Am I missing something with DLC release dates and ARK 2?

[jackhorn01]

I am just now getting ASE. Couldn't take it anymore lol. Everything I am reading about ark while trying to get back up to date says that we won't have all of the maps for ASE until Oct 2024? After ARK 2 comes out? Point of this? 

[zero064]

I haven't heard anything about Ark 2 lately, and I wouldn't be surprised if we're still playing ASA long after October of 2024.

[Pipinghot]

3 hours ago, jackhorn01 said:

I am just now getting ASE. Couldn't take it anymore lol. Everything I am reading about ark while trying to get back up to date says that we won't have all of the maps for ASE until Oct 2024? After ARK 2 comes out? Point of this? 

Well, the main point is that ARK 2 is supposed to be a significantly different game from ASA (I'm assuming you meant ASA, not ASE). WildCard has said quite a few times that they're planning to make ARK2 different, not just fancy clone of ASA. Some people will prefer to keep playing ASA, some people will prefer to play ARK2, and there's basically no way to know beforehand which one you'll prefer.

And, of course, the dates are all subject to being changed. ASA maps might come out even later than ARK2, or ARK2 might take so long to actually be released that you get to play everything in ASA before ARK2 ever comes out. If you want to try to predict when ASA maps or ARK2 then I wish you good luck with your predictions, but if you just want to play and enjoy ARK then keep playing ASA and whenever the day comes that ARK2 gets released you can enjoy it as a different game.

[KingOfAshes]

I think the confusion comes a lot more from Youtubers covering news and seeing what appears to be discrepancies between WC and SG release schedule, plus the fact that any schedule is always subject to change.  As for Ark 2....who knows. A lot is speculated and floated around without any real inside knowledge. 

Some point to Ark2 not  showing on the roadmap WC posted vs one posted by SG....but then again, why would a separate game's release date be showing on WC ASA's release schedule roadmap even if it is a sequel? It makes sense when it shows SG's game release roadmap where all sorts are mentioned. And why would one be talking about Ark2 when ASA just released with two yrs of upcoming content? It's the focus and any Ark2 talk would take away ASA's spotlight and make some customers think ''might as well wait for the sequel coming in a few months''

On the other hand, comments about ASA being Ark's future and whole Studio working on that makes it unlikely to expect Ark2 to have a release prior to ASA's main DLC content being completed....aka at least 2-3yrs down the line in WC time scales.

Overall...who knows? Que Sera, Sera....

[MMaas]

With killing ASE support before ASA went out of early acces they kind of killed the future of ARK and ARK2. Snail is presenting a different story to their investors as WC presents to us. In all fairness, I gues Snails story is just an attemp to cover up their scams and losses.
Wildcard on the other hand still thinks that the animated series can do what it Cyberpunk did for CDPR, the difference is that with Cyberpunk it wasn't an afterthought but developped alongside the game.

Meanwhile ASA numbers on Steam are dropping below ASE, wich is not a good sign at all: If ASA flops there won't be an ARK2 and at this moment it is even unclear if they can hold up ASA till all maps are finished given the delays and rescedules.

I hate to be this pessimistic, I realy had a great time with ASE but there is just too much going wrong for me to invest the same time in ASA again if the result is the same: "Sorry, we could not finish this in UE5, we gonna do it all over again in UE6."
And it looks just like that at the moment with the only (but very important) difference we know by now that they try their best but ignore the flaws and "F"-ups.

[KingOfAshes]

With regards to ASA steam numbers getting lower than ASE, that's to be expected really. At the end of the day ASA's launch content is a rehash of the original Island. Some improvements sure, but at the end the day it is still the same original map, same creatures, same bosses&mechanics, same caves, same everything gameplay wise. Not a lot of (nor genuinely fresh) content there if one has played it before (excluding console users like me who do get MOD content they couldn't access in ASE). It reminds me of other games like the Battlefield series where people move back to the older game soon after release due to lack of content, but in due time as more content becomes available(and some problems are resolved) they eventually move over. 

If I had to guess, I'd say you'll see a more significant shift of players onto ASA once SE is released and even more so with Aberration later in the year.  During this time more of new mods will have appeared and matured in ASA that will also incentivise migration.  Not to mention, we still haven't seen the impact(positive or negative) of the 'premium MOD model' & 'Adventure packs' bringing content that has also never been and won't be available to ASE.

I also think, to a degree, the success of these things that will generate more revenue will also determine how long it will be before Ark2 sees the light of day and in what shape. It's similarly likely that success or failure of ASA's new content model will influence Ark2's design to incorporate similar elements.

Edited January 9 by KingOfAshes

[Scheneighnay]

Rebuilding the maps takes time and at some point it just becomes asset flipping, so it's a slow tedious process independent of Ark 2 development.

[Joebl0w13]

Snail Games has some timelines here:

https://www.channelchek.com/videos/snail-noblecon19-replay

Slide deck: https://investor.snail.com/static-files/c284c6a2-ef84-40b2-9635-e887177eafc9

Edited January 9 by Joebl0w13