Powered by Unreal Engine 4, Ark: Survival Evolved takes on the survival genre with a unique blend of emergent multiplayer cooperation and competition.

In ARK: Survival Evolved, survivors wake up stranded, naked, freezing, and starving on a mysterious island where they must hunt, harvest, craft items, grow crops, and build shelters to survive in every biome. Survivors will tame, train, and ride more than 100 stunning dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts, including gargantuan creatures on a scale never before seen in video games! In every available biome -- Jungle, Snow, Swamp, Redwood, and Desert -- you’ll be able to fly an armed Pteranodon squadron over the snow-capped mountains, race through a thick jungle with your pack of trained Raptors, tromp through a fortified enemy base with a convoy of gigantic Brontosaurus, or chase down prey on the back of a raging T-Rex.

Use cunning strategy and tactics to tame and ride the many dinosaurs and other primeval creatures roaming the dynamic, persistent ecosystems across land, sea, air, and even underground. Build your character’s strengths and gain items, skills, and pet creatures using in-depth role-playing systems. Start a tribe with hundreds of other players to survive and dominate competing tribes...and ultimately discover the ARK’s true purpose.

Studio Wildcard revealed that due to unforeseen and unprecedented environmental circumstances (wildfires ed.) in the Pacific Northwest, ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition on Switch ($49.99) and the free major ARK update will now be releasing in North America in very early November, with the EU version shortly thereafter. 

The major “overhaul” update for ARK: Survival Evolved on Switch vastly improves visual quality and performance, drastically reduces loading times, adds numerous QoL features like a virtual cursor for improved inventory management, and much more. ARK: Ultimate Survival Edition is the definitive collection on Switch that includes all upcoming patch improvements as well as all ARK expansion packs, launching Day 1 with Scorched Earth; with Aberration, Extinction, and Genesis Parts 1 & 2 coming in subsequent months.

Exclusive to Nintendo Switch! ARK: Dinosaur Discovery mode is tailor-made to guide younger players through the world of ARK in a kid-friendly, non-violent, dino-facted-filled adventure! Featuring simplified controls that can be played on a single Joy-Con, young gamers can learn about the real-life dinosaurs featured in ARK and unlock illustrated Dino Books filled with facts narrated by actress Madeline Madden as the voice of HLN-A. ARK: Dinosaur Discovery will be offered as a free download for all ARK: Survival Evolved owners on Switch. A separate downloadable version of the game will also appear on the Nintendo eShop.

Additionally, everyone who already owns the ARK: Survival Evolved base game on Nintendo Switch will receive this complete revamp of functionality, graphics, and optimization. Studio Wildcard has contracted with a talented third party developer who is rewriting the entire ARK Switch code from the ground-up, developing it on the latest version of Unreal Engine 4. All existing Switch player progress and Save data will be maintained.

The ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition is completely updated with all of the content and functionality from the home console versions of the game, adding thousands of hours of gameplay!

Development of the Switch title has been taken over by Grove Street Games. We’ve been working on this improved version of ARK: Survival Evolved all year long and are excited for players to get their hands on it. We’ll be supporting this game with content updates and necessary fixes for a long time to come. If you need help with anything, then please visit here where you can access our Knowledge Base and fill out a Support Ticket for assistance with a specific issue.

Save Data - We have gone to great effort to ensure that all save data carries forward to the new, patched version of the game. As a precautionary step, we recommend that you do the following before downloading the patch:

• Remove items from Hot Bar slots 9 & 10
• Do not have any in-progress tames or crafting recipes

Players will keep all of their items, tames and structures. Players may experience the following issues due to the change in save data files:

• Foliage may re-appear inside your base
• You may lose any custom Options settings
• Any structures left ‘on’ will automatically be turned ‘off’
• Fog of War will be reset on your in-game map
• Your Level Up & Engram Points may need to be reapplied
• You may need to re-discover any previously unlocked Explorer Notes

Servers - Prior to launch, we are adjusting the maximum player count of all Official Servers to 40. This is to ensure a smooth multiplayer experience for all players at launch. We will be paying close attention to server performance and will consider raising the player cap post-launch.

Official Servers will not be wiped. They will be temporarily taken offline 24 hours prior to launch to be updated. A precise time and date will be announced shortly.

Unofficial Servers will be available for rent from Nitrado at the game’s launch. 

The Host/Join Menu has been renamed to Single Player, where we have refined the menus to provide a more streamlined experience to starting a Single Player game. While Single Player is fully present, please note that Local Play and Non-Dedicated Sessions are removed from the game at launch. They need a little more time in development to work out some issues, and we intend to bring them back in a post-release patch.

Studio Wildcard/Grove Street Games plan on releasing Aberration in December 2022, followed by Extinction in Q1 2023 and then Genesis Parts 1 & 2 in Q2 2023. 

Key Features

• TAME, TRAIN, RIDE, and BREED DINOSAURS: Command the most amazing creatures from throughout Earth's biological history, with more than 100 dinosaurs and creatures planned for full launch. Use cunning strategy and tactics to tame and ride the many dinosaurs and other primeval creatures roaming the dynamic, persistent ecosystems across land, sea, air, and even underground.
• CRAFT AND BUILD: Using any means necessary to survive, players will craft weapons, clothes, and items, and build shelters. Plant, harvest, build, level-up, and customize everything visually and functionally, including procedurally-generated RPG statistics for creatures, characters, resources, clothing, gear, and weapons both primitive and modern.
• DISCOVER: Explore a massive living ecosystem and find the means to survive, thrive, and possibly escape the ARK Island.
• TEAM UP TO SURVIVE: Start a tribe with dozens of other players in a large-scale multiplayer online first person environment to survive and dominate competing tribes...and to ultimately discover ARK’s true purpose.
• JOIN A TRIBE: The 'Tribe' system encourages cooperation, by supporting dynamic parties to share resources, XP, and re-spawn points. Other players are organizing rebel tribes to accumulate resources, experience, re-spawn points, and to construct sprawling villages and cities, with technology spanning the primitive stone-age to the modern electric-powered era and beyond. And they will fight to destroy anything they see as a threat.
• A LARGER UNIVERSE: Travel between Online ARKs to meet new players, face new threats, and discover new civilizations!

ARK: Survival Evolved is available for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC (Steam).