Studio Wildcard is at long last speaking up about its decision to sell a finished expansion pack for Ark: Survival Evolved, an unfinished game still in early access.

First, some context. Ark: Survival Evolved released on Steam early access in the summer of 2015, and since then it has done well for itself. The game regularly sits atop Steam's most played game charts, and it continues to be a big seller for developer Studio Wildcard. It's already on Xbox One (also in early access) and is slated to release on PS4 in the future.

Last week, Studio Wildcard unveiled a paid expansion for Ark called Scorched Earth. The expansion costs $20 and adds a new, desert environment for players to explore, alongside new creatures, weapons, armor and more. Studio Wildcard declared the game's expansion to be more finished and polished than the core game.

Studio Wildcard selling a finished piece of DLC for an unfinished game didn't go over so well with much of the game's fan base. Almost instantly, the game's Steam user ratings went from "Mostly Positive" to "Mostly Negative," with players who have played Ark for hundreds or even thousands of hours writing harsh reviews about the product. You can read more about that here.

It has been a few days since then, and now Studio Wildcard has issued a response, explaining why it decided to release a paid expansion while the game is still in early access.

"Our original vision for ARK always included the creation of Expansion ARKs, along with the infrastructure and technical systems to transfer data dynamically between live ARKs," reads a statement on the official Ark website. "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."

It's not exactly the kind of response many upset fans would like to hear. It's not an apology, but rather serves more as justification for why Studio Wildcard released the paid expansion when it did. Only time will tell if this controversy hurts Ark: Survival Evolved in the long run, but at present, the game's "Mostly Negative" rating certainly isn't helping anything.