'Free' Ark: Survival Evolved upgrade turns out not to be free, and a lot of players are mad
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.
The announcement has not gone over universally well with fans. Some players are irritated by the prospect of having to re-purchase the game at full price to get the UE5 upgrade, while players on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles are being left out in the cold completely. It's also sparked debate over whether Studio Wildcard is struggling to pay for the development of Ark 2. Some of the posters in this Reddit thread(opens in new tab) defend the move, saying the cost is really for an Ark 2 preorder, but that defense isn't really flying: Ark 2 isn't expected to
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