Sony Spends $3.5 Million to Feature Ark Survival Evolved on PS Plus

In March 2022, Sony invested $3.5 million to make Ark Survival Evolved a part of its PlayStation Plus offerings. This information was disclosed through an SEC filing by Snail Games, the parent company of Studio Wildcard, as reported by VGC. The filing also shed light on Studio Wildcard's agreement with Microsoft to include Ark titles in Game Pass. Although the initial deal expired in 2021, it was extended for Ark: Survival Evolved, and Ark 2 is set to be available on Game Pass for a period of three years. According to the filing, the company earned $2.5 million in revenue from Ark 1 perpetual licenses during the first six months of 2022 and deferred $2.3 million related to Ark 2, which is included in the long-term portion of deferred revenue. In a separate deal, Microsoft paid $600,000 to add Cooking Simulator by Big Cheese Studio to Xbox Game Pass in August. Additionally, Xbox Game Pass reportedly generated $2.9 billion in revenue on consoles in 2021, based on documents from Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defence.