ARK: Survival Evolved was finally given a date Wednesday for when it will hit the Xbox One Game Preview Program, as covered by the Inquisitr . Studio Wildcard co-founder Jesse Rapczack followed this news by answering fan questions on Twitter and revealing support for private servers on the console along with other details for the open-world dinosaur survival game.
Xbox One owners will have the opportunity to snag ARK: Survival Evolved for $34.99 when it hits the Xbox Store program on Wednesday, December 16. A 60-minute free trial (standard for all Xbox Game Preview titles) will be available for those that wish to try before they buy.
The Xbox One version of ARK will follow a similar server setup that is used for the PC version. Owners can play on the official public dedicated servers, which supports upwards of 70 players per server. There are also a couple of private server options.
The first option is for those who own two Xbox One consoles and two Xbox LIVE accounts. The second console and account will act as a dedicated private server that can host dozens of friends that are invited to play. Presumably, this requires leaving the Xbox One dedicated server running non-stop.
The second option is to host a non-dedicated server that for up to four players. This doesn’t require a second Xbox One and acts much like a custom lobby in Minecraft .
@questionforARK @arkjesse @Sykesee @survivetheark Official Dedicated servers just like PC, or you can host a dedicated server on another XB1
— Jesse (@arkjesse) December 9, 2015
@9000cody @arkjesse @questionforARK @arkjesse @Sykesee @survivetheark Currently req 2 copies of the game and 2 XBL acct for private server. — Jesse (@arkjesse) December 9, 2015
@corps_sinestro @Nova_BOO @majornelson @arkjesse @survivetheark This is only for dedicated serv. Can also host non-dedicated for 4 players.
— Jesse (@arkjesse) December 9, 2015
Of course, wannabe dino-riders will have the opportunity to play ARK in single-player mode offline. Rapczack also confirmed that split-screen play will not be supported when ARK first hits the Xbox One. That may change as Studio Wildcard continues to work on the game leading up to its June 2016 release. The following tweet is definitely not a guarantee, however.
@Jp82260100 @arkjesse Not at launch, although we’d like to support it. We’ll find out what we can do during Game Preview!
— Jesse (@arkjesse) December 9, 2015
Interestingly, Rapczack was not afraid to share ARK: Survival Evolved technical details on things like framerate and resolution. Part of the reason is the Xbox Game Preview program allows Studio Wildcard to continue to enhance the game prior to its full release next year.
Players should expect the game to run between 30 and 45 frames per second (fps) at launch. Rapczack explained the console version of ARK: Survival Evolved comes with many Xbox One specific optimizations to reach the resolution and framerate it supports.
Xbox One players should expect the game to continue to be optimized leading up to release while PC players should see some of the optimizations performed on the console reach them as well.
Content-wise, the Xbox One and PC version will be roughly on the same level of parity. ARK: Survival Evolved’s Steam Early Access release has been marked by a breakneck update cadence of approximately one every other day. By comparison, Xbox One updates to the game will occur every two weeks.
As previously mentioned, ARK: Survival Evolved will exit Steam Early Access and the Xbox Game Preview program in June 2016. At that point, the price will be raised, and it will also launch for the PlayStation 4.
What do you think of the private server options for ARK: Survival Evolved ? Sound off in the comments below.
[Image via Studio Wildcard]