Ark: Survival Evolved remaster delayed, now launching in Early Access

Studio Wildcard has announced that Ark: Survival Ascended is being pushed back by a few months and that it will now launch into Early Access.

Ark: Survival Ascended, the upcoming remaster of Ark: Survival Evolved, has been pushed back from August to October, when it'll launch into Early Access with an adjusted launch price to reflect the fact that it'll be shipping with less content than initially planned.

Ark Survival Ascended to launch into Early Access in October

"After much deliberation, we’ve decided to delay the launch of ARK: Survival Ascended to later this year and ship the title on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC in October 2023," Studio Wildcard says. "We’ve found it challenging working with Unreal Engine 5.2, but at the same time, it is incredibly exciting. We’re discovering new ways each day to push the technology to the next level; combined with the work needed to support a fully cross-platform-moddable game ecosystem on consoles and PC, it’s clear that we’ll need a bit more time."

Initially, Ark: Survival Ascended was set to include the base game, The Island, "SOTF, and all the 'non-canon' DLC maps." However, Studio Wildcard has now "decided to separate the release date of The Island and Scorched Earth. With what we’ve learned about remastering The Island from the ground up, it wouldn’t be feasible to complete Scorched Earth to a standard we’re happy with." The current plan is that Scorched Earth will be added this December with Ragnarok and Aberration in Q1 2024, and "the rest of the maps beyond then."

Studio Wildcard added, "We had initially planned to ship with more content on Day One, but that won’t be happening, so we’re adjusting the launch price accordingly." The original plan was for Ark: Survival Ascended to be purchasable as part of the Ark Respawned Bundle (with both Ark: Survival Ascended and Ark 2) for $49.99, with the games then planned to be sold separately in August 2024. The new plan is that "Ark: Survival Ascended will now be launching at an Early Access price point of $44.99 with a launch-discount bringing it to $39.99."

Ark: Survival Evolved's official network will now be shut down on September 30. Studio Wildcard later says "We won’t be supporting Server Transfers at the launch of ARK: Survival Ascended; this feature will become enabled when Scorched Earth releases in December."

Ark: Survival Ascended is currently set to be in Early Access until late in 2024, "once all the content has finished its next-generation remastering."

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Written by Heidi Nicholas

Heidi tends to lean towards indie games, RPGs, and open-world games on Xbox, and when not playing Disney Dreamlight Valley, happily installs every new wholesome game that appears on Xbox Game Pass, before diving back into favorites like The Witcher 3. She's looking forward to Age of Mythology Retold, Everwild, Fable, and Avowed on the Xbox horizon. Heidi graduated with an MA in English Literature before joining the TrueAchievements team.