to come after all the content they plan is added first.
Later this month they are going to show a roadmap and they are going to establish a finish line for the base game to be completed.   

Until then, the game is still very playable and valuable to lots of players that stream and upload ARK videos on PC and Xbox One all the time.  Early Access is for those that accept paying to play it now, instead of waiting until its finalized.

You know there are finalized games launched that are STILL not fully optimized (Bethesda games, for example), and a lot of those more polished games are played less than ARK. 

and you know there are games even less optimized than ARK that people still play on PS4, like Onigiri and 7DtD.

ARK is such a massive and complex game filled with freedom, it's actually naive to expect it to be perfectly polished, even after beta.  that doesn't mean it isn't already fun, playable and valuable.

the Scorched Earth DLC being paid DLC is justified.  That content is ready, it was in the DLC plans before it was revealed, the actual game launch was delayed, no sense hibernating that DLC.   And ARK gives more things for FREE and add more things at no extra cost, than ANY other game in the industry.  They've been adding new stuff practically MONTHLY.  Even the longest DLC supported games don't give as much for this long.

And The Center map was given to players for FREE, by the way. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU7ydI1N1No

 It's just the entitlement rats out there that expect everything added during early access to be free, when these extra things COST a lot of money to make. And extra work deserves extra pay, you know?  but the brats in the community expect everything to be freebies, that's just a bad leech mentality from consumers that don't think about the developer's wallets. 

The developers got hit with a serious lawsuit, Survive of the Fittest spinoff MOSA game given away FOR FREE,
PC profits are dropping (as all games do over time), Xbox One market is limited compared to PS4, 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-04-28-sonys-psn-is-making-more-money-than-all-of-nintendo

they gotta make profit if people want everything they have planned to make it in the game.
People payed "pennies" to play it compared to how much it cost to make ARK's previous and upcoming content.

this isn't a subscription MMORPG, the devs don't owe the consumers anything extra.  People that played 30+/100+/1000+ hours already got more than their money's worth, AND still going to get more new stuff being added in the coming months, on all platforms.   not enough are grateful towards the ARK developers. 

meanwhile, scammers and deceivers like Hello Games get hype and money all the way to NMS launch.
and greedy jerks like Blizzard and Activision get more fans and money than they deserve (can you believe the Diablo 1 remake is only playable 1 month a year?) 

the industry as a whole from the consumer attitude side is so unjustified, and a lot of consumers overrated some developers while underrating other developers. 

They give money to those that deceive and give almost nothing, while hating and ostracizing on those that are more transparent and honest and generous giving a lot more.

[Claimh Solais]

no "badly optimized" game would be played this long and this much. 

The game IS badly optimized. To say otherwise is a blatant lie.

[darie] 2 hrs "Unoptimised and not fun."
[Nitro] 170 hrs "If you do not have a top of the line computer, DO NOT BUY IT, NO, IT WILL NOT RUN ON YOUR LAPTOP! EVER! I have seen so many people complain on the forums that the game wont run on potato# 221, this has been made clear and YOU are responsible if you buy it for a rig that cant play it!"
[DEAD_SPARTAN] 18 hrs "I really want to play this game, but for me it lags so much even on low graphics and everything. Also the devs are only working on addidng more things and are not fixing all the glitches and bugs."
[Arpa] 23 hrs "Very unstable game. Game crashes every 5-10 minutes after the most recent update. Tried booting game, booting steam, booting computer, reinstalling gpu drivers, chancing video settings ingame and nothing seems to fix the issue."
[Simon] 219 hrs "They should really try to optimise the game before adding more content."

That's just from a quick scroll down the user reviews on Steam, with the "ALL" option toggled. The game is simply poorly optimized. Normally people would be understanding of this, since duh, the game is in Early Access, it's not gonna be well-optimized. But the dev team is more focused on adding more content than improving optimization.

Fans don't want more content right now. Because a lot of them can't even play the content that's already there.

Also, ARK's success, increased their ambitions and expanded their content plans. 
this is a very informative article how the community plays it like a live completed game, even when its still work in progress, the success raised the roof to what they are going to add

ARK Survival Evolved is early access done right.

None of this matters. It doesn't matter that the game was successful and made them more ambitious. The game should at least FUNCTION properly before you start adding more content. Again, even people with top-of-the-line PCs can't even run the game without some form of lag, stuttering, or crashing.

This is NOT Early Access done right. They are NOT listening to people who have been complaining since the game first entered Early Access last year about the game's poor optimization. Early Access is to have people help you out, to play your game and give feedback, and for you to apply said feedback to your product. People are playing it, they are giving feedback, and the developers are just thinking, "...Ohhhhh, so more content then?"

  They are making the game bigger and better than if they rushed to optimize finalize it.

Makes absolutely zero sense. By this logic, Assassin's Creed: Unity was an acceptable game.

Ark is unfinished. Optimization should be the first thing fixed. If we have people who can play Doom, or Final Fantasy XIV, or Star Citizen's betas fluidly at max settings that still can't even run Ark without a problem, then the game doesn't need to be bigger and better, it needs to be fluid and more stable.

ALPHA phase is for adding content.

BETA phase is for finalized content being optimized.

Which I would agree on, if the content was still just small amounts added through free updates.

The game is NOT DONE YET and there is already a PAID DLC EXPANSION PACK that costs a WHOLE 2/3 OF THE PRICE OF THE MAIN GAME.

Focusing on optimizing is just double the work, because future things added is going to break things again. They patch things to fix things, but for it to be fully optimized, that has to come after all the content they plan is added first.
Later this month they are going to show a roadmap and they are going to establish a finish line for the base game to be completed.

By this logic, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Diablo III, Blade & Soul, Star Wars: The Old Republic, all of these should have simply remained in an unstable and unoptimized state simply because of future content.

Welcome to game design. Welcome to how games with updates work. You don't just release an unoptimized game, continue adding content, and then eventually fix the game. You release a game that works properly, and is stable, and then when you add more content, you make sure the game doesn't fall the hell apart from said content.

Early Access is for those that accept paying to play it now, instead of waiting until its finalized.

Which, again, people were okay with until they decided to charge you another TWO-THIRDS THE PRICE OF THE FULL GAME for more content, when THE GAME ITSELF IS NOT DONE.

You know there are finalized games launched that are STILL not fully optimized (Bethesda games, for example), and a lot of those more polished games are played less than ARK.

This straight-up does not matter. Skyrim, Fallout, Assassin's Creed, all of these are widely played games. And they are continually shit on for their poor optimization.

Skyrim ran like absolute crap on PS3. The game crashed if you simply walked into water. So what did Bethesda do? They released a patch that, while it didn't fix everything, it was a significantly more stable experience.

Assassin's Creed: Unity is notorious for being one of the most unfinished games of all time. So what did Ubisoft do? Their next Assassin's Creed game, built on the same engine, was extremely optimized for all platforms. Glitches and bugs were rare. It was quite simply the smoothest experience the franchise has had since Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood six years prior.

and you know there are games even less optimized than ARK that people still play on PS4, like Onigiri and 7DtD.

Still doesn't make it okay for Ark.

ARK is such a massive and complex game filled with freedom, it's actually naive to expect it to be perfectly polished, even after beta.  that doesn't mean it isn't already fun, playable and valuable.

People aren't expecting a perfectly polished game. They're expecting a somewhat optimized game. Because again, even people with top-of-the-line PCs cannot run the game without problems.

the Scorched Earth DLC being paid DLC is justified.  That content is ready, it was in the DLC plans before it was revealed, the actual game launch was delayed, no sense hibernating that DLC.   And ARK gives more things for FREE and add more things at no extra cost, than ANY other game in the industry.  They've been adding new stuff practically MONTHLY.  Even the longest DLC supported games don't give as much for this long.

No, it is not justified. The game isn't done yet. Just because they already planned for DLC doesn't mean anything. Your game is not done yet, do not release paid DLC expansions for it.

It's just the entitlement rats out there that expect everything added during early access to be free, when these extra things COST a lot of money to make. And extra work deserves extra pay, you know?  but the brats in the community expect everything to be freebies, that's just a bad leech mentality from consumers that don't think about the developer's wallets.

It's not entitlement. It's basic expectation of video games. People wouldn't be okay with Blizzard doing this. They wouldn't be okay with Nintendo or Square doing this. They're not okay with Bethesda or Ubisoft doing this. So why in the world would anyone be okay with Studio Wildcard doing this?

this isn't a subscription MMORPG, the devs don't owe the consumers anything extra.

You're right. What the devs do owe the consumers is a properly optimized game.

meanwhile, scammers and deceivers like Hello Games get hype and money all the way to NMS launch.
and greedy jerks like Blizzard and Activision get more fans and money than they deserve (can you believe the Diablo 1 remake is only playable 1 month a year?)

No Man's Sky is also one of the most poorly received and most refunded games of all time. People didn't stand for the shit that happened with NMS.

Blizzard is already receiving huge fan backlash for the Diablo 1 dungeon event. (Huge misconception, btw. It is not a remake of Diablo 1. It's merely a dungeon inspired by it. You are not returning to Tristram, you are not meeting the NPCs from the game, you are not using the classes from D1. It's just an event with a dungeon inspired by D1.)

Don't even get me started on the backlash that Activision gets.

These are all poor examples, because these companies pull crap like this and fans don't stand for it. No Man's Sky's Steam reviews are at "Overwhelmingly Negative" for recent reviews and "Mostly Negative" for overall reviews. The game and Hello Games' reputation are absolutely destroyed, and from here on, probably no publisher will ever want to work with them again.

So yes, other companies do this. But also yes, fans give even worse backlash to those companies. How they're treating Studio Wildcard is significantly tame in comparison. It still doesn't change the fact that Studio Wildcard is charging more for a game that isn't done yet.

They give money to those that deceive and give almost nothing, while hating and ostracizing on those that are more transparent and honest and generous giving a lot more.

Except what you don't realize is that Studio Wildcard is doing exactly what you're pointing out other companies are doing.

I don't know where you got this mindset of optimization not being important for a game, because optimization is hands-down one of the most important parts of a game. Several people who meet the minimum system requirements for the game cannot play the game. People with PCs that should be able to run the game at max settings flawlessly any day of the week cannot do so without frame drops, stutters, lag, crashing, etc.

Getting the game to work should be their first priority. And that's why I said in the beginning:

Their first step should be finishing the damn game or at the very least optimizing it.

If the game was at least optimized to run properly, then people wouldn't be so angry about the game. But several people who meet the minimum system requirements forked out $30 for the game and can't play it. People aren't being unfair to Studio Wildcard. Studio Wildcard isn't even delivering on one of the most essential parts of the game.

Meanwhile, they're releasing an expansion which costs a whole two-thirds the price of the game, which is actually receiving backlash for removing more content than it adds. They're porting it to every major console, with an enhancement patch for said consoles' updated versions. And they released a spin-off MOBA. Yes, said MOBA is free-to-play, but it also suffers from poor optimization and crashing.

Studio Wildcard is quite literally pulling the same shit that other studios do. So they deserve just as much crap for it.

[affinity]

You are completely missing the bottom line:

If you feel its not optimized enough to enjoy it, YOU are playing it too early. That's your mistake.
Everyone else playing it every day, are not fussing over the bad, and continue to enjoy the good side of the game .

But the dev team is more focused on adding more content than improving optimization.

Fans don't want more content right now. Because a lot of them can't even play the content that's already there.

Fans do want more content. 

ALPHA phase is to add content, BETA phase is for optimization after the content is finalized. 

The game is NOT DONE YET and there is already a PAID DLC EXPANSION PACK that costs a WHOLE 2/3 OF THE PRICE OF THE MAIN GAME.

Scorched Earth is the size of a new ARK game.  It's worth more than a free patch, you know?  If you were building something, and needed more money to go further with building it, and you completed something on the side that's ready to sell, wouldn't you sell it now to keep your project funded?   Look at ALL that expansion content.  It's too big to be just some free patch, and its wasteful just letting it collect dust, when it's ready to sell as optional paid DLC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hwdh8enX7Q

there are greedy and scammy companies, but Studio Wildcard is not one of them.   The critics are just twisting the facts and spreading unjust criticisms into a very absurd and misguided way, in very immature entitlement leech mentalities.

Scorched Earth was in the DLC plans.  ARK SE launch got delayed, why hibernate Scorched Earth release when it's ready to be available?    And it's OPTIONAL.  People don't need it to continue playing ARK.   Early Access has different culture from regular launched games.  If people complain about that, they are
1. playing it too early
2. expecting things to happen when it's not time for optimization and full finalized launch to happen.
3. the game is still very playable for those that like it.



and here is proof ARK is optimized enough to be fun and enjoyable

http://steamcharts.com/app/346110

 28,848
playing an hour ago

35,229
24-hour peak

not a lot of games has that many people playing it OVER A YEAR after its launch. 

compare that to Rust
http://steamcharts.com/app/252490

 22,554
playing a min ago
30,668
24-hour peak

and H1Z1 Just Survive
http://steamcharts.com/app/295110

 1,362
playing an hour ago
1,859
24-hour peak

DayZ
 5,059
playing 4 min ago
7,792
24-hour peak

ARK edges out its competition.  It's stable enough to have 10,000s playing it every day, which is a healthy amount and more than what a lot of $60 have for replay value (most $60 games are no longer played after the first day or week or month. and here, early access game is played over a year longer than fully optimized $60 games, even longer than most mmorpgs.)

And the FACT that ARK is solid enough on Xbox One to be a playable game by those that UNDERSTAND EARLY ACCESS ALPHA.  It's not flawless, but it doesn't have to be to enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIgWHpAdfew

this month there's very active Xbox One uploads, they focus on the game instead of the kinks, so its a functional enough game to enjoy even on console

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCdF9whqqxQ

another Xbox One video, players having fun with it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFjrMUrNs8o

they appreciate the event too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc1qz11vGyQ


people blow the issues out of proportion.  yes, on potato PCs, there can be issues, on Xbox One, some people think its not optimized enough, but that does NOT take away from those that still ACTIVELY play and enjoy xbox One

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/ark-survival-evolved-game-preview/bnblc4zgfnkb

47,000 ratings,  4 out of 5 stars on Xbox One

it's not a bad game at all, and its current build is not unplayable to those that understand early access focus on the positive.   If it's not good enough to others, they are playing it too early. It's that simple.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktCancjvWyE

PC and console fans are loving it!!!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9cFAu6E0OI

and look, they improve it more
https://www.reddit.com/r/playark/comments/5bvix5/hey_wildcard_thank_you_for_v250/

With most updates people are complaining about that more or less useless content is added and bugs are not fixed. And I'm not an exception to this.

Patch 250 is now a real quality patch. Some new content, some very useful gameplay features/changes, and several bug fixes. And most people seem they just don't bat an eye...

So today, as someone who usually rants a lot, I just wanted to give you a big THANK YOU!

they are patching the game more and longer than other games, doing fixes when they can, but people that expect full optimization, are playing the game at the wrong time.  come back after beta then.   everyone else that likes it now will enjoy it now or whenever its available on PS4

[Lelygax]

Onigiri is a finished and free MMO game, surely people will play a lot of a free MMO (I've played it on PC, didn't felt it had bad optimization) and 7DtD is cool but really have bad optimization and random network problems (they seem to have fixed these network problems on their last update but Im not sure).

The reason that people play this type of games even if its unoptimized or bad in some cases, is because they don't have a better option for now and are waiting for fixes. That doesn't mean that these problems exist or that they aren't being bothered by them. I've played ARK, some of my friends play it everyday and like it, but they if you ask any of them, they are still waiting for the optimization update.

Optimization doesn't makes a game unplayable if you have a good PC, but makes you play with lower graphics. Now if your PC isn't that good but still can play new games with lower graphics, you're damned.

You are completely missing the bottom line:

If you feel its not optimized enough to enjoy it, YOU are playing it too early. That's your mistake.
Everyone else playing it every day, are not fussing over the bad, and continue to enjoy the good side of the game.

Yet the bad side still exists, even if this game is cool to play, it will bite your ass when you try to invade a giant fortress that will be slow as hell to render on your screen.

Fans do want more content. 

ALPHA phase is to add content, BETA phase is for optimization after the content is finalized.

And DLC are for content after the game comes out from BETA, free updates also can do that. Look, I'm not saying this game is bad, but they need to optimize it sometime (and everyone would like if it didn't take another year). Survival of the Fittest was bashed, but you know what was its major complaint? Lack of optimization. Why? Because in ARK you can atleast set everything to Medium or Low if you have a modest PC and play the game, but in SotF, you couldn't and so almost everyone couldn't even play the game. You notice the problem now? They released another game before finishing the first one. (Also letting everyone play it for free, while people paid for the main game and its still on early access wasn't the brightest idea, thankfully they adressed that)

Its the same thing that Inafune did with Red Ash, the problem wasn't his concept, his ideas were cool, the major problem is that he tried to start something new before delivering what people were expecting first, this transmit lacks of confidence to who paid for something and to his fans.


In brief: This game is good, have a bright future, but can't stay without performance fixes forever or people will get angry. Not only because of their deadline, but also because they said it would be ready before console releases. Now that its coming to consoles its even harder to finish the game since they will be needing to adress problems in 3 platforms instead of 1. I know they can do it and I hope they will.

Terraria was on early access for a long time (excusable since at the time you didn't needed to give an ETA on Early Acess) and even after releasing for consoles and mobile they finished the game, so if they focus in the core game it can work.

edit: forgot to say that the console versions are easier to control performance than PC, since a PS4 won't be different another one and will run equally, so if people playing on console had some complaint about it they would've really fucked up. I'm happy they didn't.

[affinity]

yes, that's an advantage of consoles. its easier to optimize than PC.   I expect there to be kinks, but if even Xbox One players that never heard of ARK before, have 100+ hours playing it, that already speaks volume of a valuable playable game to enjoy there. 

 ARK Survival Evolved is a dream survival game for a lot of gamers.  people just have to understand early access, and if they think it's not good enough ,they can play and review it after it goes beyond beta. 

some assume ARK is gonna stay in alpha, but this isn't DayZ developers, look how much they accomplished compared to H1Z1 Just Survive.  I think these devs can complete ARK SE.  it may take 1 or 2 more years, though its just as likely they'll finalize and optimize the content in 2017.   the roadmap being revealed later this month will get a better idea when it gets its premiere version.

Overall, it's something people can only recommend to themselves if they know what they are getting into.   Xbox One early access is a bigger success than PC, I think PS4 could be a sleeper hit since everyone else is so occupied with november releases, and not seeing the survival masterpiece that has a 90% of chance of actually releasing on PS4 next month.      there's no telling if the reception will understand or misunderstand early access, but even PC gamers misunderstand early access with their ignorant complaints about things that will be taken care of during beta, and ARK still has a strong following on current platforms.

well we'll see how the PS4 version will turn out.

[affinity]

OK this youtuber's educated theory / speculation could be legit.  if so,  OH MY HEARTS this is going to be a SWEET DEAL for ps4 owners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR9R5ubHpco

they speculate ARK Survival Evolved may be free for all Playstation Plus subscribers in two weeks!!!!  0________________________0 
and here are interesting things they pointed out:

1. Rocket League went with the Playstation Plus business model, and made MILLIONS, one of the most popular and successful PS+ games.
2. the only way ARK devs can bring early access ARK to PS4 this year, is through the PS+ offer.  this makes sense, unless Sony makes some crazy exception with an early access game, PS+ is the only alternative.
3. Jade understands playstation and development more than most of us.  they say that developers by now should always know when a game comes out and how much it sells for.  If they don't, then that's ALL THE MORE REASON that ARK may be in Sony's hands, which means Sony could be planning it as a Playstation Plus game the first week of December 2016!!   if the devs don't know the price, that's because it must be a PS+ free game.
4. Jade was right about previous ARK related predictions, including Scorched Earth before it was announced, and pointed out, SE came out as soon as it did because the developers literally ran out of money.  and now, resorting to PS+ could be their desperate attempt to make it big on PS4, and PS+ is the most available business model to make ARK Survival Evolved on PS4 happen this year, even the devs probably can't afford to wait any longer to enter the PS4 market.
5.  in the PS4 livestream demo, the devs were seen using Scorched Earth Wyverns in the Island map.  This could mean SE could be included for PS4 owners, OR, which is my theory, that Scorched Earth will be sold separately (I think it'll be about $30), and with ARK SE being free for PS+ owners, THAT would make it fair and reasonable for the expansion to still cost money, while players have the priviledge of being able to play ARK just by having PS+ subscription.

Kiaaaaaaa!!  perhaps it might be the case. either that or they will just sell ARK SE normally, but I think the PS+ theory may be accurate.

[Lelygax]

That sounds cool, PS4 doesnt already make it mandatory to play games online (or I'm misaking it with some other "plan")? It will make more people being able to play and try the game, since its focused on online I only see benefits on that. I still think that Scorched Earth should be a DLC, since they already did it on PC and they need money.

[affinity]

That sounds cool, PS4 doesnt already make it mandatory to play games online (or I'm misaking it with some other "plan")? It will make more people being able to play and try the game, since its focused on online I only see benefits on that. I still think that Scorched Earth should be a DLC, since they already did it on PC and they need money.

well if ARK free on PS+ is true, that gives more incentive to accept the expansion as paid DLC, since people get the actual game for free on PS4.  PC and XBox One gamers may rage, but they didn't wait an extra year to play it, plus it seems PS Plus free game deal is the only way to release ARK this year, as an alpha early access game.

though I heard, ARK on PS4 is going through Sony QA (?), so maybe it's actually not approved yet. 
well who knows.  even if they pushed it back, I already bought Killing Floor 2, so I can play that in the meantime.   

I was going to buy FFXIV subscription extension, but 3.5 is still about a month and some weeks later.

oh yea and also saving up for School Girl Zombie Hunter, thinking of importing it like I did with Touhou Sky Arena Climax

 the sooner ARK comes the better, though this month and January there's awesome new things to play in the meantime, or alongside it.

[affinity]

aaand it is certified on PS4.    some now say it could appear at playstation experience

http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2016/11/25/ps4-version-ark-survival-evolved-passed-certification/

december 2016 looks more likely for launch

[affinity]

December 6 2016 confirmed!!      Europe can buy them separately, but the bundle is an awesome deal for those that plan on getting SE anyways. the extra PS4 exclusive content is nice too ^.^

https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/articles.html/ark-survival-evolved-stomps-onto-the-playstation-4-r354/

"We know its been a long wait for PlayStation survivors, who have always been very vocal and supportive of the game and finally, today we can proudly announce that ARK: Survival Evolved will be launching on the Playstation Platform this December 6th!

This would not have been possible without each and every one of you, Sony heard your roars and together we were able to work together for this special winter release!

ARK: Survivors Pack will be available for purchase in both North America and Europe, this bundled offering includes both the base game, ARK: Survival Evolved, and the massive desert-themed expansion, ARK: Scorched Earth together!

The ARK: Survivors Pack gives PS4 players an up-to-date version of ARK: Survival Evolved that includes the previously released content, plus Scorched Earth -- ARKs first Expansion Pack.

The Survivors Pack adds extra PS4 content including a Bionic Giganotosaurus skin plus an entire Manticore armour set for male and female characters.

The bundle will be available for $54.99 USD in North American regions, or
49.99 in Europe. European survivors will also have the opportunity to pick up ARK: Survival Evolved as a standalone game for

34.99 and its Scorched Earth Expansion Pack for 19.99. Unfortunately, we were not able to release the content as two standalone items for the North American regions, until Spring 2017.

PS4 ARK players will, of course, receive a constant stream of major updates packed with new dinosaurs, weapons, armour, mechanics, and lifestyle improvements, in approximate tempo with the other platforms, until the game releases as a final product in Spring 2017.

Welcome to the ARK Tribe PS4 Survivors, we are happy to have you join us on this wild ride and hope youre ready for the next few content-packed months! See you on the 6th!