Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the worst Nintendo Switch ports, and as part of the Ark: Ultimate Survivor Edition upgrade, it is undergoing a complete overhaul and will be available in September this year.
According to developer Studio Wildcard, the code for ARK: Survival Evolved on the Switch is being completely rewritten from scratch and will use the latest version of Unreal Engine 4. While Studio Wildcard doesn't handle porting in-house, Dev says it's signed up with a talented third-party developer to improve the game's features, graphics, and optimizations.
In addition to overhauling the way the game works on the Switch, ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition includes hundreds of hours of new content, all expansion packs, new movie story content, custom server support powered by nitrado's network of servers, and "Young Explorer Mode," a new educational mode that lets you discover and learn about the prehistoric creatures that inspired the game.
Crucially, players who already have an Ark Survival Evolution will get updates for free, and all existing player progress and saved data will be preserved after the upgrade. It's a good touch, especially given the state of the game's initial release.
Prehistoric port
So why did ARK: Survival Evolved perform so badly on the Switch? Well, the game didn't work well on consoles from the start, and even a powerful PC sometimes had a hard time running it. It makes the Switch port a strange decision, and then, that port — frankly — is a disaster.
According to Digital Foundry, a technologist who analyzed games in 2018, ARK: Survival Evolved "sacrificed more on the Switch than any Switch port we've tested to date."
Digital Foundry even said, "This is the lowest resolution Switch game we've ever tested, or any of the most recent console games." That's worse than almost all games on the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and other platforms. ”
Thankfully, ARK Survival Evolved's frame rate isn't as harsh as the game's reduced graphics and blurry resolution, though players still have to stutter and stutter often, as the game rarely hits the 30fps goal.
Thankfully, ARK: Survival Evolved is an outlier for most Switch ports. We've seen many so-called "impossible ports" on the Nintendo Switch, including Doom Eternal, Warframe, and The Witcher 3 unexpected. Although graphics and performance tend to be severely impacted, these ports still provide an experience comparable to other platforms.
It remains to be seen whether Ultimate Survivor Edition will correct the mistakes of its initial release, but Switch users who broke up at least $50 / £50 / $79.95 should feel less blackmailed.