ARK at E3: Release Date, Pre-Order, Ragnarok, Griffin, & Xbox One X!

Hello, Survivors! 

We have some very exciting news to share with you all today! 

ARK: Survival Evolved has entered its final phase of core production, and will hit worldwide retail and digital release on August the 8th, 2017 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Mac, and Linux.

The past two years have been one heck of a journey! Millions of ARK players worldwide have built gigantic bases, captured and trained armies of dinosaurs, crafted armories full of weapons and eaten billion of pounds of berries. With your help, we're now about to reach the completion of core content for ARK: Survival Evolved and release the full game to the world!

That was just the beginning; now we'll be entering the next phase of our journey. Players who have been with us throughout this early access program and were excited with the launch of each update, have even more reason to be excited! ARK is going to become even more fun with surprise new content at launch and beyond, as we continue to have a massive amount of additional gameplay, creatures, and story elements in the works.

Pre-Orders and Limited Collector’s Edition!

There are three ways to get your dino-fix with ARK: Survival Evolved, all of which are now available to pre-order for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms.

ARK: Survival Evolved ($59.99 USD)

This base game includes everything a burgeoning Jurassic adventurer needs to get started in the world of ARK. It's the core game, and all free content released up to this point, offering up hundreds of hours of gameplay to players.

ARK: Survival Evolved - Explorer's Edition ($99.99 USD)

The Explorer's Edition takes the base game and adds even MORE - introducing a Season Pass that will grant access to all expansion packs, starting with Scorched Earth (available now) and including more packs launching later this year and into 2018.

ARK: Survival Evolved - Limited Collector's Edition ($159.99 USD)

The ultimate ARK fan's dream, the limited Collector's Edition is a collectible faux-wooden chest box that contains the ARK Explorer’s Edition (base game + Season Pass) along with...

• A handcrafted leather-bound Explorer's Notebook, featuring the Dossiers of every in-game creature
• An official ARK necklace
• A cloth map of the ARK island
• A poster of the Studio Wildcard development team
• The official ARK: Survival Evolved soundtrack, recorded live at Abbey Road with the Philharmonia Orchestra
• Manufactured by Triforce, the best designer of high-quality video game collectibles!

As of now, picking up this package is the only way to get the exclusive bonus items, however, if we’re able to sell out the initial stock, we will order another set that includes all of the above, minus the game. The reason we’re not able to do this currently is due to the high cost of producing these physical products.

Visit www.playark.com now to pre-order ARK: Survival Evolved and get your hands on the Limited Collector's Edition!

Introducing a new Official Mod: Ragnarok, available now on Steam and July 4 on consoles!

We're excited to announce the first mod to be integrated into ARK: Survival Evolved as part of its ARK Sponsored Mods Program! Developed by the former creators of popular ARK mods Valhalla and Umassoura; David Miller, Matt Janz, and Jackson Lawrence came together to work on their latest project, “Ragnarok” which is being released today for Steam players as a free DLC Official Expansion ARK, and will be shortly making its way to consoles in July. Global Cross-ARK and isolated Official Ragnarok servers will be available for you to make your new home. Note that Ragnarok is still in primary development, and so it will continue to expand with updates over time.

Steam players download “Ragnarok” now!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/642250/Ragnarok__ARK_Expansion_Map

The new map will contain:

• A 144 sq kilometer map designed to be explored by land, sea or air
• Tons of harvest-able or gatherable resources
• Caves of all shapes and sizes, each designed to be built in
• Distinct variations on former ARK creatures, as well a special brand-new creature unique to Ragnarok
• Build tree platforms on unique trees/rocks
• Expansive biomes that were built to reward hardy explorers
• Some of the most challenging dungeons in ARK will await players
• An active volcano that while erupting yields a high amount of resources in the form of lava crystal
• Beautiful vistas and base locations as far as the eye can see
• Hot springs that while dormant yield a relaxing buff, but when active, become dangerous
• Ruins to not only explore but that can also be incorporated into base builds
• A vast ocean with its own ecosystem
• Upcoming future desert biome to find and tame creatures
• Upcoming Explorer Notes that hold the key to Ragnarok's secrets and history

Introducing the Griffin!

A new Dino Dossier has been revealed, this one is everyone's favourite gallant glider, the Griffin!

Common name: Griffin
Species: Gryphon Magnificum
Time: Unknown
Diet: Carnivore
Temperament: Aggressive

Wild

Gryphon Magnificum is undoubtedly a sight to behold. Many ancient myths tell of various depictions of the Griffin over the ages, but what is never disputed is its majestic and mysterious nature. With the front half of an eagle and the back half of a lion, it is as if these two creatures somehow fused together to form a superior land and air predator.

While one's first instinct might be to approach the creature and marvel at its beauty, that would be a very poor decision. Its range of attacks makes it one of the more versatile predators I’ve witnessed. If its presence alone isn't enough to intimidate potential hunters, it has the ability to dive from the sky to the ground with such force that it inflicts damage to anyone unfortunate enough to be below it, or carry its momentum back into a rapid uplift.

Domesticated

The idea of pacifying such a beast is nothing to scoff at. It's highly independent nature and disinterest with interacting with humans combined with its power and strength make the Griffin a challenge to domesticate. However, there have been those who are fearless enough to attempt and succeed at this miraculous feat. Once tamed, riding atop a Griffin along with a tribemate passenger, dashing through the air at high speeds, is a prize in and of itself.

Xbox One X, Crossbuy, and Crossplay!

We were also excited to unveil that this November, ARK will be a Launch Title on the Xbox One X! We are currently aiming to have the game performing on the EPIC Settings at 60 FPS, with every graphical effect including TrueSky. With this, we’re also excited to reveal that the game will be ready on Xbox Play Anywhere, so Xbox Owners will be able to play ARK on whichever platform they own, be it a Windows 10 PC, Xbox One, or the Xbox One X. This will also allow us to introduce crossplay between the 3 platforms! Keep in mind that this is a retroactive crossbuy, so if you already own ARK on the Xbox One, you automatically get it on the Xbox One X and the Windows 10 store, and will remain crossbuy going forward too! Plus as we announced yesterday, the Xbox versions and Windows 10 store version can all play together on the same servers using crossplay! So get ready to partner up with your tribemates on whichever Microsoft platform you want to survive on

That’s all for now guys! Thank you so much for all the support the past 2 years, and we hope you are excited as we are about the news. As always, there’s still more planned for the ARK universe, both leading up to and beyond the August 8 launch. Survivors on all platforms can look forward to a lot more going forward, so stay tuned! 

- Studio Wildcard