ARK 2 has been delayed until the end of 2024. The dinosaur survival sequel currently known for featuring Vin Diesel was, for some reason, originally intended for a 2023 release, but developers Studio Wildcard say they need more time.
To compensate, they’ll instead release Ark: Survival Ascended in August, which is a remaster of Ark: Survival Evolved porting it over to Unreal Engine 5. And that’s the good news. The bad news is that you can only buy it in a $50 bundle with the sequel (which won’t be out for at least a year), and that the original Survival Evolved servers will be shut down when Ascended launches.
“After careful consideration, we have decided to postpone the launch of the sequel until the end of 2024, when it will continue to be launched exclusively on Xbox, Game Pass and Windows (Steam / PC) distribution platforms,” advertisement. “We put a lot of thought into delaying ARK 2 to improve the final product and team well-being.”
They attribute the delay to several factors, including the development team being new to Unreal Engine 5. They also say that producing Survival Ascended will help them further their “mastery of the new engine and ultimately battle test some of our more serious technical developments.”
Ark 2 also seems to be shaping up to be fundamentally different from Survival Evolved, with “spirit-like combat, only rudimentary weapons, tough third-person mechanics — and a general ‘very serious’ tone.” This is a surprising set of ideas for a sequel to the original Ark, which was fantastic, both in third-person and first-person, only offset by the ridiculous joy of finally being able to build a mobile artillery platform on the back of an amphibious dinosaur.
The substantial departure in Ark 2 is why Studio Wildcard “feels it imperative to provide players with a complete, next-gen version of the original experience to ensure fans can continue to enjoy the ARK they know for years to come.”
Ark: Survival Ascended will launch “end of August 2023”. the full ad It contains details on what it contained, including the original game’s main island, Survival Of The Fittest battle royale mode, cross-platform multiplayer support and mods.
It also states that “PC players will only be able to get it [Ark: Survival Ascended] via the ultimate value bundle known as the ARK Respawned Bundle. The bundle includes Ark: Survival Ascended and Ark 2 and will cost $50. Ark 2 won’t be out for at least a year, but players will get a month of locked down beta access sometime in 2024. The official servers for Ark will be shut down: Survival Evolved upon the launch of Survival Ascended, although single-player and casual servers will still be available.
If I were taking away a service my customers already paid for and charging them $50 for the motor upgrade and IOU, I’m not sure I would have called it the Ultimate Value Package. Especially if you have indicated As recently as January That “upgrade/remaster” will be “free”.
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