If you enjoy the thrill of hanging out with dinosaurs and crafting awesome survival gear in Ark whether it’s the years-old Survival Evolved or the remake Ark: Survival Ascended, you’ll be happy to know that the game is released on all platforms. But you may be thinking: “Is Ark cross-platform or crossplay?” No matter if you’re playing on PC, or enjoy the wildlife on consoles, Android or iOS, you may desperately want to play together with your friends and have a lot of fun. The good news is that Ark: Survival Ascend is cross-platform and we will explain it in detail below.
Ark: Survival Ascended is the new release from the Studio Wildcard build using Unreal Engine 5. Actually, it’s not different from the original title, the developers have taken everything that was in Ark: Survival Evolved and then upgraded it with improved graphics and far better gameplay mechanics. But you should know that there is no any type of linking between both of these games. Ark: Survival Evolved is available on PC, PS4, Xbox, Switch, Android, and iOS, while the new Survival Ascended is released on the next-gen platforms including PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S; it’s not available for handsets. It also means there is no crossplay or cross-progressions possible between these Ark titles.
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Is Ark: Survival Evolved Cross-Platform?
The good news is yes, there is cross-platform in Ark: Survival Evolved. It sounds really amazing to have crossplay support even though the game was released back in 2015. However, there are restrictions for this multiplayer ability and these are quite tricky:
- The PC and Xbox players can team up with each other only if they buy the game from the Microsoft Store.
- Similarly, PC players who either purchase the game from Steam or Epic Games Store can cross-platform the game across them and also with Google Stadia. But none of these gamers are allowed to play with the one who owns the game from Microsoft Store.
- There is also a possibility of Ark: Survival Evolved crossplay for the players owing Steam game version with those either on Mac or Linux.
- Unfortunately, the gamers of PS4 and Xbox One can’t play together and the same goes for the Nintendo Switch. PlayStation and Switch are totally out of line regarding the cross-platform play.
- Android and iOS users should be happy that there is no restriction for them to play across these devices but not PCs or consoles.
Even with these cross-platform play limits, Ark is still a blast that we can’t stop playing no matter which gaming system we are using for the gameplay. Many players think that the older version is still the best one to play as the new title has faced some criticism on its release because the new changes aren’t giving that same interesting vibe that we love in Ark: Survival Evolved.
Is Ark: Survival Ascended Cross-Platform?
As it’s a remastered edition of the original, Ark Survival Ascended is a cross-platform game. You can freely enjoy the game together with your friends between PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. But when it comes to the PC and console scenario, things are not that good. Currently, you are not allowed to crossplay Ark: Survival Ascended across PC and PlayStation or Xbox when playing on the official servers. But it is possible to do that even if you can have a dedicated server.
Why Studio Wildcard has disabled the crossplay for PC players due to the hacking issues. As we all know, there is no need to be afraid of any cheats or hacks when it comes to consoles. But PC gaming has always been a home of hackers in multiplayer titles. That’s the reason for the developers to temporarily disable the cross-platform support on official PVP servers for the Windows system. They have been working hard with Microsoft and BattlEye to strengthen their anti-cheat methods and make the environment free from hackers as much as possible.
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Ark: Survival Ascended Supports Cross-Platform Mods for PC and Consoles
The 2023 remake of Unreal Engine 5 has brought some great new features that weren’t in the previous Ark: Survival Evolved and all mod lovers will be jumping with the excitement. One of the best new additions is the ability to use cross-platform mods in Ark: Survival Ascended, thanks to the Ark Devkit. This toolkit allows the functioning of Unreal Engine 5, making it easier for mod developers to update their creations for current-gen systems. While mods still need to be created on a PC, it’s now possible for console users to easily find and install mods directly through the in-game browser or CurseForge. This makes accessing and enjoying mods a lot simpler for everyone.
Is Ark Cross-Progression?
Ark: Survival Evolved supports cross-progression between Xbox One and Windows 10 PC, so you don’t have to worry if you are playing on any of these two platforms. Simply log in with the same account, and get back into action with all your saved data even after switching. Open the game on Xbox or PC, and keep the survival and dino-taming going strong, no matter the platform. But it’s not possible to do cross-progression between PC and PlayStation. Fortunately, the cross-gen is also available in Ark: Survival Evolved which lets you successfully switch all the game progress from the console version to another from the same company.
The case is similar for Ark: Survival Ascended, there is cross-progression available between the platforms. If you were previously playing on the PS5 and now want to transfer the game to the Xbox Series X/S, you don’t need to worry about losing the game saves or other data. You will be able to recover everything on the new platform for which you has put a lot of efforts and invested your precious time.
