You’ve likely heard the axiom “less is more,” but in the case of the upcoming Unreal Engine-upgraded ARK: Survival Ascended, less is going to be less, as Studio Wildcard announced a delay for the launch and only one map when it does instead of its earlier planned two maps.
The new remaster will now shift from an August release window to sometime in October for PC and consoles. In addition, it will arrive only with The Island map in tow: The Scorched Earth map will be coming to ASA this December, Ragnarok and Aberration will follow in Q1 2024, and additional maps will release “beyond then.”
As a result of this slight reeling back of launch features, the game’s early access price will be $45, while a launch discount running for an indeterminate length of time will bring it down to $40.
Wildcard explains that the delay is a result of learning Unreal Engine 5.2 and its associated challenges, as well as general dissatisfaction with the state of Scorched Earth in comparison to the retooled Island. “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,” the post reads.
The post further confirms that Survival Evolved’s official servers will now shut down on September 30th, while tech that will allow for the transfer of ASE worlds to private servers is still being worked on. The studio also promises to share more creature concept art soon and gameplay footage closer to ASA’s launch, but that now means fans are waiting until fall for any of that.
