Studio Wildcard s Ark: Survival Evolved remains in Early Access, however last week released its first paid expansion. The majority of comments found here not to mention the fact that the game s Steam reviews have swung from Mostly Positive to Mostly Negative over the past few days would suggest a sizeable number of players have been upset by the move. Studio Wildcard has now officially responded.

As part of a new blog post that introduces a new creature as well as where the game is heading in future, the developer s community manager Jat speaks directly to the paid DLC and the rationale behind its release.

Put simply: we are absolutely committed to driving aggressive development towards a solid, feature-robust game launch for Ark: Survival Evolved. Everyone at Wildcard wakes up every day thinking about how we can make Ark into a better game today than it was the day before, says Jat. It s not always easy, but our intent is ever-forward progress towards a retail release that will be far more ambitious in scope and features than our original vision when we launched Ark into Steam Early Access in June 2015. Your feedback enables us to continually expand the game to become better than ever!

Jat goes on to suggest Studio Wildcard s vision always included the idea of expansion Arks, and that releasing them while the main game is still in Early Access/unfinished is the best route in doing so.

The post continues: We determined that it is more sound to iterate on these systems during Early Access than after retail launch, given the significant risks involved if we didn't get it right . While that meant unveiling the first Expansion early, it also means an easier time integrating further post-launch Expansions into the Ark network.

We understand that this isn't everyone's cup of tea, and we appreciate the enjoyment people seem to be getting out of this initial view of how Expansion Arks can work. Now that we have the systems in place to support them, we can ensure minimal integration issues with subsequent releases after Ark: Survival Evolved itself has launched.

The blog post can be read in full here. According to Blue s News, Ark s Scorched Earth expansion was the number one top-selling game on Steam last week.

Ark: Survival Evolved still currently resides in Steam s Early Access programme, however that hasn t stopped the dino-bashing survival sim from launching its first premium expansion: Scorched Earth.

It s a questionable move from an as yet unreleased game, however Ark is certainly on the more accomplished end of the game-in-progress scale. The latest addition drops players into an extremely hot location where dehydration is as much of a threat as the beasts that lurk within. It also promises a completely new and different experience from Survival Evolved s standard Island setting and looks a wee bit like this:

Comprising seven desert-themed biomes Dunes, High Desert, Mountains, Canyons, Badlands, Oasis, and Dragon Trench Scorched Earth is littered with ruins and ancient cave systems, the latter of which sounds ideal for hiding from the heat and its new threats. I'm looking at you, Death Worms.

Naturally, water is in short supply thus players will combat the heat by crafting heat-resistant outfits and structures via the add-ons 50+ new items all of which can be handily transferred to the main game.

Scorched Earth utilizes a new feature called The Gateway, a cross-server ARK transfer, reads a Steam community update. Survivors who manage to survive the harsh arid conditions can travel back and forth from the Scorched Earth map to the ARK: Survival Evolved main game, taking with them newly collected tools, weapons, and their newly tamed creatures to impress their friends and dazzle their combatants.

Scorched Earth requires Ark: Survival Evolved to play, and costs 14.99/$19.99 on Steam. Until September 8, the main game is on sale with a 40 percent discount. What do you think about games receiving paid expansions while they are still being worked on in Early Access?