Studio Wildcard Announces Beta Testing For ARK: Survival Of The Fittest Remaster

Now that Studio Wildcard has gotten ARK: Survival Ascended off the ground, it’s now shifting its attention to its ARK: Survival of the Fittest feature update. It’s basically a remastered version of the original game’s battle royale mode which will soon be available for testing on a separate beta branch on Steam.

ARK: Survival of the Fittest first came out as a standalone free-to-play battle royale spinoff of ARK: Survival Evolved in 2016 but was ultimately merged back into the main game because the developers didn’t want to monetize it. It pits 60 players and their dino armies against each other in a free-for-all last-man-standing battle on the original island map.

The beta test will be open to all ARK: Survival Ascended players, with invites to sent via Discord. The team will also be sharing more information on the beta test through the platform. To access the beta branch, navigate to your Steam Library, right-click on ARK: Survival Ascended, and click on Properties. Click on the Beta tab then select the appropriate beta branch.

Meanwhile, Studio Wildcard remains in hot water over performance issues in ARK: Survival Ascended. Cross-play between PC and consoles has also been temporarily disabled due to rampant cheating on the part of PC users. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players, however, are free to join matches and play together. Studio Wildcard is currently working with Battleye’s developers to bolster its anti-cheat measures and eventually allow them to re-open cross-play on PC.