Studio Wildcardhas reversed its decision to release the Ark: Respawned Bundle on Xbox and PC, followinghuge backlash from the community. Instead, the upcoming remaster ofArk: Survival Evolved, which is officially titled Ark: Survival Ascended, will be released as a standalone title with all DLC packs included.
In a newblog post, Studio Wildcard said, “First things first, we are scrapping the ARK Respawned Bundle. Our intention behind this was to provide a package where you essentially got two products for the price of one. In hindsight, not the best move.” The studio went on to express that given no gameplay or content for Ark 2 is currently available, bundling the game with a remaster of the original title “wasn’t optimal.”
READ MORE:Ark 2 Has Been Delayed To Late 2024
Studio Wildcard was originally intending to release the Ark: Respawned Bundle exclusively for Xbox Series S|X and PC, which would include both Ark: Survival Ascended and Ark 2 for $49.99 USD. Although the remaster will include all “non-canon” DLC maps, further expansion packs would need to be purchased separately, even if you already own them for Ark: Survival Evolved.
However, the studio has now upped the prise of Survival Ascended by $10 in order to include all expansion packs. For those who purchase the remaster, all of the following content will be included:
The developers also went into further detail about why certain Ark: Survival Evolved servers would be shut down later this year. “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.”
As for why the studio opted to create a brand new remaster, as opposed to an update to the original title, Studio Wildcard said that the original plan was to do a simple Unreal 5 upgrade. “we planned just to port the Switch version of the game and undo the ‘graphical’ limitations required for that hardware.” However, this reportedly wouldn’t maximize the potential of the new technology, meaning no new gameplay changes would be introduced in a simple upgrade.
As such, Studio Wildcard decided that they want to provide players with an evergreen experience for years to come. The studio said the initial plan would simply 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.”
NEXT:EA Pulls the Plug On Alice: Asylum Funding And Licensing
