ARK 2 Delayed to the End of 2024; ARK: Survival Ascended Remaster Announced

Today Studio Wildcard had news to share about its upcoming survival game Ark 2 and its predecessor Ark: Survival Evolved.

First of all, we learn that Ark 2, the sequel starring Vin Diesel announced all the way back in December 2020 at The Game Awards, has now been delayed to late 2024.

The developers justify the delay by mentioning that Unreal Engine 5 is a new technology, so they need more time for development. 

"After careful consideration, we have decided to delay the sequel's launch to the end of 2024, when it will still launch exclusively on Xbox, Game Pass, and Windows distribution platforms (Steam/PC). We’ve put much thought into delaying ARK 2 for the betterment of the final product and the team's well-being. This news will be disappointing to many - we feel it too - but we’re confident this heavy decision is the right one.

So why the delay? Our goal is to make ARK 2 the best game it can be and provide a truly exceptional and rewarding experience for players. Unreal Engine 5 is incredibly new technology to us (and all developers), and we aim to use this cutting-edge tech to its fullest potential while creating a game with never-before-achieved scope at Studio Wildcard. As we learn more about the engine and develop the sequel, we have adapted our workflows and adjusted our pipelines to accommodate this new next-generation paradigm, and because of everything that involves, we need more time for development."

That being said, Ark players won't be left without anything new to play. The developer announced Ark: Survival Ascended, a remaster made in Unreal Engine 5 of the original Ark: Survival Evolved.  

Ark: Survival Ascended will come for Xbox Series S|X, PC, and PlayStation 5 by the end of August 2023.

If you're on Xbox or PC, you can purchase it via the  ARK Respawned Bundle for $49.99. It'll be available for up to one year and include both the remaster and the sequel. After the year expires, the two games will be sold separately. PS5 players will have to buy the remaster on its own for $39.99.

Expansion packs will be sold separately as follows.

• $19.99 for Explorer’s Pass, which includes Scorched Earth, Aberration (Q4 2023), and Extinction (Q1 2024).
• $19.99 for Genesis Pass, which includes Genesis Part 1 (Q1 2024) and Genesis Part 2 (Q2 2024).

The remaster will come with the following features.

• Unreal Engine 5 Overhaul with Nanite, Lumen and RTXDI
• Dynamic Water
• Interactive Foliage
• Unreal Engine 5 performance gains: instanced-rendering (large-bases etc.), threaded server networking, and native physics engine
• Cross-platform Multiplayer
  • This includes cross-platform accounts and cross-progression, cross-voice chat & friends, etc. No matter what platform you start playing on, you can access your account, character, dinos, and items on a different platform for the ultimate cross-platform experience.
• Cross-platform Modding
  • We recognize the power of giving players the tools and capability to define their survival experience, so we want to take cross-platform one step further by working with Overwolf to introduce an industry-first cross-platform modding experience where mods created on PC are delivered directly to end-users’ consoles from a custom modding backend.
  • The modding capability will include FULL blueprinting support ;), stacked mods, and maps. Everything that is currently possible on the Steam version of ARK: Survival Evolved and more will be possible on the new system and be available for end-users to play on consoles in all modes.
  • Premium Mods: Reviewed by Overwolf and Wildcard for quality control and value, Mod authors will optionally be able to specify price points for their Mods (with 50% of the price point going to the Mod author). This is necessary to pay for the custom infrastructure required for Overwolf to support, administrate, and deliver Mods to the console.
  • We plan on streamlining the process of upgrading legacy ARK: Survival Evolved mods to the next-generation platform. We plan to reach out to current/former sponsored modders in preparation for the launch of ASA with the tools they need to get their mods ready before the launch.
• Cross-platform Anti-Cheat
• Survival of the Fittest
  • SOTF will be integrated into the main product as a new fully-supported game mode. It will have a dedicated team that will continue to work on more gameplay changes, mechanical improvements, quality of life, maps, and balance adjustments. The initial mode will be revamped with an exclusive ARK: Survival Ascended update, including:
    • Upgraded to Unreal Engine 5 with complete cross-platform and cross-modding support (the SOTF UE5 source content will be released for modders to utilize as they wish within ASA)
    • Scorched Earth SOTF Map
    • Matchmaking queue
    • Character and Creature customization with cosmetics
    • Local Lobby where you can group up with your friends, configure the look of your survivor and dinos, and queue up for lobbies together
    • Lots of bug-fixes and balance and functionality improvements
• Art Assets are being upgraded throughout the entire game
• Newly-designed holiday events take advantage of the next-gen pipeline, released as mods, so they’re always available to play!
• New content, QOL improvements, balance, and gameplay changes, including but not limited to:
  • Updated mini-map (pan, zoom, pings, etc – similar to the SOTF mini-map)
  • New structures (display cases, smaller TEK Teleporters) & building QOL improvements (snap fixes, increased foundation support, foundation height adjustments, and more)
  • Queueing System
  • New third-person camera (with the option to opt out)
  • Directional Sprinting and Walking
  • Ping system
  • Gamepad cursor
  • Chibi Slot and Skins Tab
  • Balance passes (e.g. Cave Entrances, MEKs, Aberration Creatures, more breedable creatures, etc)
  • …and more! (seriously, a lot more, this list isn’t exhaustive, but it’ll get super long if we list everything, and there’s more we’ll decide to do between now and launch too)

A new canonical expansion pack for Ark: Survival Ascended will also come in Q4, 2023. 

The original Survival Evolved and Survival Ascended will coexist but there will be no cross-play. All official servers for the original game on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 will go down when the remaster releases at the end of August. The final save data before the servers are closed with be made available so players will be able to host them privately. 

Here's a full summary of what you can expect.

• Final Content Update: In June for ARK’s 8th Anniversary, we’ll release ARK: Survival Evolved’s final content update, which includes the fan-voted Rhyniognatha!
• Cross-platform: It’s important to note that ARK: Survival Evolved (ARK:SE) and ARK: Survival Ascended (ASA) will coexist but will not support crossplay between the two games. ASA will have undergone profound functional changes which prevent it from being compatible with the previous game. 
• Holiday Events: We plan to develop and release ASA-exclusive holiday content that takes advantage of the next-gen pipeline released in mods, so they’re always available to play!
• Official Servers: With the launch of ASA at the end of August, we will be taking down all Official Servers on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC for ARK: Survival Evolved – at that time, the final save-datas from the ARK: Survival Evolved Official Servers will be uploaded for players to re-host on their own servers or play in singleplayer/non-dedi, as well as slightly earlier snapshots. You will still be able to play on single-player, non-dedicated, player-dedicated, and unofficial servers. ARK: Survival Ascended will have its own fully supported Official Network for all platforms.
• Feature Sunset: With the launch of ASA, we will be ending official support for Primitive+, Split Screen, and Procedurally Generated Maps. These aspects of the game will not be ported to the new Unreal Engine 5 version.
• We will look into releasing the source files for Primitive+ for those that wish to repurpose aspects of it for mods.
• ARK: Survival Ascended Updates: The remaster will have regular updates to resolve bugs, introduce new content, balance changes, and quality-of-life improvements for years to come.
• ARK: Survival Evolved Updates: will be limited to crashes and critical bug fixes. 

As a cautionary note, this was published by Wildcard when it was already April 1 in some parts of the world. While the announcement appears quite official, we can't exclude that it may be an April Fools' prank.