Survival Evolved Official Servers Shut Down to Make Way for Survival Ascended

Ark: Survival Evolved’s official servers will be shutting down at midnight UTC on September 30th, as part of the preparation for the release of Ark: Survival Ascended. The closure will pave the way for the new game, which will be available on Steam Early Access in October.

Players who have uploaded their saves to the official servers will be able to download them on October 5th, allowing them to continue playing offline or on a private dedicated server.

Survival Ascended is a remake of the dino-breeding survival game, using Unreal Engine 5 and improving the overall codebase. While it will offer additional functionality, such as crossplay with console releases, its main purpose is to generate revenue for the development of Ark 2.

One of the reasons for the creation of Survival Ascended is to provide the community with a classic Ark experience, as Ark 2 is being designed as a Souls-like adventure. The new game will feature new creatures, revamped island layouts, and upgraded graphics.

However, some features, such as crossplay, will not be available at launch due to the expected bugs and issues. The developers plan to patch the game quickly on Steam PC to address any problems before enabling full crossplay.

Although there is no gameplay footage available yet, players will be able to see the game through trailers and screenshots before purchasing it in October.

Initially, there were indications that Survival Ascended would be a free upgrade for Survival Evolved. However, due to delays in the development of Ark 2, the developers decided to sell Survival Ascended as a separate game. The bundle originally offered a pre-order of Ark 2, but this was later removed and replaced with pre-orders of the expansion remasters.

Ark: Survival Evolved has been a popular game with millions of copies sold, and the developers are hoping that players will be willing to support thempurchasing Survival Ascended, despite its Early Access status and the changes in bundle pricing.

Source: Studio Wildcard