With developer Studio Wildcard nonetheless working to show round participant sentiment on the lately launched Ark Survival Ascended, the boss of its mum or dad firm has insisted Ark 2 remains to be on observe for a late 2024 launch window.
Talking on the NobleCon19 enterprise convention earlier in December, Snail Video games CEO Jim Tsai confirmed Ark 2, which he described as the corporate’s “subsequent masterpiece”, is due out late 2024. There was additionally point out of annual DLC releases to “gasoline franchise progress” by to 2029.
Ark 2 is the Unreal Engine 5-powered sequel to the massively profitable Ark Survival Developed, a dinosaur survival recreation that’s seen large gross sales on PC and console. It was first introduced with a shock Vin Diesel cameo at The Sport Awards 2020, on the time with a 2022 launch date, nevertheless it was later delayed into 2023. Then, earlier this 12 months, Ark 2 was delayed once more, this time to late 2024 as an Xbox Sequence X and S console unique, day-one on Sport Cross, and on PC by way of Steam and Home windows.
However we haven’t heard a lot on Ark 2 since. In the meantime, Studio Wildcard launched Ark 1 remake Ark Survival Ascended in October. It launched large however has drawn criticism for efficiency points. The state of affairs is so dangerous, that Jeremy Stieglitz, co-founder of Studio Wildcard admitted throughout a livestream that Ark’s servers “run like ass”.
Studio Wildcard, then, is busy checking out Ark Survival Ascended, which carries a ‘combined’ person evaluate ranking on Steam. In reality, on the time of publication, extra individuals had been enjoying Ark Survival Developed on Steam than Ark Survival Ascended. The developer has a popularity inside its neighborhood for delaying launch dates, so there’s already a wholesome diploma of scepticism about Ark 2’s deliberate late 2024 launch window. For writer and firm proprietor Snail Video games, at the least, nothing has modified.
Talking of Snail Video games, throughout the enterprise convention presentation, Tsai bigged up Ark’s potential to increase past video games into the realm of TV and films (Ark: The Animated Sequence is due out in some unspecified time in the future in 2024). There’s additionally phrase of free-to-play cell and esports.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.