Yesterday Sony and studio Wildcard announced that the Ark: Survival Evolved standalone spin-off, Survival of the Fittest, would be released on PS4 on June 19th, 2016. Luckily for Xbox One owners, the spin-off will still be released on Xbox One, and the game releasing on PS4 first is merely for public testing and optimization.

　　The announcement caused quite an uproar in the Xbox community since the pre-release of the original Ark: Survival Evolved, has long been made available for Microsoft’s console. On the official Ark forums, Xbox gamers expressed their dismay with the release of the spin-off on Sony’s console, assuming it would be due to an exclusivity deal.

　　Luckily for Xbox players, this isn’t the case. In a TwitLonger ‘tweet’, Community Manager at Studio Wildcard, Jat, assured fans that both versions of Ark will be released on Xbox One and PS4. According to the community manager, releasing the two games on two separate platforms “is the most effective and efficient development process” for Studio Wildcard.

　　Seems like someone ran a Beast Within event ;). We just wanted to assure you guys that both versions of ARK will be released on all platforms. Yeah, that means ARK: Survival Evolved will release on PS4 and ARK: Survival of the Fittest will be released on Xbox One! In the mean while, we'll be able to bring a piece of the ARK Universe to every platform so no matter the type of gamer you are, you'll be able to experience and play in the ARK world.

　　We strategically made the decision to initially release the two games on different platforms because we believe it is the most effective and efficient development process for our Studio. We have a ton of people working on both games across platforms - this can lead to a number of issues, people stepping on each others toes and a lot of wires getting mixed up. You guys even know how sometimes we mix up Xbox and PC. Going forward, we'll be able to effectively develop across all 3 platforms, respond to player feedback and further optimize the game. This is better for all ARK players in the long run!

　　Releasing Survival of the Fittest on PS4 first isn’t due to some sort of exclusive deal between Studio Wildcard and Sony – “Sony didn’t pay for timed exclusivity”, according to Studio Wildcard’s lead designer and co-founder, Jeremy Stieglitz. According to Stieglitz, releasing Survival of the Fittest on PS4 first is due to “the necessity of publicly testing and optimizing the shared ARK codebase on PS4 in advance of the full Survival Evolved game release”.

　　“Just wanna note that Sony didn't pay for timed exclusivity. The reason for releasing SotF onto PS4 first is the necessity of publicly testing and optimizing the shared ARK codebase on PS4 in advance of the full Survival Evolved game release, and iterating on that PS4 codebase through a wide release. We're just not large enough to do that effectively without the help of the public ARK community. As mentioned, it'll also hit Xbox One later on! Also Xbox players, please stay tuned for some large news updates tomorrow that will be of particular interest to you”, Stieglitz stated on the official Ark forums.