For Studio Wildcard’s co-founder and improvement director, Jeremy Stieglitz, there is a “golden trio” of components that want to return collectively to lure followers from its ageing however adored Ark Survival Developed over to the shinier, newer Ark Survival Ascended. First, put some Unreal Engine 5 glitz on traditional Ark content material. Second, cook dinner up and serve all-new expansions which are solely accessible in ASA – one thing it is lastly delivering on with Misplaced Colony, which launched this month. And thirdly, enhance efficiency. Ark’s by no means been the smoothest, most-polished of experiences, and so the hunt of creating ASA a slick survival sport that may help new improvements with out taking steps again, performance-wise, is a crucial one. Whereas 2026 will deliver a lot extra upgrades and fixes to Survival Ascended, Stieglitz may be very enthusiastic about its improve to Unreal Engine 5.7 particularly. Why? Inside UE5.7 is a “magic bullet” change that ought to make drastic enhancements to ASA on PC – and will see it arrive on new platforms just like the Nintendo Swap 2.
I have been talking to Stieglitz within the wake of Misplaced Colony’s launch. It is a massively formidable DLC that brings a number of new mechanics to Ark Survival Ascended, however there have been some efficiency and bug grumbles because it dropped. Wanting by Misplaced Colony’s person opinions on Steam, this seems to be one of many primary the explanation why it sits on a disappointing ‘combined’ ranking. Whereas new additions and content material will at all times put new strains on a sport, Stieglitz is aware of Studio Wildcard must do higher.
“[ASA] nonetheless does not run nicely sufficient,” he concedes. “The excellent news is it runs higher than it did at launch, not simply because individuals have higher {hardware}, however like by any measure, individuals can see that it runs like 40 to 50% higher on the identical {hardware} versus when it launched in October 2023. It is not ok but, however higher than it was.
“So how can we get it to run [even] higher? Properly, fortunately, Epic has already executed most of that work. The newer model of the engine referred to as Unreal 5.7 runs quite a bit higher than the previous model, Unreal 5.5. Sadly, we’re nonetheless on Unreal Engine 5.5 and upgrading this stuff is not trivial, however we’re already engaged on upgrading to Unreal Engine 5.7 and we anticipate to have that out by the top of March 2026.”
Naturally, an engine improve ought to profit any often supported sport, however one explicit enchancment in UE 5.7 may very well be big information for Ark Survival Ascended.
“We have already obtained a number of the metrics, and that is going to end in a couple of third [33%] efficiency profit […] It is humorous, as a result of a [big] space Epic has labored on for this new model the engine is on giant scale foliage. [You’ve seen that in] their Witcher demo and so forth. It actually instantly applies to what our sport is doing. And I do know it sounds loopy, however from our preliminary assessments, it largely is as near a magic bullet as you are inclined to get in videogames. It is like an possibility. You flip it on, say, ‘Okay, [with] all of the foliage, the timber, and bushes and stuff, I need to use the brand new technique of nanite tessellation and never the previous technique.’ And also you type of flip it on and, growth, your efficiency is means higher. There are only a few drawbacks to it. There isn’t any actual artifacts or overheads that we’ve discovered to this point, and the efficiency is night time and day.”
Stieglitz says this engine improve goes to permit Studio Wildcard to assume greater and broader – he reveals to me that the developer is “at present exploring” a Nintendo Swap 2 port.
“It is in energetic improvement,” he says. “I can not let you know when it is gonna come out, as a result of there’s nonetheless some unknowns. However we’ve builds on Nintendo Swap 2, straight up, and it’s only doable due to that newer model [of Unreal]. In any other case it could be unimaginable eternally – [Survival Ascended] was not inside [viable] efficiency specs for that console, besides now the 5.7 nanite tessellation has a profound impression on how the sport runs. We began really doing that work for Nintendo Swap to see the place it was main, and it is so important that we have type of prioritized getting that engine improve executed as quickly as we are able to within the new 12 months, and debugging it, getting it out for launch on the prevailing platforms.”
I jokingly ask if Tim Sweeney can be getting a Christmas card from Stieglitz this 12 months, as a result of big potential this single Unreal Engine enchancment is bringing.
“Yeah, they undoubtedly have executed some actually good work,” Steiglitz says. “And credit score to Epic for by no means resting on their laurels. They’re clearly in pole place on business know-how. It might be straightforward for them to get lazy, as different firms have up to now who’ve some type of monopolistic know-how. It is simple to say, ‘Properly, we’re so good, we need not enhance.’ However Epic has resisted, to this point, the tendency of business leaders to not proceed to advance the state of their merchandise – I do not know if that is going to remain that means eternally, however I credit score lots of it to Tim Sweeney’s technical management over there. Epic’s not an ideal firm. No firm is. However on that entrance, there’s quite a bit to be [admired] about how they’ve operated during the last ten years or so.”
Make sure you look out for extra from my interview with Stieglitz, through which we talk about Ark Survival Ascended’s newly revealed roadmap, which brings but extra unique content material and main options to the sport.
