ARK: Survival Evolved is garnering much attention in the gaming world of late. The credit for that mainly goes to the addition of the new Arcadia server which many people consider to be the second coming of Rust’s Egoland.
Interest in the open-world, fantasy survival game was already huge, to begin with. But the addition of this new server, created by Spanish content creators, has even brought lapsed fans back into the product.
Twitch and YouTube have been buzzing, with videos being posted by streamers of their escapades in this inhospitable fantasy world.
Due to all the recent hype, we felt compelled to let you know about all the requirements for playing ARK: Survival Evolved cross-platform.
So let’s dive straight into it!
All ARK: Survival Evolved Crossplay Possibilities and Requirements
Before we start off, we’d like to inform you that there is a difference in ARK’s crossplay possibilities depending on where you buy the game, especially on PC.
Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One
Obviously cross playing between the two Xbox consoles is no problem. When you buy the game on Xbox, you automatically become part of the ARK: Survival Evolved community base that has bought the game through the Microsoft Store.
Amazingly, crossplay between Xbox and PC players is also a possibility. However, there is a condition. PC players must have bought the game from the Microsoft Store for them to be able to play with Xbox players because both platforms support it.
PS4 and PS5
Things are pretty cut and dry when it comes to cross-playing on the PS systems. Unfortunately, Sony hasn’t entertained the possibility of crossplay when it comes to this game.
So, just like the Xbox consoles, crossplay between the PS4 and PS5 is no problem because of the game being on the PS store.
However, crossplay with consoles outside the PlayStation family is almost impossible, except for those servers that have special conditions enabled on the computer.
pc
PCs are still one of the most widely used gaming platforms, due to the fact that the number of games available on PC vastly outnumber the games on other consoles.
Nonetheless, when it comes to ARK: Survival Evolved, we already know that if you bought the game from the Microsoft store, you’ll have no issue playing with Xbox users.
However, the situation is different if you bought the game from Steam or Epic Games Store. The Steam Edition can be played between Linux, Mac, and Windows users using the same launcher.
But if you’ve bought the game through the Epic Games Store then the only way you’ll be able to play with Steam users is if those Steam Servers don’t have any passwords or mods.
The Nintendo Switch
Sadly, even though the Nintendo Switch is extremely popular nowadays, its inability to crossplay with other consoles is something gamers get really annoyed with.
ARK: Survival Evolved on the Switch has suffered the same fate. Users playing on the Switch cannot interact with servers on other platforms.
Hence, you could say that the Nintendo Switch users are trapped inside their own bubble.
IOS and Android
What sets ARK: Survival Evolved apart from other survival games, is that IOS and Android users can also play the game on their respective devices.
What’s more, is that you can crossplay between the two freely irrespective of the device you and your friend are using. For example, IPad users can play with Android smartphone users.
The further icing on the cake is that it does not matter what account you use to launch the game. It could be an Epic account, Google account, or even a Facebook account and it won’t affect your ability to crossplay.
Final Thoughts
Overall, we’d say that playing ARK: Survival Evolved crossplay is a possibility on multiple platforms. The only ones that miss out are the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch users.
Nevertheless, the role-playing, fantasy survival game itself is so consuming and addictive that buying it is an excellent choice regardless of its crossplay ability.
