Ark's community has been left reeling by a double announcement that has seen the sequel delayed and Survival Evolved's official servers marked for extinction.
The reveals come from developer Studio Wildcard itself, which says in a meaty update post that Ark 2 has been delayed to the end of 2024 "for the betterment of the final product and the team's well-being".
The short of it is that Unreal Engine 5 is new to the developers, and has required more time to get to grips with. As such, you won't see any gameplay, screenshots, or videos of Ark 2 this year, though you'll still get a regular showcase of Ark 2 assets.
"Our desire to push the boundaries of what Ark 2 is on a next-generation platform has led us to the decision to create an intermediary Unreal Engine 5 Ark product utilising some of the new technology we are building, allowing us to further our mastery of the new engine and ultimately battle-test some of our riskier technical advancements," the statement reads.
There is some good news as Ark: Survival Evolved is getting an Unreal Engine 5 glow-up called Survival Ascended that will release later this year for PS5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC.
Even then, though, there are some caveats.
Xbox and PC fans will only be able to get Survival Evolved as part of an "ultimate-value bundle" that features an Ark 2 pre-order that costs $49.99 – PS5 players can get it as a stand-alone purchase for $39.99.
Also, once Survival Ascended releases, official servers for Survival Evolved will be shut down, though saves will be "uploaded for players to re-host on their own servers or play in singleplayer".
Also also, an Ark co-showrunner previously implied last January that the upgrade would be free.
Fans are, to put it mildly, not pleased.
COMPLETE FREE from r/ARK
The whole fanbase yesterday from r/ARK
We're chilling. You guys stay safe, though. from r/ARK
Studio Wildcard hasn’t said anything since the announcement, though we imagine something will need to be said before long.
Ark 2 promises plenty of new features for the game, like "Souls-like melee combat".
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