https://youtu.be/9Hwdh8enX7Q

This is the new DLC for the Ark games thats been on Xbox One and Steam. This is a full fledged expansion for the game the game and its $20 while the full game is $35 on the Xbox store. The thing is that Ark is still in preview and was recently delayed from a June release to early next year. The game isnt finished and its getting a huge expansion.  Why didn't the devs just put the time and resources to finish the damn game before they release the DLC. If this succeeds i can see other preview games using this and realising paid DLC for an unfinished game. MS needs to put their foot down and forbid such this disgusting system of releasing paid DLC for an unfinished game before it gets out of hand. Valve should also do the same for Steam.

Thoughts?

Well some of my friends play this game and they love it, even in its current state and like the expension but obviously its a bad-business model. Its obvious it would be much better to first finish the game and then start looking to add even more, and the pricing is also completely off!

So I am with you, this should not be allowed.

Agree with you. Nobody should go along with this type of practice.

If it bothers you, I suggest just not playing it. I don't play it but it looks like a massive game and the scope of it has probably changed a lot over time. When is a game like this considered truly complete?

I'm more bothered when a more simplistic fighting game like SFV hits the market far from complete and for $60. No Man's Sky missed the scope of the original advertising and was still sold for $60. Don't get me started on Destiny either. Hence, studios can do worse.

I like that they have a place to draw money, and people that really like this game have a way to support its continued development. No one is being forced to support it, so I fail to see an issue. Developers should have as many options as possible on how they make and fund their games, and consumers should be free to put their money behind whatever business model they want regardless of how others feel about it.

The only thing I would do as a platform holder is clearly seperate in development games from certified and released products.

No, if people are willing to give out their money and as long as Microsoft isn't doing anything illegal this is okay and the power of capitalism. You vote with your wallet. I'm glad this exists because this may fund future projects. Minecraft at the beginning had something that was comparable to this.

It is shit and I'd rather they focus on actually optimizing the damn game so it can perform well on my setup, but Minecraft years ago also started up like this. The game was far from complete and eventually it just grew and grew, adding more and more onto it's plate with time. Difference here being the devs are charging up front for even more early access content that also hasn't been optimized, again something they should be putting way more focus on than feature creep.

Also this isn't all down to MS, it's down to voting with the wallet and letting the devs know via angry letters. (seriously the AK backlash on PC, who did that, WB themselves?).

I'm getting tired of these early access games. My kids get lured in with you tube let's plays and start asking for the game. Sorry, it's not finished yet, find something that is finished. So I show them all the negative reviews on Steam, "but it's still fun". Sure for a couple days and then you never touch it again. No point in buying unfinished games.

Case in point Lego worlds. They played it (or left it on) for 20 hours. After 6 months of asking for it, was that worth it? Will it ever be finished or at least somewhat optimized to run decently.

Funny that people are always complaining about false hype and promises companies make, let's play you tubers are far worse at it. Glossing over all the missing things, running it at the best possible settings, talking it up like its the best thing ever.

Why the fuck are developers making fully fledged expansion packs when they haven't even finished the actual game? Are you serious?

Yeah it certainly seems like the wrong practice. I read a tweet the other day that was alluding to this practice (didnt know it was this game), but seriously finish the game and then release DLC its not difficult to understand doing it any other way is not right.