4 years after Ark 2 was announced, Xbox announces a playable demo at Gamescom only to immediately un-announce it

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It was as if millions of Ark fans suddenly cried out in joy and were suddenly silenced

Ark 2 screenshot
(Image credit: Studio Wildcard)

Ark 2 debuted with a Vin Diesel-led trailer back in 2020, but since then we've seen almost nothing of the highly anticipated survival game. It briefly looked like that was finally about to change when Xbox said it was going to host a playable demo for Ark 2 at its Gamescom booth. Now, however, the company says that announcement was made in error.

"The Xbox booth will also have playable titles from our third-party partners," the publisher initially said in a blog outlining its Gamescom plans, "including Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, Studio Wildcard’s ARK 2, Saber Interactive’s Space Marine 2, Rebellion’s Atomfall, and the return of GSC Game World’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl with an all-new demo."

Now the mention of Ark 2 is gone, and an editor's note added to the bottom of the page says that "ARK 2 was originally listed as playable on the Xbox booth – this mention was made in error, and has been removed." I've reached out to Studio Wildcard for comment and will provide an update if I learn more.

A playable demo of Ark 2 suddenly showing up like this seemed almost too good to be true - strike the almost - given how long it's been since we'd last seen the game at all, but there was reason to hope. Studio Wildcard's last update on Ark 2 suggested that it was set to hit early access in late 2024, and if that's still the case, we'll surely see more of it soon. Just apparently not on the Gamescom show floor.

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Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.