Ark: Survival Ascended will be a standalone game and will cost $60
Studio Wildcard has announced that Ark: Survival Ascended will only be released as a standalone game at the end of August. The PC and Xbox version of the remaster of Ark: Survival Evolved will no longer be bundled with Ark 2. The remaster will cost $60.
The developer further addressed the criticism it received on Steam for wanting to bundle the PC and Xbox versions of Ark: Survival Ascended with Ark 2. Players criticized this decision because they wanted to bundle the next-gen version of Ark: Survival Evolved , and all associated DLC, would then have to purchase it again and because they have not yet received any indication of how the successor, Ark 2, will perform.
The developer claims in the blog post that the upgrade to the Unreal 5 engine is major. Many elements of the game have reportedly been adjusted, making save files and certain mods from Ark: Survival Evolved no longer compatible with Ark: Survival Ascended. Partly because of this, a standalone next-gen version was chosen, instead of an update of the original game.
Ark: Survival Evolved’s servers will be taken offline on August 31. Studio Wildcard believes that the servers run on old technology and require a lot of maintenance to stay online. Gamers who still want to play Ark: Survival Evolved with friends can run a player hosted session to do so.
According to Studio Wildcard, the remaster of the popular survival game will receive all DLC: expansions The Island, Survival of the Fittest and Scorched Earth will be available as soon as the game is available in stores. Expansion Aberration will be released in the fourth quarter of 2023, Extinction will be released in the first quarter of 2024. Genesis Part 1 is expected in the first quarter of 2024, while Genesis Part 2 will be released in the second quarter of next year.
ARK: Survival Evolved, Xbox One