ARK 2 Delayed Until Late 2024; UE5 Remaster of ARK Coming This August with RTX Direct Illumination Support

Yesterday, Studio Wildcard announced a delay for ARK 2, its hotly anticipated sequel to the wildly successful survival game ARK: Survival Evolved. Previously scheduled for release sometime this year, ARK 2 will now be launched in late 2024 for PC and Xbox (as a Game Pass day one release, where the game will stay for at least three years).

The developers cited the need to get more comfortable with the Unreal Engine 5 while trying to make the best game possible. There is a silver lining, though, as Studio Wildcard decided to remaster ARK: Survival Evolved in Unreal Engine 5, both as a testbed for ARK 2 and as a forward-looking platform for those who might not be satisfied by the sequel (which will be designed differently, having Soulslike combat, third-person only view, no modern weapons, and a more serious tone).

Thus, ARK: Survival Ascended is being developed for a late August release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X. It will include support for NVIDIA's RTX Direct Illumination ray tracing technology on PC as well as taking advantage of Unreal Engine 5's signature features, Lumen and Nanite. Studio Wildcard also mentioned dynamic water, interactive foliage, various rendering improvements enabled by UE5, updated art assets, cross-platform multiplayer (including cross-progression), cross-platform modding powered by Overwolf with full blueprinting support, directional running and walking, new third-person camera, new structures, overhauled minimap, new ping system, new queuing system, and more.

ARK: Survival Ascended will include the Battle Royale-inspired Survival of the Fittest as a game mode that will be supported over time with a dedicated team. ARK: Survival Ascended will also include The Island and the non-canon DLC maps, though these will be added over time. Studio Wildcard is also planning to release a canon story DLC for Survival Ascende in Q4 2023, featuring four new creatures.

PlayStation 5 users will be able to get the UE5 remaster as a standalone game at $39.99. PC and Xbox Series S|X users, on the other hand, will only have the ARK Respawned bundle available at first. This comes with both ARK: Survival Ascended and ARK 2, as well exclusive access to the sequel's closed beta next year, for $49.99. This bundle will be available for one year, from August 2023 to August 2024; after that date, ARK 2 and ARK: Survival Ascended will be sold separately.

Do note that the official servers for ARK: Survival Evolved will be taken down when Survival Ascended launches. The final save data for the official servers will, however, be uploaded so that players may continue using them for their single-player, non-dedicated, player-dedicated, and unofficial servers.

Studio Wildcard also provided an update on the ARK animated series. The star-studded show (which includes Vin Diesel, who'll also be a key character in ARK 2 as you can see from the featured image) is currently in the post-production phase, though there is still no platform attached to it, so it may be a while before fans are able to watch it anywhere.

Written by Alessio Palumbo