Ark 2 is Studio Wildcard's ambitious sequel for its long-running dinosaur-shaped survival series.
First announced back in 2020, the new game has been in the works for a long time now, with delays pushing the project back. At one time, it was projected to launch in 2023, but now Studio Wildcard revealed that Ark 2 is aiming to release sometime in 2028, with a two-year roadmap laid out for Ark: Survival Ascended that deliver an expansion that's setting to test out some of the features in the upcoming entry.
Ark 2 release date remains TBC
Thanks to a statement released on The Epic Games Store, we now have an Ark 2 release window for 2028. Currently, we don't know the exact date yet, but after years of silence and speculation, a 2028 release window is very much welcomed.
The news came during publisher Snail Games' Investor Day from Jeremy Stieglitz, co-founder of developer Studio Wildcard. Stieglitz also laid out plans for the Ark franchise spanning over the next two years, including how the release of the expansion Legacy of Santiago will feed into Ark 2's story and gameplay mechanics. Exciting times!
We'll keep you posted as more details head our way.
Ark 2 platforms
Ark 2 is one of the most anticipated upcoming PC games and upcoming Xbox Series X games, but there's also a window of console exclusivity to consider.
Ark 2 is a launch exclusive for Xbox Series X; Studio Wildcard announced this partnership with Microsoft Gaming alongside its reveal of the game. Ark 2 will also be added to the Xbox Game Pass list from day one.
With the arrival of the Switch 2, there's also been no kind of confirmation as to whether we'll see Ark 2 come to the new console. Still, given that past Ark games have come to Switch eventually, there's always the chance that it could join the lineup of upcoming Switch 2 games someday. We'll be keeping a close eye out for any news or updates regarding platforms!
Will Ark 2 come to PS5?
The question of whether Ark 2 will come to PS5 remains unanswered by developer Studio Wildcard, however it is only listed as a "console launch exclusive" for Xbox Series X. This means that Ark 2 will only be on PC and Xbox Series X for an undetermined amount of time, before coming to other platforms – such as the PS5.
Given that ARK: Survival Evolved found success on PS4, it wouldn't be all that surprising to see this sequel head to PlayStation once its exclusivity window with Xbox expires.
Ark 2 trailer
The first Ark 2 trailer was revealed in 2020 as part of The Game Awards. The Ark 2 reveal trailer was fully captured in-engine, though Studio Wildcard has since confirmed that development has moved to Unreal Engine 5.
While this reveal trailer doesn't feature any gameplay, it does set the tone of the upcoming sandbox, reveal some famous faces that are joining production, and hint at some of the new features we can expect to see when Ark 2 finally launches.
The Ark 2 trailer that dropped at E3 2022 is captured in Unreal Engine 5. Although it's not gameplay, it sets the tone for the game's storyline, which takes place in a world long after a massive battle.
Of course, in a world filled with dinosaurs, every day is a battle, but thankfully Vin Diesel's character and his daughter are ready with their very own pet T-Rex complete with bone armor.
Ark 2 development
A handful of months prior to the reveal of a 2028 reveal window, it was suggested that Ark 2 may launch in Early Access, with Studio Wildcard's co-founder expressing a hope that it could release in Early Access "within the next two years".
It certainly wouldn't be the first time the Ark series has initially launched in Early Access. When Ark: Survival Evolved first released in 2015, for example, it did so as a console launch exclusive in the Xbox Game Preview program.
This placement allowed Studio Wildcard to gain "valuable feedback from Xbox One players along the way before launching in August 2017."
Ark: Survival Evolved was one of the first games to be optimized for both the Xbox One X in 2017 and the Xbox Series X in 2021, and the sandbox survival experience has remained a constant fixture in the Xbox Game Pass library since 2019.
If Ark 2 Early Access happens, it's likely the Xbox Game Preview program will be involved once again.
Ark 2 story
The Ark 2 story is set to take place after the events of Genesis: Part 2 – the fifth and final paid DLC expansion pack released for ARK: Survival Evolved in 2021 – on an unknown, alien planet.
While Studio Wildcard is yet to detail all that much around the Ark 2 story, we can begin to piece together some clues by looking at the Genesis: Part 2 ending. The expansion, which is set onboard a colossal colony vessel, ends as the Genesis Ship is ruptured in two.
One half (Rockwell's corrupted ring world) crashes into a gas planet, while the other is dormant in space. In Genesis: Part 2's closing moments, we see one of the Santiago clones wake up from stasis – just in time to be fired from the debris of the Genesis Ship towards a mysterious Earth-like planet. It's likely to be the planet Ark 2 is set on.
Ark: Lost Colony, which released in December 2025, directly ties into the narrative of Ark 2, "and tests out a lot of that game's mechanics", as confirmed by studio co-founder Jeremy Stieglitz, with the expansion featuring characters such as Santiago's daughter, Meeka.
Ark 2 Vin Diesel
When Ark 2 was first announced, Vin Diesel was set to star as the hero character, Santiago. For those of you not keeping up-to-date with the overarching series story here, Santiago is a clone of the ARK: Survival Evolved player-character, Santiago da Costa.
Fans can learn more about his character by watching the Ark: The Animated Series, which released its first set of episodes in 2024 on the streaming service Paramount Plus.
As for Vin Diesel's involvement, back in 2020 it was revealed that he joined Studio Wildcard as 'president of creative convergence' at Studio Wildcard. Now, we can't even begin to explain what that means, but Microsoft said that the Fast and The Furious star is a massive fan of the series, having logged over 1,000 hours in ARK: Survival Evolved.
Studio Wildcard CEO Doug Kennedy said Diesel would be putting that experience to good use: "He understands the game intimately and is providing direct feedback to the development process."
But the latest word on Diesel came by way of the an update on the Epic Games store, with Stieglitz saying that the game's "ambitious narrative" is going to be "highly dependent on just how involved Vin Diesel is going to be", which he adds is "still an open question" as the team sets sights on a 2028 launch window.
"The question is: How much performance are we going to get from him?" Stieglitz said. "Are we going to get one day, five days, eight hours? You don't know. And the scope of how much performance we are going to get determines just how the narrative is going to play out. We have a narrative that's if we get a lot of Vin Diesel, this is what we will do, and if we get a little Vin Diesel, this is what we will do."
Ark 2 gameplay
We are yet to see any direct Ark 2 gameplay, but developer Studio Wildcard has started to tease what we can expect. Originally, Ark 2 was set to be much like its predecessor, aka a 'sandbox survival experience' but things have changed somewhat.
In fact, Studio Wildcard is making big changes to core elements of play – including the addition of "Souls-like melee combat", with Wildcard CEO Doug Kennedy going so far as to say that Ark 2 will do "something which has never been done" in video games before.
As for that this Souls-like melee combat will look like – you'll be able to target-lock, block, dodge, pull off combos, staggers, and even special attacks.
Ark 2 will also have a heavier focus on primitive-only weaponry and "strict" third-person mechanics and character traversal systems – such as sliding, swinging, free-climbing, mantling, parkour, and more.
Ark 2 is set in a massive new alien environment of Arat – with the sequel taking place after the events of Genesis: Part 2 – which will offer up dynamic world events that happen independently to what you're up to.
The choice whether to interact with them will then yield their own rewards and challenges. You'll also be able to craft weapons and tools from various modules to design their look and functionality, making for millions of possible combos. Materials will also affect the look of these items too.
As part of an on-going two year roadmap that kicked off in late 2025, a major update is slated to come to Ark: Survival Ascended near the end of 2027 that promises to give players a taste of Ark 2. An expansion for Ascended will be also coming called the Legacy of Santiago to round off the roadmap, and "narratively seed the release of Ark 2 as well as test out some of the new mechanics coming to the sequel".
Ark 2 mods
Studio Wildcard also confirmed as part of its E3 2022 announcements that Ark 2 will feature mod.io's cross-platform mod and user-generated content support. What that means is that it will enable mods and UGC to function across PC and Xbox platforms.
"ARK 2's fully stackable, user-created mods will open the door for players to generate new dinosaur and creatures, items, and gameplay features, with maps distributed across all platforms — including onto Xbox — and support for modded servers, via mod.io!" reads the developer's statement.
While you wait for more info on Ark 2, why not jump into one of the best dinosaur games.
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