‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Launches On PS4 With 1080p Update For PS4 Pro, PC Servers — Cross-Play Coming Soon
PlayStation 4 owners finally joined in to play ARK: Survival Evolved with its release Tuesday. Studio Wildcard made clear that improvements will be coming quickly to the open-world survival title starting with a resolution upgrade for PS4 Pro owners plus PC servers and possibly cross-play with Steam later.
ARK: Survival Evolved is available to purchase from the PlayStation Store, but North American users will want to make sure they purchase the correct version. The ARK: Survivor’s Pack bundles the base game and the $20 Scorched Earth expansion into a single $54.99 release. The PlayStation Store accidentally had the standalone version of the game listed, but it does not work in the region.
While Studio Wildcard has released ARK: Survival Evolved to the PS4, it is still very much a work in progress. The developer is currently targeting spring 2017 for when the game will be “content complete.” This is also when it will exit Early Access on Steam and the Xbox Game Preview Program for the Xbox One.
There are many improvements in the pipeline for the game including the addition of the Tek Tier, which includes underwater bases, a user interface refresh, plus new dinosaurs and “further increased game performance and optimization; per-pixel canvas painting; infinite customizable Procedurally Generated ARKs; new systems such as hair customization and the ‘Ascension’ end-game cycle; limited-time holiday events.”
The immediate future sees the release of Primitive Plus to the PlayStation 4. This free official mod took a little longer to exit Sony’s certification process, but should be available by the end of the week. It expands on the Primitive game mode by first removing all crafted items above the Stone tier in the game and adding a smorgasbord of new craftable items from Tanning Racks to Market Stalls to Teepees.
Per a post in the official forums, the first ARK: Survival Evolved patch is also due out Friday, December 9, with a treat for PS4 Pro users. The game already enjoys an Enhanced Graphics option that bumps up the resolution from 720p on the standard console. The new patch will increase the resolution to full HD at 1080p. This potentially makes the PS4 Pro the current go-to console experience for ARK: Survival Evolved.
The first patch will also fix several issues with the PS4 launch. The most troublesome of these is the inability to invite other players, but there’s also fixes for getting stuck in trees, ping times being display correctly, and more.
PlayStation 4 owners currently must depend on official servers or using the console to host a dedicated server to play with more than a couple of other Survivors. The wait for PC dedicated servers won’t be terribly long, however.
“One feature we’re incredibly excited to bring to PS4 and Xbox survivors early next year is the concept of player-run, PC-hosted dedicated servers,” Studio Wildcard revealed. “These servers will have higher maximum player counts and a good deal of customizable settings, for hardcore server administrators to tune everything to their liking. We’re working on it, and so far it’s looking very promising!”
This sounds like it will coincide with the release of Xbox One owners gaining the ability to host dedicated servers on Windows 10 PCs as well. Players on Microsoft’s console will also be able to play with those who have a Windows 10 copy of ARK: Survival Evolved. It looks like PlayStation 4 owners won’t be left out of the cross-play party, though.
“For the record, if ARK PS4 does well, I’m hoping to support PC-hosted player servers for PS4, & cross-play between PS4 & Steam! Gonna be fun,” Studio Wildcard co-founder and lead developer Jeremy Stieglitz announced on Twitter.
What do you think of the PlayStation 4 launch of ARK: Survival Evolved? Sound off in the comments section below.
[Featured Image by Studio Wildcard]
