Ark: Survival Evolved updates will come more slowly as full release nears

Ark: Survival Evolved

As indie survival games go, Ark: Survival Evolved has done pretty well for itself, especially since it's still an Early Access game. Co-Creative Director Jesse Rapczak told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that he attributes much of its success to Studio Wildcard's aggressive approach to updates, saying, "We're always adding new content and the community always has new stuff to do." But he also warned that the frequency of updates will be reduced as the game approaches a full release.

"Our pace of updates will slow down a lot as we get towards release, as we don’t want to be iterating on new stuff as we try to polish the game," Rapczak said. "We’ll see a slowdown. We have a target around the beginning of next year to start locking down and doing a formal alpha and beta period with the game, so that we can ship and really open up our options for release. We don’t want it to be one day we release, and we just turn a switch and people are like, ‘Wait a minute!’ We want there to be a definite exit to early access and then release a very polished game."

He also said that Studio Wildcard will soon begin work on a full expansion with "lots of extra gameplay hours and story extensions," which it hopes to have ready a few months after Ark launches. The studio may try an Early Access release of the expansion as well, "because we get so much out of that with the back and forth with the community."

Ark: Survival Evolved doesn't have a proper release date yet, but it does have weaponized monkeys that throw poop.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.