ARK: Survival Evolved is coming to Switch, Survival Evolved has announced. The news was just shared during an event at GDC.
Studio Wildcard said that ARK: Survival Evolved on Switch will look visually comparable to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. Also, the same features and way of delivering multiplayer will be similar.
At GDC today, a Switch version of ARK: Survival Evolved was announced during the Unreal keynote. This was all possible thanks to Abstraction Games, who is handling the port. It’s in such an advanced stage that it was demoed live in front of attendees. Abstraction CEO Ralph Egas mentioned to GamesIndustry that the team “created something you could almost send for certification.”
Egas shared the following regarding the team’s progress when it comes to ARK: Survival Evolved on Switch:
“Studio Wildcard only asked for a first playable. That’s not even a straightforward port. They just want to be able to play it, but maybe sound isn’t there yet. Or no cutscenes. Or not all the controls are implemented yet. Maybe you can walk and do this and that, but you can’t craft anything yet. That’s a first playable and that’s what we agreed. But we went all the way and did a straightforward port on every sub-system, and then some. We still have some work to do, but it’s already running close to 30fps in most cases.”
Egas also spoke about Switch’s power, developing for the system, and the work involved:
“Switch is not as powerful as a PS4 or Xbox One. Everyone knows that. Having said that, the difference isn’t as big as the general perception would have you believe. In some locations you need to downsize a bit on the distance you’re able to view. But not as much as you’d think compared with Xbox One and PS4. Obviously, in terms of Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, that’s a different story. But compared with the base platforms, Switch is not that bad.”
At the Unreal keynote at GDC today, the first off-screen footage debuted of ARK: Survival Evolved running on Switch. You can watch the clip below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B6kJm5pOx8
https://nintendoeverything.com/ark-survival-evolved-announced-for-switch/
Last edited by Green098 - on 21 March 2018
