Ark: Survival Evolved will get its first expansion “a few months after release”

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While speaking to RPS at this year’s Gamescom, Ark: Survival Evolved’s co-creative director Jesse Rapczak revealed that the game’s first expansion might come just a few months after the release of v1.0. 

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Work is planned to begin on expansion content soon, while the pace of updates will slow when polishing begins towards v1.0’s planned release of June 2016.

The idea behind releasing the expansion so soon after leaving Early Access is to appease the fans who have been with the game through its development journey and are now accustomed to its regular updates and new content drops.

The polishing phase, as it heads towards release, is planned to begin early next year when the game enters alpha.

“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,” said Rapczak to RPS. “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 definitive exit to Early Access and then release a very polished game.”

Ark: Survival Evolved is already rather popular, so it’s good to hear such definitive plans in place in a world where Steam is filled with Early Access survival games that show no signs of ever being completed.