Ark: Survival Ascended, as the UE5 version is known, will cost $50, and will be the only version with official server support when it launches.
After teasing a free Unreal Engine 5-powered upgrade to the six-year-old Ark: Survival Evolved in January, developer Studio Wildcard said on Friday that players will actually have to pay for it (opens in new tab) if they want it—and fans, as you might expect, are not happy.
“The UE5 tease a couple weeks back is referring to in-the-works complete free upgrade/remaster of Ark Survival Evolved in Unreal Engine 5,” Studio Wildcard co-founder Jeremy Stieglitz tweeted (opens in new tab) in January. “Not a cinematic. We haven’t officially announced the Ark UE5 upgrade yet ’cause there’s other major things we wanna show then as well.”
The official announcement of Ark: Survival Ascended, as the UE5 remaster is known, arrived last week (opens in new tab), but notably without the “free” part. Instead, Studio Wildcard said “players will only be able to get it via an ultimate-value bundle known as the ARK Respawned Bundle,” which includes Ark: Survival Ascended and the recently delayed Ark 2 for $50. The bundle will be available for purchase “for up to one year,” beginning at the end of August. After that, Ark 2 and Survival Ascended will be available for purchase separately.
