“They Didn’t Even Try”, Ark Co-Developers Come Under Fire For Seemingly Realising Fully-AI Trailer For Ark: Survival Evolved DLC

Yesterday was a bittersweet day for fans of the Ark games. For the first time in a long time, the game’s developers mentioned the long-missing Ark 2. This came in a tease for Ark: Survival Ascended’s first exclusive DLC. Unfortunately, the tease all but confirmed that the Vin Diesel lead sequel wouldn’t see the light of day this year.

Alongside the Lost Colony reveal, Ark: Survival Evolved co-developer Snail Games revealed Ark: Aquatica, a “special ten-year anniversary DLC for Ark: Survival Evolved”. The DLC was revealed with a brand-new trailer, predominantly set underwater, showinging where Aquatica got its name.

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Unfortunately, however, the whole trailer, including the voiceover, seems to have been generated by AI, and fans online have kicked up a stink.

Ark: Aquatica is described by Snail Games as “an ambitious underwater setting featuring 95% of gameplay taking place beneath the surface.” It will feature 17 new creatures, new items, new challenges, and an “intriguing storyline.”

What should have been an exciting time for Ark fans, though, quickly descended into chaos as the trailer came under fire for its use of AI, seemingly for the creation of the whole thing.

On the Resetera forums, the trailer was called “Just gross. Tasteless, uninspired and gross,” with the original poster claiming they “have no words.”

A similar discussion took place on the Ark subreddit, with one player saying, “The absolute greed from Snail to use an AI for pretty much the entire video, INCLUDING the voiceover, just to save some money from having to pay an artist, is absurd. How in the world did they think this would go over well? Such an out-of-touch company.”

The YouTube video itself also received over 1,100 comments in its first 11 hours, and it seemingly got over 3,000 dislikes versus 142 likes during that period, a ratio of 96 percent negative. It’s clear the trailer didn’t go down too well.

Ahead of the trailer’s release, Ark developers Studio Wildcard put out a tweet that looks suspiciously like it is distancing itself from Aquatica. It said, “ARK: Aquatica is being developed by @SnailGamesUSA Colorado, please follow them for more updates.

“Studio Wildcard remains entirely dedicated to the production of ARK: Survival Ascended & ARK 2, and we’re excited to bring ARK: Lost Colony to you later this year!”

TheGamer has reached out to Studio Wildcard and Snail Games for comment.

Released

August 29, 2017

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood, Crude Humor, Use of Alcohol, Violence

Developer(s)

Studio Wildcard

Publisher(s)

Studio Wildcard