Sony paid $3.5 million to get Ark Survival Evolved on PS Plus By Lee Brady, 11 Oct 2022 FollowtopicsARK: Survival EvolvedWildcard PropertiesPlayStation PlusLee Brady Sony paid $3.5 million to make Ark Survival Evolved available as a PS Plus monthly game in March 2022. Details of the deal were discovered in a Snail Games USA document, which is affiliated with Ark developer Studio Wildcard.In the same document, we also learned that Ark Survival Evolved is not likely heading to PS Plus anytime soon, as the game has been signed "perpetually" to Xbox Game Pass. We learned Sony paid the $3.5 million back in November 2021, securing the game to be given away as one of March's free monthly PS Plus games this year, alongside Team Sonic Racing, Ghostrunner, and Ghost of Tsushima Legends. Also, we learned from the same document that Ark II won't be coming to PS Plus for at least three years after launch."My father spoke of a bidding war."Ark Survival Evolved and Ark II will not be heading to PS Plus anytime soonWe first read about the Snail Games USA document over on our sister site TrueAchievements, who reported on Microsoft's deal to keep Ark Survival Evolved on Game Pass "perpetually" and Ark II secured to the subscription service for three years after launch. In the same document, we also read the following regarding Sony's securing Ark for PS Plus last year:"In November 2021, the Company entered an agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (“Sony”) to make ARK 1 available on the PS4 platform and PS Plus program for a period of 5 weeks in exchange for $3.5 million. Sony launched the 5-week program on March 1, 2022 and the Company recognized the full amount of revenue from this contract for the six months ended June 30, 2022, as the significant performance obligation of making the game available on the platform was met on the first day of the contract."I mean, call me crazy, but that's not a dinosaur.The average price paid to secure monthly games on PS Plus Essential has always been consigned to rumours and speculation, so it's hard exactly to get an exact reading on just how much that $3.5 million is in relation to other game spends, but for a seven-year-old indie title that had already announced its sequel at the 2020 Game Awards, that does seem like a mighty steep price.Then again, when you consider the game was made free for, at the time, around 48 million PS Plus subscribers (as of December 2021, it since went down around the time of the PS5 price hike) — even if all those 48 million subscribers had only been paying $1 for their subscriptions that month, Sony would still have enough money left over the buy the rights to Ark Survival Evolved 12.7 more times. So we guess you don't need all that much data to work out that $3.5 million was probably a bit of a steal, and that Studio Wildcard was likely holding out for subsequent DLC purchases from new joiners.$3.5 million buys you the corner box.That's a relief because when the TrueTrophies community was polled on how happy they were with the monthly free PS Plus games in March 2022, only 18.75% of the voters were 'very happy' about receiving Ark that month. Still, a shame about Ark II skipping PS Plus Extra, we rather think Vin Diesel would make an excellent cover model for the service. Let us know in the comments if you agree on exactly that last point alone.More ARK: Survival Evolved stories: PlayStation Gameplay Chart: Elden Ring destroys Horizon player counts Poll: Are you happy with March 2022's PlayStation Plus games lineup? PlayStation Plus lineups for March 2022 in Asia and Japan swap Ark Survival Evolved PlayStation Plus March 2022 official lineup revealed PlayStation Plus March 2022 games leaked [updated] PlayStation Plus Written by Lee BradyStaff Writer Lee keeps one eye on the future (Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth), one eye on the past (PS Plus Premium, recent Sony news), and his secret third eye on the junk he really likes (Sonic Superstars, Final Fantasy XVI). Then he uses his big mouth to blurt out long-winded opinions about video games.