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ARK 2 Dedicated Servers: What We Actually Know

ARK 2 was revealed at The Game Awards in 2020. Six years later there is still no release date and no playable build - and ARK: Survival Ascended quietly became the dino-survival game people actually play. Here is the honest status, whether ARK 2 will have dedicated servers, and what to run if you want an ARK server right now.

Published

Where ARK 2 actually stands

ARK 2 was announced at The Game Awards 2020 with a Vin Diesel cinematic, built on Unreal Engine 5, pitched as a more grounded, soulslike-combat take on dino survival. That was the high point of concrete information. Since then it has slipped repeatedly, and as of mid-2026 there is still no release date and nothing playable.

The community has reached the cynical-but-fair stage. A widely shared video from creator Raasclark, "You're Already Playing ARK 2," makes the point bluntly: the reveal is now years old, and the game that actually arrived in the meantime - ARK: Survival Ascended, the 2023 Unreal Engine 5 remaster of the original - is effectively the sequel-grade product people are spending their time on. The running joke that ASA is the de-facto ARK 2 is doing a lot of honest work.

So the starting point for any hosting conversation is sober: ARK 2 is a real, named, in-development game, but it is not something you can plan a server season around. There is no date to plan against.

Will ARK 2 have dedicated servers?

Almost certainly yes - but the specifics that would let you plan are not published. Dedicated servers are core to how ARK is played: the original ARK: Survival Evolved shipped them, and ARK: Survival Ascended has full dedicated-server support with mods and crossplay. A mainline ARK without dedicated servers would break the franchise's entire multiplayer identity, so the base expectation is safe.

What is genuinely unknown is everything that actually matters to a server owner:

  • The UE5 server pipeline. ASA already showed that Unreal Engine 5 pushed ARK's hosting requirements up sharply. ARK 2 is a ground-up UE5 title, so its server binary, RAM appetite, and CPU bar are open questions - and ASA is the warning shot, not a floor.
  • Mods and the server-side mod story. ARK's server scene lives and dies on mods. How ARK 2 handles mod loading on dedicated servers, and whether the CurseForge-style pipeline carries over, is unannounced.
  • Crossplay and platform parity. ASA ships PC and console crossplay; whether ARK 2 launches with the same on day one is unconfirmed.

None of these have answers, and none of them need answers yet, because there is no launch window. Treat "ARK 2 will have dedicated servers" as a confident expectation and every detail beyond that as speculation.

What to run right now

If you came here because you want an ARK dino-survival server, the answer is not "wait for ARK 2." It is run ARK: Survival Ascended today. ASA is available now, has full dedicated-server support, mods, and crossplay, and it is the heaviest mainstream survival workload to host - which is exactly why getting the hardware right matters. Our ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated server guide covers the real RAM and CPU numbers (16GB minimum, 32GB+ recommended) and the honest host comparison.

If you run multiple maps and want characters to carry between them, the ARK and Palworld clustering explainer walks through how CrossARK-style clustering works and what it costs to host. And when ARK 2 finally posts a date, the question this page will answer next is simple: how much heavier is its UE5 server than ASA's already-demanding one?

The realistic plan for an ARK fan in 2026: build your community on ASA now, treat ARK 2 as a future migration, and do not size hardware for a game with no release date.

FAQ

Is ARK 2 out?
No. It was revealed at The Game Awards 2020 and has no release date or playable build as of mid-2026. ARK: Survival Ascended is the current ARK game people play.
Will ARK 2 have dedicated servers?
Almost certainly - every ARK ships them and ASA has full dedicated servers - but the UE5 server and mod pipeline, hardware bar, and crossplay specifics are unannounced and do not matter until there is a date.
When is ARK 2 coming out?
No firm date. After repeated delays, community expectations sit at 2027 or later. Any specific date is speculation until Studio Wildcard commits.
Should I wait for ARK 2 to start an ARK server?
No. Run ARK: Survival Ascended now - it has full dedicated-server support, mods, and crossplay - and revisit ARK 2 when it has an actual launch window.