ARK: Survival Ascended Developers Plan Significant Performance Boost with Transition to Unreal Engine 5.7
The development studio behind ARK: Survival Ascended has announced plans for one of the most significant technical updates this year—a transition to the Unreal Engine 5.7. The update is scheduled for release in April and is expected to radically improve the game's performance while opening new prospects for its development.
Since the game's launch in October 2023, the team has been continuously working on optimization. Currently, ARK: Survival Ascended shows impressive results: on the same hardware, the game runs 40–50% more efficiently compared to the release version. This progress was made possible through systematic code optimization and a step-by-step update of the game engine.
The transition to Unreal Engine 5.7 aims to take performance to a new level. Developers anticipate an additional 30–40% performance boost for both the central processor and the graphics adapter. A key innovation will be the vegetation rendering system based on Nanite technology, which is particularly relevant for ARK. It will significantly improve performance in locations with dense vegetation, a hallmark of the game's world.
Furthermore, Unreal Engine 5.7 builds upon the advancements of the previous version (UE 5.6), which significantly improved load distribution between the game thread, rendering thread, CPU, and GPU. This allows systems to operate much more efficiently in parallel, positively impacting overall performance.
The team's internal tests are already showing promising results. On existing game maps, there is a noticeable performance increase while fully preserving graphics quality and memory usage. The developers describe this update as an "almost magic bullet"—a rare case where performance improvement does not require compromises in other aspects.
Before releasing the update, the team must complete several important tasks: prepare the engine for release, conduct comprehensive testing, and adapt existing modifications to ensure their stable operation in the new version.
This update is expected to be the most significant performance improvement in 2026. Players will be able to fully experience its effect: the game will become noticeably smoother and more stable in operation.
In addition to the direct performance improvement, the transition to Unreal Engine 5.7 opens new prospects for the project. Specifically, it creates a technical foundation for a potential port of ARK: Survival Ascended to portable consoles. This could significantly expand the audience of the cross-platform game and offer players new ways to immerse themselves in the world of ARK.