Ark: Survival Evolved is once again finding itself in the midst of controversy. The developers of the game are once again under fire when they took to Steam offering DLC in exchange for votes in the upcoming "Steam Awards". While the developer has since retracted the remarks (after the post had been up for several hours) and said the DLC would be released anyway, players would only receive the content if they voted for the game in its respective category. Here's the original statement...

Hello Survivors! 

We’ve hope you’ve had a fantastic festive holiday so far! If you haven’t heard, ARK has been nominated by the Steam Selection Committee for a Steam Award! We are a finalist in this category; 

The “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” Award - Animals are rad and almost any game is better for including them. This game used a farm animal in the best way possible. 

Head over to http://store.steampowered.com/SteamAwards/ on Thursday the 29th of December, as you’ll have the opportunity to come show your support for ARK by voting for us! If ARK wins the award, we will ensure that our fluffy friend quickly makes its debut on the ARK in the next major version update! 

Let’s face it, ARK does have the raddest animals and what better way to thank them for all farming & fighting they do than by honouring them with the “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” Award! 

So be sure to show your support for ARK, if not for your tames: mobilize your Tribe to help win the Steam Award on Dec 29, and then get your Sheep! Thank you for your help everyone, and happy shearing :)

What's even better, as many on Reddit pointed out, is that the vote would grant you free DLC that hasn't even been developed yet. Players are essentially being bribed with the promise of a future item...who does that?

I guess we should expect this from the same company who released paid DLC for an early access game that still has a long way to go before it sees a full release. How does this game still have a large player base?