Thoughts about the future

[Fresiki]

I was thinking about the end of Ark for a bit. They said that the next expansion will be the last story expansion for Ark. The way they phrased that has me thinking they intend to maybe add another DLC map like Valg/Rag/CI down the line after Part 2. It might also mean there could be another TLC pass down the line. But what it ultimately means is, the story of the original Ark game is done.

So then I started thinking about what's next for the franchise. On the one hand, one could argue that with Ark, the devs have created a successful game with the potential for a franchise. If they were to make an Ark 2, they could take a lot of what's in Ark and improve upon it. They could write new systems from scratch, instead of dealing with the juggernaught of code they have now. They could make a game with the same gameplay mechanics, but improved systems, improved graphics, improved server handling. Better optimized, based on lessons from the first game. One could go so far as to say that the smartest move for the Ark devs from a financial point of view, is taking what they've had success with, and iterating on it.

On the other hand, game developers are artists. Artists are driven by creativity. If the team doesn't want to hop right onto an Ark 2 because they're all so sick of anything Ark, and they feel like they want to expand their horizons, then that would make perfect sense to me. I can't even count the amount of times I've read developer interviews where people have said that "the team are ready to move on to new things now, but we might revisit this franchise in the future". It would be fair that after all these years of running a game like this, they're ready for a change of pace, or new challenges, or just.. something other than Ark.

For some reason, Wildcard don't seem like a company that's 100% all about pleasing the masses. They try their best, but I've always had the impression they do what they want, not we demand of them. In other words, if they want to make another game, they probably will, even though continuing the Ark franchise might be the "easy route" going forward. I love the Ark franchise, however. And even more so with these past two expansions. What I hope for, is an Ark 2 that is bigger, better, more stable, with the story of the game more front and center. Something very similar, but newer, better, different, and continuing the story, which imo is turned into something really great at this point.

What I'm afraid of, is that they're already invested in another project. That Ark was a one-off. If that sounds very pessimistic, I guess that's how much I love the Ark universe. There's always the chance that they've invested in another project, and that it will be equally good on its own terms. What do you guys think?

[d1nk]

They'll deploy DLC maps as content like CI/TC/Rag etc