Open-world survival community in uproar as 'free' update actually costs $50 and renders official servers extinct

Ark's community has been left reeling by a double announcement that has seen the sequel delayed and Survival Evolved's official servers marked for extinction. 

The reveals come from developer Studio Wildcard itself, which says in a meaty update post that Ark 2 has been delayed to the end of 2024 "for the betterment of the final product and the team's well-being". 

The short of it is that Unreal Engine 5 is new to the developers, and has required more time to get to grips with. As such, you won't see any gameplay, screenshots, or videos of Ark 2 this year, though you'll still get a regular showcase of Ark 2 assets. 

"Our desire to push the boundaries of what Ark 2 is on a next-generation platform has led us to the decision to create an intermediary Unreal Engine 5 Ark product utilising some of the new technology we are building, allowing us to further our mastery of the new engine and ultimately battle-test some of our riskier technical advancements," the statement reads.

There is some good news as Ark: Survival Evolved is getting an Unreal Engine 5 glow-up called Survival Ascended that will release later this year for PS5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC. 

Even then, though, there are some caveats. 

Xbox and PC fans will only be able to get Survival Evolved as part of an "ultimate-value bundle" that features an Ark 2 pre-order that costs $49.99 – PS5 players can get it as a stand-alone purchase for $39.99. 

Also, once Survival Ascended releases, official servers for Survival Evolved will be shut down, though saves will be "uploaded for players to re-host on their own servers or play in singleplayer". 

Also also, an Ark co-showrunner previously implied last January that the upgrade would be free. 

Fans are, to put it mildly, not pleased.

Studio Wildcard hasn’t said anything since the announcement, though we imagine something will need to be said before long.

Ark 2 promises plenty of new features for the game, like "Souls-like melee combat".