It’s been a pretty rough weekend for Ark fans. First, developer Studio Wildcard announcedArk 2 has been delayed to the end of 2024after having first been promised for 2023. Then the year delay was followed by the announcement of Ark: Survival Ascended, a remastered version ofArk: Survival Evolvedbut rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5. The new game will have better graphics, new features like crossplay and cross-modding, and other QOL of upgrades that’ll make it incompatible with the original Ark, so it can’t be distributed as a free upgrade. Oh, and it’ll cost you at least $40 to get it, too.
It gets worse. Studio Wildcard is ending support for the original Ark: Survival Evolved in June and will repurpose all its servers to support Ark: Survival Ascended when it arrives sometime in August. So, no new game, no free upgrade, and infrastructure that was supporting the existing game are being taken away to support all the new stuff that isn’t here and isn’t free.
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Naturally, Ark fans aren’t happy. Especially because Ark co-director and Studio Wildcard co-foundersaid back in Januarythat Survival Ascended would be a “free upgrade/remaster of ARK Survival Evolved in Unreal Engine 5.”
Ark fans rightfully feel deceived, withone post on the Ark subredditsummarizing the community’s emotional state.OtherpostsareaccusingStudio Wildcard of naked greed by asking players to pay twice for the same game. Ark isn’t quite old enough for the excuse of a remake to sound believable.
However,othersaresuggestingthat it’s not Studio Wildcard, but publisher Snail Games that are the cause of the sudden turnabout regarding the UE5 upgrade.Another Ark fan theorizedthe Wildcard is in rougher financial shape than anyone realized, necessitating that fans pay for what was supposed to be free.
Whatever the reason, Ark fans are in an uproar that shows no sign of stopping. The original Ark is beingreviewbombedonSteam, and theTwitter postannouncing the delay and Ark: Survival Ascended is full of angry replies.A poll on the Ark subreddit suggeststhat most Ark players will not purchase Survival Ascended when it arrives in August. It remains to be seen if Studio Wildcard will change its plans in the face of this backlash.
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