ARK II has been delayed to late 2024

Survivalist sequel pushed back a full year

Studio Wildcard has announced that its long-in-development sequel ARK II will no longer meet its tentative 2023 release date — the survival sandbox sequel is now expected to launch on Xbox and PC platforms in late-2024.

“We’ve put much thought into delaying ARK II for the betterment of the final product and the team’s well-being,” reads a statement from the developer. “This news will be disappointing to many—we feel it too — but we’re confident this heavy decision is the right one. Our goal is to make ARK II the best game it can be and provide a truly exceptional and rewarding experience for players.”

“We sincerely apologize for this delay and genuinely appreciate your understanding. Your support and passion are vital to us, and we will continue to work intensively to deliver the ultimate next-gen dinosaur survival experience. With that in mind, we do not plan to showcase any gameplay/screenshots/videos of ARK II this year; however, we intend to keep you informed and engaged in the development process by regularly showcasing more ARK II assets in the months ahead.”

ARK II, the sequel to 2017 release Ark: Survival Evolved, was first announced back in 2020, and has been in deep development since. A trailer was released during the June 2022 Xbox Showcase, but the title has remained relatively quiet since then. It is quite believable that, given the incredible scope of Studio Wildcard’s project, the building of the sequel is a grueling and complex venture — especially given the young nature of its powerful Unreal 5 technology. For now, budding dino riders will simply have to continue to play the waiting game, for another 16 months at the very least.

You can check out the full version of the studio’s lenthy statement on the official website.

ARK II is currently in development for PC and Xbox Series X.

Chris Moyse

Senior Editor – Chris has been playing video games since the 1980s and writing about them since the 1880s. Graduated from Galaxy High with honors. Twitter: @ChrisxMoyse