ARK: Survival Evolved launches August 8; will be enhanced for Xbox One X

After a lengthy two-year stint in early access, ARK: Survival Evolved is finally set for a full release. Available for preorder now, the game will officially make its way to Xbox One, PS4, and PC on August 8 with digital and retail boxed releases.
ARK has been arguably one of the biggest survival titles in development over the past couple of years. In it, you're tasked with the type of intense resource management and weapon and settlement building that you'd expect from a survival title, but set in a gorgeous world filled with dinosaurs and other wondrous creatures that you can hunt, tame, or run from in utter terror.
Along with a standard digital and physical release, ARK is also getting some pretty neat collector's editions. The first, simply called the Explorer's Edition, offers the base game and a season pass that will give you access to all expansion packs for $99. The top-end Limited Collector's Edition, however, packs in a ton more in a faux-wooden chest for $160. Here's a look at what's inside:
- A handcrafted leather-bound Explorer's Notebook, featuring the Dossiers of every in-game creature
- An official ARK necklace
- A cloth map of the ARK island
- A poster of the Studio Wildcard development team
- The official ARK: Survival Evolved soundtrack, recorded live at Abbey Road with the Philharmonia Orchestra
- Manufactured by Triforce, the best designer of high-quality video game collectibles!
Finally, the ARK team has announced that the game will be a launch title for the new Xbox One X this November. The goal is to have it running on Epic settings at 60 frames per second. The game will also be Xbox Play Anywhere enabled, allowing you to buy it once and play crossplay on both Xbox One and Windows 10.
- See at the Xbox Store (opens in new tab)
- See at Amazon (opens in new tab)
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Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl.
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Any word on what happens for those who jumped in on early access? I assume it all just carries on? And if players invest in the ONE X, will they get the enhanced version at no extra cost?
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Game Preview supporters get the full game at no cost. 4k upgrades are always free.
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Funny I was just looking into this this morning. I've been taking a break from this, waiting for it to release. Now I have a date (hopefully they will stick to it)
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Has anyone played this on Epic settings on PC and can comment on the graphics quality?
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It looks very pretty but its optimized very poorly... I can barely sustain 4k @ 30 fps with everything maxed on a 7700k with an overclocked 1080.
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Thanks, good to know. My experience has been that Ark leaves a lot to be desired on the graphical side, so I suspected this may be the case.
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I can't believe this game will leave early access...
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Awesome I'll play it again