Ark: Survival Evolved was a part of the PlayStation Plus lineup for March 2022. That month, Sony offered Ghostrunner, Team Sonic Racing, and Ghost of Tsushima: Legends as the other free games. Beginning March 15, players could also download the PS5 version of Grand Theft Auto Online, but users could only play it during a three-month window. Now, it’s revealed that Sony paid millions to add Ark: Survival Evolved to the PS Plus lineup.

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As reported by IGN, a tweet by Ethan Gach reveals that Sony paid $3.5 million to put Ark: Survival Evolved on PlayStation Plus in March 2022. This information comes via a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by the parent company of Ark’s developer Studio Wildcard. The same report reveals that Microsoft paid $2.5 million to add it to the Xbox Game Pass library for a period of six months. Additionally, Microsoft paid $2.3 million to add its sequel Ark 2 as a day-one Xbox Game Pass release. Ark 2 was announced at The Game Awards in 2020 and is set to launch in 2023 on PC and Xbox Series X/S.

The amount Sony or Microsoft pay to add games to PS Plus or Xbox Game Pass rarely gets revealed. So, this news gives an insight into how much it costs to add games of similar stature to the respective subscription services. It’ll be interesting to see if more studios reveal the amount they received from either Sony or Microsoft to bring their games to PS Plus or Xbox Game Pass in the future.

It should be noted that not all PlayStation Plus subscribers received Ark: Survival Evolved in March 2022. Sony offered a completely different game to PS Plus members in Asia, as users got to play Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons instead. Such discrepancies are fairly common when it comes to Asian regions, as members often get a bonus or alternate game almost every month. In a more recent example, PS Plus subscribers in Asia got two bonus games in October 2022, making it a total of five free monthly titles.

Ark: Survival Evolved is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

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Source: IGN