Ark Survival Ascended “in active development” for Nintendo Switch 2

Ark Survival Ascended hasn’t been officially announced for Nintendo Switch 2, but there’s a good chance that a port will eventually release.

In a new interview, Studio Wildcard co-founder and development director Jeremy Stieglitz said the game is in “active development” for Nintendo’s console and it’s something the team is “currently exploring”. While it wouldn’t have been possible previously, thanks to Unreal Engine 5.7, big improvements have been made that makes the system is a more realistic target. Studio Wildcard has been on Unreal Engine 5.5, but is “already working on upgrading to Unreal Engine 5.7 and we expect to have that out by the end of March 2026.”

Stieglitz told PGamesN:

“It’s in active development. I can’t tell you when it’s gonna come out, because there’s still some unknowns. But we have builds on Nintendo Switch 2, straight up, and it is only doable because of that newer version [of Unreal]. Otherwise it would be impossible forever – [Survival Ascended] was not within [viable] performance specifications for that console, except now the 5.7 nanite tessellation has a profound impact on how the game runs. We started actually doing that work for Nintendo Switch to see where it was leading, and it’s so significant that we’ve kind of prioritized getting that engine upgrade done as soon as we can in the new year, and debugging it, getting it out for release on the existing platforms.”

Ark Survival Ascended is technically not a new game. Rather, it’s a remaster of Ark: Survival Evolved, which previously came to Nintendo Switch. The project has seen a mixed reception, but things can turn around as it’s still in early access.

Further Nintendo Switch 2 news can be found here.