Ark: Survival Ascended developer Studio Wildcard has announced that it will indefinitely delay the release of the dinosaur survival remaster's enhanced The Center expansion, just days before its planned February 28 release.
Ark: Survival Ascended, the controversial full-price Unreal Engine 5 remaster of 2015's Ark: Survival Evolved, has been plagued by delays since its announcement last year. First, the release of the remaster was moved from August to October, a release that finally managed to arrive on PC, although the Xbox Series late, while Ascended's various expansion remasters, which were originally due to release alongside the base game, have now been delayed several times.
In January, Wildcard announced that its Scorched Earth expansion remaster, initially delayed to December 2023 and then moved to March 2024, would now release in April, while its Aberration and Ragnarok map remasters, previously delayed until ” first quarter of 2024″, were now on their way. They will arrive in July and September 2024 respectively. Amid all this furious roadmap overhaul, there was a bright spot in the fact that the upgraded version of Ark's The Center map would be coming to Ascended within a couple of months. earlier than the one quoted in December. The Center's release was later set for February 28, but once again everything has changed.
ARK: Survival Ascended launch trailer“We have made the decision to postpone the Center because it was not on track to launch at the level of quality we require,” Wildcard wrote in a community update shared this weekend. “Our dedicated partners, who have been working on the Center while we focus on Scorched Earth, need more time to ensure it meets our expectations and theirs.”
“We regret this change of plans,” the studio continued, “but we know it will be worth it when the Center launches.” But while The Center remaster has fallen off the radar with no revised release date shared, Wildcard confirmed that it will continue to release Gigantoraptor, a new dinosaur that was originally due to arrive alongside The Center remaster, in an update this Wednesday. February 28th.
As for the Scorched Earth remaster, which, like all other world expansions released for the previous version of Ark, will be free for Ascended owners, it still appears to be on track to release in April. It should arrive alongside the new Frontier Adventure Pack paid DLC, which includes cowboy-inspired clothing, buildable trains, and the “floating fortress” Oasisaur.
Away from the release date woes, Ark: Survival Ascended is still dealing with performance complaints, bugs, crashes, server issues, and cheats that have persisted since its release. But despite it being, admittedly, a bit of a technical disaster, I quite enjoyed my time with the remaster's revamped The Island map when I tried it out late last year. However, it remains to be seen whether Wildcard, currently juggling an increasingly lengthening expansion remaster roadmap and new paid DLC, can give it the attention it deserves.
