Ark Survival Ascended's future DLC tests "every risky feature" in its far-off sequel, but I'm wondering if we already have Ark 2

It was a rather chaotic end to 2025 for Ark fans. Not only did Ark Survival Ascended's stunning Lost Colony DLC arrive (the game's first all-new expansion that wasn't just a remaster of an existing Survival Evolved one) but a roadmap for the next two years of ASA's life was revealed. In lieu of the heavily delayed Ark 2, seven notable releases are coming to ASA, ranging from rebooted game modes, to non-canonical surprises, to major expansions that, like Lost Colony, build towards that eventual sequel. It all sounds tantalizing, and before the holidays, I got the chance to speak to Studio Wildcard's co-founder and development director Jeremey Stieglitz about all this new content, but there was one big question I had to ask first: how realistic are the roadmap's release windows?

You see, despite sustaining one of the biggest and best survival games around, Wildcard has a bit of a track record with delays. The Ark 2 release date is of course the most high profile and disappointing, but Ark Survival Ascended's DLCs often suffer from pushbacks or rushed, hectic, janky launches - Lost Colony was no exception. With so many new experiences on the horizon, I posit that Studio Wildcard is getting a reputation for never smoothly meeting a release window the first time around, and ask Stieglitz whether things can tighten up over the next two years.

"I think 'getting' is probably the wrong tense there!" he admits. "We've long had that reputation - probably for, I don't know if it was the last ten years, but certainly for the last five years or so. I think Genesis 2 was probably us really cementing our reputation, as deadlines for us are more of a goal, an aspirational deadline, as opposed to something we necessarily, absolutely always hold ourselves to. But I would say our trend has been closer. Look at the last two years. I think we've gone from missing deadlines by three, four, six months to missing them by one month, which is better."

Stieglitz can see things improving even further when it comes to hitting the launch windows laid out in Ark Survival Ascended's stacked new roadmap, which sets out its plans up until the end of 2027, with Ark 2 now anticipated for 2028.

While a separate team, Studio Sirens, is responsible for the reboot of PvP multiplayer spinoff Ark Survival of the Fittest, destined for Q1 of this year, Stieglitz feels confident in the remaining deadlines that've been set. He says that Lost Colony is now in the hands of Wildcard's live-support squad, while a separate team focusing on upcoming content has already begun work on the pirate-themed, non-canonical Bob's True Tales: Tides of Fortune, which Stieglitz estimates will be a "late Q2" release. As for the ambitious World Editor tool, which follows in Roblox and Fortnite Creative's footsteps and aims to make user-generated content much more accessible and less dependent on mods, he says Studio Wildcard has been working on this for some time. As a result, he's confident that a very early Q3 release in the summer could be on the cards for it. For these first three beats on the roadmap, at least, Wildcard (and Studio Sirens) does appear to be making good progress.

I also try to pry some extra details out of Stieglitz about some of these new expansions. When it comes to Survival of the Fittest's reboot, he admits he's not directly involved as it's a Studio Sirens project, but he does reel off a long wishlist of features and improvements based on Wildcard's previous, flawed attempts that he passed along to the Sirens team - "and here's the good news, they're trying to do all these things!" he says. On this wishlist are elements such as meta progression (a reason to play beyond just beating an opponent and climbing a leaderboard), background matchmaking to reduce lengthy wait times for lobbies, and a general "refinement" of the competitive sandbox.

I ask why Sirens, Wildcard, and parent company Snail Games are so keen in reviving Survival of the Fittest, given its past struggles in attracting and retaining players. "[I want it to be] an optional way if you just want to fight your dinos fast, and maybe also to get more used to some of the fighting mechanics of the game and learn which dinos can do what as well," Stieglitz summarizes. "If [Studio Sirens] can pull that off, I think it would benefit ASA greatly to have that kind of mode. So fingers crossed."

As for Tides of Fortune, the pirate theme and sailing mechanics will also massively benefit the ASA remake of ASE's Genesis Part 1 expansion, which features a water-heavy map. Genesis Part 1 will be released alongside Tides of Fortune.

Stieglitz tells me that Dragontopia, which is billed for the tail end of 2026, is (as you'd expect) "dragon-themed" but will be another non-canonical DLC.

Atlantis, meanwhile, will be the first expansion of 2027, and is apparently being spearheaded by superstar Ark modder 'Nekatus.' Studio Wildcard has teamed up with him on a few occasions now, most recently with its Greek mythology-themed Astraeos DLC. "He's basically a modder who turned pro, so to speak," Stieglitz says. "Saying he's a one-person team is not quite accurate, because he is very much supported by the Wildcard team, both technically and artistically. But he largely does what he wants to do with these maps himself." He says that Atlantis will of course feel different to Astraeos, but will share a lot of the "classical antiquity" themes - something that plays into Nekatus' "creative and visual" strengths.

With Legacy of Santiago, the final expansion on the roadmap that's billed for the end of 2027, Studio Wildcard will have another go at teeing up the narrative and previewing gameplay features for Ark 2. The recently launched Lost Colony felt to me like it was always meant to be the bridge between ASA and its sequel, but with things falling so far behind on Ark 2, Legacy of Santiago will be Wildcard's second attempt.

"We're using it as a test bed of every risky feature that we would otherwise be doing in Ark 2," Stieglitz says, highlighting the new third-person, soulslike combat mechanics as one of the key things Wildcard wants to trial. "We feel doing it in a live game is much more useful to us than doing it in an isolated, closed-off, hermetically sealed environment. And so that's what Legacy of Santiago is intended to be. It's essentially us testing all these crazy Ark 2 features, one at a time, over a period of time in a narrative world context."

Should everything on Ark Survival Ascended's roadmap come together, it'll be in an incredibly strong position. If it can stick the landing this time, Survival of the Fittest could be an enticing, competitive spin-off experience. With World Creator, the game will be flooded with even more user-generated content - something that's helped sustain Ark Survival Evolved, even to this day, by way of modding and private servers. Experimental, non-canonical expansions can keep fans on their toes, while Legacy of Santiago can help ensure Ark 2 doesn't disappoint - something it can ill afford to do, given how long we'll have been waiting for it.

However, I do also wonder if Studio Wildcard's approach in bolstering Survival Ascended and putting so many Ark 2 features inside it will actually make the new game somewhat redundant. Of course, there will be the draw of a new story, and I'm sure Wildcard will hold some things back. But its investment in ASA and its desire to use it as a testbed will see it grow into something that feels like an Ark sequel anyway.