Ark was a big hit, and it’s been around for several years. It even had a new release not too long ago. The developers released an upgraded remaster that restored the original game, this time powered by Unreal Engine 5. So, needless to say, there’s been plenty of opportunities these past few years to enjoy this game. However, for several years now, we have known that Studio Wildcard had a full-on sequel coming to the marketplace. It was back in 2020 that we got our first look at Ark 2.
The game drew some attention right out of the gate, as it starred Vin Diesel, and he was also taking on a producer role. But, as time went on, we continued to see the developers push this game further and further back. Initially, we were supposed to see the game launched in 2023. Then things changed to seeing an early access release in 2024. But here we are without the game available either as a full product or an early access offering.
Ark 2 Is Now Slated For 2028
Ark 2 developers are pushing this game back again. Thanks to Eurogamer, we’re learning that the game was recently announced as delayed during publisher Snail Games’ investor day. There wasn’t much insight offered specifically about what to expect in Ark 2. However, in an interview with Studio Wildcard founder Jeremy Stieglitz on Epic, it was unveiled that the developers were looking to implement some lessons learned from their time supporting the current Ark title.
One of the things about doing ARK 2 was that we felt we had to learn a lot more about how to make the kind of game we wanted to do, and to do it kind of in phases. Learning about both the technology and the mechanics seemed, to us, safer than to just try to go and release a whole standalone product called ARK 2.
So with this expansion called Legacy of Santiago, we’re going to be introducing a lot of the mechanics and features that we wanted to kind of test out in ARK 2 as an expansion for ARK: Survival Ascended.
Legacy of Santiago will allow us to explore a lot of mechanics that we want to do with ARK 2, but it kind of derisks that. Essentially, if we don’t do it right, if we don’t do it perfectly, we’re able to iterate on it with a live game and get a lot more feedback than to just release something standalone. It’s much safer for us to get a lot of that feedback in a live game where we can react much more fluidly to what players are telling us.
While we might not get the standalone Ark 2 game until 2028, there was confirmation that some mechanics are being introduced to Ark: Survival Ascended to test out for the upcoming game. So, for the upcoming updates to the game, you’ll get a small sneak peek at what Ark 2 will be like, and it could also help the developers pinpoint what exactly fans are enjoying about the new mechanics and double down on them for the upcoming game.
