ARK at TwitchCon 2017!

Hey Survivors! 

We’d like to start off by giving a huge thanks to all of you who participated in ARK’s first ever Twitch Con! Whether you attended the show, tuned into our streams, or took part on social media, we are grateful for all the support and engagement!

For those of you who didn’t have a chance to catch us at the show, or watch the streams, worry not! We’ll be using this post to recap the news that went out, as well as sharing some of our favourite moments from the show, as well as details to where you can watch all the livestreams.

Tradeshows are always special occasions for us, as we always want to take the chance to show off something different for our fans, and this was no different. At this event, we were able to present the first ever glimpse of our upcoming expansion pack, ARK: Aberration. 

For those not familiar with ARK: Aberration; survivors will find themselves waking up on a derelict, malfunctioning ARK with an elaborate underground biome system, where they will face exotic new challenges unlike anything before: extreme radioactive sunlight and environmental hazards, ziplines, wingsuits, climbing gear, cave dwellings, charge-batteries, and far more, along with a stable of extraordinary new creatures await within the mysterious depths. But beware the ‘Nameless’: unrelenting, Element-infused humanoids which have evolved into vicious light-hating monstrosities! You’ll uncover the ultimate secrets of the ARKs, and discover what the future holds in store for those strong and clever enough to survive!

You can check out the trailer and read more details about the expansion pack here:

Over the course of the weekend, we had many of you come to the booth and check out our demo, as well as having the demo-experience being streamed by your favorite influencers. 

Here are some of our favourite moments from the weekend:

If you want to check out the full VODs, for a more detailed insight into ARK: Aberration, check out the following videos!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/183724747
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/183739332
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/183784002
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/183811296
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/184001514
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/184035844
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/184074542
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/184263530
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/184300105
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/184317507

During the event, we also had some very important news to announce, starting with the most important piece of information, ARK: Aberration will not be launching in October 2017. The expansion pack has been delayed by some weeks due to some necessary development work needing to be done. It will be coming out this year, with more features thanks to feedback we've received from our demo.

Aberration is our best piece of work yet, there will be a ton of new content, features, creatures, and a vast explorable map for you to enjoy. We know waiting sucks, but it won’t be for long, and we’ll be sure to do it justice by providing you with a high quality expansion pack.

In addition to that, we’ll also be releasing new skins for our season pass holders. They will shortly be making their way to PC, PS4 and soon thereafter on Xbox. You can check out the new cosmetic goodies here:

The Reaper Helmet, depicting the frightening visage of these dangerous behemoths that roam the Element-infused depths and irradiated surface of Aberration, and the Bulbdog Mask, representing the cheery demeanor of this loyal ward against the Nameless.

Structures Plus Official Integration!

We were also very excited to announce the Official Integration of the Sponsored Mod, Structures Plus (S+)! A long time favourite of the ARK player base and known as the ultimate building mod, S+ adds a range of functionality to ARK’s building, through the use of new structures, changes to core building/structure systems, additional features and more.

We’ll be working with the creator, Orionsun, and begin carefully integrating his mod into the game. Right now we’re still in the conceptualising phase, deciding which features we’ll be bringing over, which will be locked into custom settings, how we’ll be implementing it, and there are important factors we’ll need to consider regarding the mod and it’s impact on the balance of the game etc. It is a very large and in-depth mod, and we want to ensure that we get it right. 

Collector's Edition

The Collector's Edition of ARK: Survival Evolved is now available for purchase without the game or seasons pass included, for those who already own the game. Thanks for your patience on this, and we're excited to finally get those items out to you guys:

- HANDCRAFTED, LEATHER-BOUND EXPLORER'S NOTEBOOK: featuring the Dossiers of every creature you'll encounter in "ARK: Survival Evolved", with tips on capturing, taming and training them. With 100+ creatures in the game currently, there's plenty to read up on in this fantastic tome.
- THE OFFICIAL ARK LOGO NECKLACE: to show your dedication to being a Survivor.
- A CLOTH MAP OF THE ARK ISLAND: so you'll always know where you are!
- COLLECTOR'S EDITION CHEST: All of this Ark-themed booty comes packed in a faux-wooden chest that will impress your friends and fellow players!
- A POSTER FEATURING THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM BEHIND ARK
- ARK OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK CD

You can purchase it today on our website: playark.com

Xbox Rentable Servers Update

Xbox Rentable Servers may not be launching later this month as originally planned. The update which allows players to connect to these servers is currently being held in Microsoft certification. They have noticed an issue which has so far only occurred at their offices, and due to regulations, remote debugging is not possible. In order to address this we are flying out our engineers today to work with them on the issue directly. Unfortunately, this is going to hold up the final build for a little while as we work out the problem with them, and it will then have to re-enter the certification process. We expect that the update will be available in early November, and we will do our best to speed up the process as much as we are able to.