It’s been a rather busy day at Studio Wildcard, as the studio made a few key announcements today! Chief among them is the announcement that Ark 2 has been delayed to 2024!

Originally announced back in 2020, Ark 2 was supposed to be released this year. Well, it seems that’s not happening now.

Here’s the announcement from Studio Wildcard regarding the Ark 2 delay:

After much careful thought and consideration, ARK 2 is delayed until the end of 2024, when it will launch exclusively on Xbox, Game Pass, and Windows distribution platforms (Steam/PC). This extra time allows ARK 2 to be the best game it can be and provide a truly exceptional and rewarding experience for players. UE5 is incredibly new technology and with ARK 2, this cutting-edge tech will be used to its fullest potential. As the team learns more about the engine through ASA and develops the sequel, adapted workflows and adjusted pipelines are being created to accommodate this next-generation paradigm. Because of everything that involves, more time is needed.

While that’s a bummer for Ark fans, there is something to tide you over (sort of), as Studio Wildcard has also announced Ark Survival Ascended, which is a next-gen remaster of Ark Survival Evolved. It’s built using Unreal Engine 5, and will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC this August 2023. The base game for Ark Survival Ascended will include The Island, a revamped Survival of the Fittest and all the “non-canon” DLC maps (which will be added over time, and not in one drop).

ARK: Survival Ascended will also feature the following improvements and enhancements:

• Unreal Engine 5 Overhaul with Nanite, Lumen, and RTXDI
• Dynamic Water and Interactive Foliage
• Cross-platform Multiplayer
  • This includes cross-platform accounts and cross-progression, cross-voice chat & friends, etc. No matter what platform ASA is started on, access is available to each account, character, dinos, and items on a different platform.
• Cross-platform Modding
  • Studio Wildcard has chosen to partner with Overwolf, the modding platform leader, 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.
  • Premium Modding Market: Mod creators will optionally be able to specify price points for their Mods (with 50% of the price point going to the Mod author). All mods will be reviewed by Overwolf and Studio Wildcard for quality control and value. The remainder pays for the custom infrastructure required for Overwolf to support, administrate, and deliver Mods to the console.
• Survival of the Fittest
  • SOTF will be integrated into ASA as a new fully-supported game mode. It will have a dedicated development team that will continue to work on gameplay changes, mechanical improvements, quality of life, maps, and balance adjustments. The mode will be revamped with an exclusive ARK: Survival Ascended update, including:
    • Upgraded to UE5 with complete cross-platform and cross-modding support
    • Scorched Earth SOTF map
    • Matchmaking queue
    • Character and creature customization with cosmetics
    • Lots of bug-fixes and balance and functionality improvements
• Upgraded art assets throughout the entire game.
• Newly-designed holiday events released as mods so they’re always available to play!
• New content, QoL improvements, balance, and gameplay changes.

Xbox Series X|S and PC players will be able to purchase with the Ark Respawned Bundle. This includes ownership of both Survival Ascended and Ark 2, and will be priced at $49.99. This bundle will be available to be purchased from the end of August for up to one year (after which Ark: Survival Ascended and Ark 2 will be sold separately). In addition to that, the bundle will provide players access to an exclusive one-month closed beta for Ark 2 as well.

PS5 users will be able to get their hands on ARK: Survival Ascended at launch in August 2023 for $39.99 as a standalone next-gen game.

Additional Story Expansion Packs will be sold separately on all platforms:

• $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).

Lastly, there’s a new canonical-story expansion pack for Ark: Survival Ascended that will be available in Q4 2023, and this will feature four new creatures with more info set to be revealed later this year,