Jeremy Stieglitz announces ARK Maker and the Genesis Part 1 remake at IGN Live 2026
Studio Wildcard co-founder Jeremy Stieglitz took the IGN Live 2026 stage and dropped several big announcements for the ARK franchise all at once. An in-game map-creation tool, a reworked expansion and the second part of the animated series – all of it came in a single swing. He pulled back the curtain himself.
ARK Maker: maps without a PC and without Unreal Engine
The big surprise of the presentation is ARK Maker, an integrated tool for creating maps and user content. The fundamental difference from everything that came before: it works on any platform, with no PC access and no knowledge of Unreal Engine. In other words, a player on PlayStation or Xbox will be able to build a complete, functional map straight from the game.
This changes the landscape. Before, mods and custom content in ARK remained reserved for the PC audience with technical skills. The console community was practically cut off from that layer. Wildcard closes that gap in one stroke – and potentially opens the franchise up to a far broader user-creation market.
Genesis Part 1 returns with a physical ocean
The studio also showed the remake of the Genesis Part 1 expansion – one of the most controversial in the original game. The big technical highlight of the rework is a fully physical ocean. Not just an updated water visual, but a simulation with real physical behavior. How much this will affect underwater and surface movement mechanics is still an open question, but the proposal itself sounds serious.
Genesis Part 1 received mixed reviews at the time: the unconventional biome structure and the narrative did not please part of the audience. The remake is a chance to rethink the material from scratch, and not just give it a touch-up.
The animated series on Paramount+ continues
On a separate slide came the announcement of the second part of ARK: The Animated Series, which will premiere on Paramount+. The show’s first season has already come out and drew an audience distant from video games to the franchise. The continuation is a logical step, although the plot details and release date have not yet been revealed. They only showed a teaser.
The entire event was backed by Snail Games. Wildcard has long been part of this publisher’s orbit, and taking part in IGN Live in this format is a clear bet on broad reach ahead of future releases.
