ARK Devs Shut Down Official Servers and Prepare for Launch of Controversial Remaster
Before devs at Wildcard release the remaster of ARK: Survival Evolved, it must first kill off the original game. An essential step towards this was shutting down the official servers of the survival title.
'We Aren't Meant to Live Forever' was the title of a video released a few days ago on Steam by the developers from Wildcard (available below). And although the text sounds a bit melodramatic, it is not far from the truth as the developers confirmed with it that, as announced, on September 30 ARK: Survival Evolved's official servers were shut down. This decision is dictated by the upcoming release of the remaster, titled ARK: Survival Ascended.
Wildcard reassures, however, that save files created by players before the servers close will be made available to them on October 5. This will enable players to continue playing by hosting saves offline or on private dedicated servers.
History of the conflict
It's hard to expect even this apparent courtesy from the developers to alleviate the negative emotions that have been generated in recent months around Wildcard's incomprehensible policy. Recall that their source was the April announcement of the aforementioned ARK: Survival Ascended. Remaster of Survival Evolved instead of the eagerly awaited release of the second installment upset the players, who began flooding the original's page on Steam with negative reviews.
Fuel to the fire was also added by the information that the refreshed game will cost $50, and we won't get the remastered versions of two DLC's (Explorer's Pass and Genesis Pass), which will be available for purchase at a later date for $20 each (although the purchase was supposed to also entitle players to receive ARK 2 at the time of the title's release).
Criticism aimed at Wildcard has had an effect, but not necessarily the one players were hoping for. The company decided that Survival Ascended will not include access to the sequel. Instead, players will receive all the refreshed DLCs, but the remaster will become more expensive by $10.
If you are not already lost in this, I will add that in July Wildcard decided to lower the price of Survival Ascended to $44.99 due to the delayed release of the promised remastered extras.
Why a remaster?
Since April, many gamers have also been wondering why Wildcard decided to remaster ASE at all. The answer to this question was found in the developers' post on Steam, mentioned at the beginning.
Among the reasons, the developers cite the company's economic situation. With the release of the refreshed version and further paid expansions, they want to ensure an influx of funds to complete ARK 2.
The developers also say that while working on the remaster, the team should brush up on their skills in using Unreal Engine 5.
The most important issue, however, according to Wildcard, is the desire to offer players the classic ARK experience on a "cleaned-up code" before they switch to ARK 2, which is to offer a completely different gameplay experience. The new game is to be designed as a "soulslike adventure."
