ARK: Survival Ascended’s $50 Bundle Is Now A $60 Standalone In Response To Complaints
Last week, Studio Wildcard earned the ire of the ARK: Survival Evolved community when it announced that it was remastering the dinosaur survival game but will be selling it as part of a $50 bundle with ARK 2 and paid DLCs.
In response, the studio has decided to revise their plans and sell the Unreal Engine 5 remaster as a standalone package for $60. That’s $10 more than the original bundle’s price, but you’ll have access to several free DLCs at launch and will be able to download succeeding ones as well as community-created maps as they come out at no additional cost.
The UE5 remaster, called ARK: Survival Ascended, will launch with three DLCs in tow: The Island, Scorched Earth, and both The Island and Scorched map variants of Survival of the Fittest. Aberration is expected to come out in Q4 2023, Extinction and Genesis Part 1 in Q1 2024, and Genesis Part 2 in Q2 2024. All community created maps will also be released over time throughout 2024.
The remaster was initially supposed to be a free upgrade before Studio Wildcard decided to make full use of UE5’s technology and introduce major design and gameplay changes that would ultimately render existing save data.
“We weren't trying to mislead you with earlier comments; our plans and overall intentions changed,” explained Studio Wildcard. “So you're probably asking, why don't we make these upgrades to the original ARK: Survival Evolved? Frankly, it would not be viable.”
“Many of the changes we're making in ARK: Survival Ascended will touch a lot of aspects of the game; it'll invalidate save data, some mods may not be functional, some things may not play the same way as they did before, and we didn't want to change that experience for those who prefer it or are unable to upgrade,” the studio added.
ARK: Survival Ascended will reportedly introduce new creatures, structures, items, and other new features and content that weren’t available in the original game, in addition to various quality-of-life improvements such as Nvidia DLSS support, cross-platform multiplayer, enhanced character customization, and more.
As we previously noted, the remaster will completely replace the original game when it launches. ARK: Survival Evolved will be receiving its last major update in June before it shuts down for good on August 31st. Players, however, will have the option to download their saves and server states for private use before the official servers are taken offline.
“While we know it's not the same, we hope making the saves available for unofficial use helps diminish the loss,” said Studio Wildcard. “Our reasoning behind the decision is that those servers are essentially based on old technology and require significant development resources and time for our teams to operate & maintain. In some cases, the issues aren’t as easily solvable without an overall upgrade. Additionally, we know that those resources could be better utilized on fundamentally new technology to further enhance the overall game experience for all players.”
Personally, I’d rather pay $50 for the ARK 2 pre-order and the remaster since you’ll essentially be getting two games for what you’d normally pay for a new game these days. Now that Studio Wildcard has decided to revise the game’s pricing, it looks like the community is starting to think that the original deal might be better after all.
I mean.... do I really need to say something about this sunset? Holy... 🌄@survivetheark @ComplexMinded @Jatheish #playARK #UE5 pic.twitter.com/LebfeE8h0n
— Nekatus (@Nekatus) April 10, 2023
