ARK: Survival first landed on Steam Early Access on June 2, 2015. What began as an indie dinosaur survival sandbox game has been downloaded tens of millions of times, has seen stable cadences of expansion and has been recently remastered. The franchise is a huge success for Developer Studio Wildcard, celebrating the game’s 10th anniversary with in-game events, announcements and new content. To stick to the theme of celebration, here are 10 things happening now in the ARK universe.
1. Who is blowing the candle?
ARK: Survival Ascended is a remaster of the aforementioned ARK: The survival that was released in 2023 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/s has evolved. It includes graphical upgrades thanks to the rebuilding of Unreal Engine 5 to bring the world of ARK to the next generation of consoles and to celebrate Ark’s 10th birthday. StudioWildcard has added party-themed content to the ASA, including new constructions, skins, consumables, and emotes. We also added an egg incubator from ARK: Survival Evolved. This reduces the time it takes toast 10 eggs at once and hatching them.
2. ARK: Genesis Part 1 arrives on mobile
Now available in ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition, The Ark: Genesis Part 1 is a story-oriented continuation of the series with new gameplay, creatures, crafts and structures. You need to overcome that test to wake up in a virtual simulation and uncover its secrets. Like the rest of the ARK series, you will need to explore, tame, build and fight for survival. But this time, you need to adapt as your surroundings change around you.
3. New Underwater DLC Comes to the Ark: Survival has evolved
Many survivors still tame, train, run, and survival evolved with the original ark, and now ASE is getting a new DLC called Ark: Aquatica. The Fjordur map is the first major content update since it arrived in the summer of 2022. Mechanics, environmental hazards, and large maps (3 times the vertical size of the anomaly map). The new biome also adds 20 new feed-based creatures, 69 new engrams (62 learnable sculptures and 7 tech sculptures), and underwater survival, thanks to Air Pockets and Submachisels and more.
4. arc: Ragnarok Ascended is in progress
ARK: Ragnarok Ascended Thunders Ark: Survival rose on June 18th, bringing the beloved map back to a completely remastered form. In addition to returning favorites like Griffin and Ice Wyvern, this update introduces brand new creatures. With volcanic chaos, sturdy terrain and a new tame beast, Ragnarok is ready to challenge the survivors again.
5. Lost Colony Pre-Orders begin on June 18th
ARK pre-orders: Lost Colony, ARK’s first large-scale standard expansion pack: Survival Ascended, opens June 18th. The creative team announced the voice talent of Michel Yoh, Madeleine Madden and Auli’s Krabalho. Set in a vastly occupied city, this full-size expansion features new creatures, structures, gears and powers as well as an entirely new story that continues the story from the Ark. Pre-order players will unlock exclusive first-day content and acquire the first taste of action that will come this November.
6. Link to Arc 2
Lost Colony is scheduled to be released in November, and its story sets the stage for the much-anticipated ARK 2. The developers teased that upcoming DLCs would include story threads, lore clues and new mechanics that suggest what’s coming to the sequel. What exactly does that mean? You have to wait and see.
7. New Gareth Coker Music
Lost Colony Map also features new music from video game composer Gareth Coker, which has evolved from Ark: Survival in 2015.
8. ASTRAEOS Update Extends Frontier
Astraeos’ first major content drop arrived with the launch of Lemnokis, a map of a giant island created by the famous Ark Modder Nekatus. This vast new island is packed with diverse biomes, hidden caves and towering redwoods that suggest ancient ruins and giant statues have been lost. The lush green expansion is not just for tourism. You can take on the game’s first duo mini bosses, Karidonios and Elimanchian.
9. ARK’s Overwolf Drive MOD: Survival Ascenden
Ark: Survival Ascended will embrace the remodeled community that has flourished through its partnership with Curseforge, providing access to over 4,200 mods. You can view and download all official modifications Ark Portalsurvivors can customize the game with new creatures, gears and gameplay experiences created by the community. This ecosystem keeps ARK fresh, with more original and licensed mods on the horizon.
10. Ark: Part 2 of the anime series arrives in late 2025
Part 2 of the Ark: Animated Series premiered in late 2025, picking up Helena Walker’s survival story and unleashing even more of the island’s prehistoric mystery. Part 1, currently available Paramount+introduced players to Helena’s world and featured a star-studded cast including Gerald Butler, David Tennant, Russell Crowe, Carl Urban, Elliot Page, Vin Diesel, Alan Tudique, Madeleine Madden and Michelle Yeau. You can also make the show happen in-game with character skins from the animation series available in Ark: Survival Ascended.
