ARK: Survival Evolved lead designer Jeremy Stieglitz announced that the Xbox One 739.0 update was submitted to Microsoft for certification Thursday while also sharing some other important news about the open-world dinosaur survival game. Xbox LIVE Achievements are finally being added in a coming update.
Stieglitz took to Twitter to announce, “ARK Xbox Update v738 is finally ready to submit to MS QA! It’s looking great, better perf and loading speed than ever.”
Studio Wildcard is targeting a Monday, July 4, release for the update. Holiday releases of patches are atypical, so it will be interesting to see if the update actually lands there. Depending on the turn-around with Microsoft’s certification team, it could possibly even be released earlier.
The co-founder of the ARK: Survival Evolved studio then revealed that the addition of Xbox LIVE Achievements is right around the corner.
“First batch of Achievements will be added in v739 actually,” he wrote in response to a fan’s question about when the Achievements will appear.
ARK: Survival Evolvedlaunched on the Xbox One in December 2015 as one of the first Xbox Preview Program titles. The program is similar to the Steam Early Access program that allows developers to release a game while it is still in development to receive feedback from fans in addition to help on the financial side. The game was originally targeting a Summer 2016 release, but is now slated for a Winter release. This means the official launch could come as late as March 2017.
More immediately, the 738 update will bring an all-new biome and a massive dinosaur for Survivors to try out. The Redwood Biome and Titanosaur ( guide ) were released to the PC version at the end of last week as part of patch 243 . It also adds a gas mask, Chain Bola ammo for the Ballista Turret, and the ability to craft Wood and Metal Tree Platforms to build your own tree houses attached to Redwood Trees.
Note that the Redwood Biome and Titanosaur will only be available on The Island map when update 739 hits the Xbox One. Work is currently being done to add the new biome to The Center map ( guide ) via an extension of the southern part of the map and addition of a massive new landmass. It should be out in the latter half of July and you can find details here .
Depending on the timing, the updated Center map could possibly be included with the 739 update that adds Xbox LIVE and the Primitive Plus official mod.
For those that don’t know, Primitive Plusis launching July 28 for both the PC and Xbox One. This official mod so impressed Studio Wildcard that they hired the man who created it – Ced, aka ComplexMinded. The mod changes the ARK: Survival Evolvedexperience by completely removing the existing metal tier in the game and greatly expanding the number of items that can be harvested and crafted, such as Adobe-style buildings, floating bridges, honey from bees, fishing traps, and more.
Primitive Plus also intentionally fosters a cooperative element between tribes by adding more than 40 different resources plus another 10 crops. This is too much for any one tribe to accomplish on their own, so players can also build market stalls for trading, meals, and more.
“How would diplomacy and the economy work when you mix these various specialized backgrounds?” the mod maker asks. “What happens when the person you are about to shoot with a musket is the farmer that happens to have a tea and coffee monopoly on the island? What happens when you actually need your neighbor…..?”
What do you think about the addition of Achievements to ARK: Survival Evolved and which ones would you like to see? Sound off in the comments below.
[Image via Studio Wildcard]