'ARK: Survival Evolved' Coming to iOS This Spring With 'Full Online Experience'

This week, popular console and desktop game Fortnite hit the iOS App Store in beta form, allowing players to access the "same 100-player" Battle Royale mode found on PS4 and Mac computers while on-the-go. Following Fortnite, it's been announced that another large-scale console title is getting a full game on iOS and Android, called ARK: Survival Evolved and launching this spring (via TouchArcade).

ARK originally released in early access on Steam and Xbox One in 2015, and then the final game launched across most platforms in 2017, including PC, Mac, Xbox One, and PS4. ARK is an action survival game that takes place in a large open world inhabited by dinosaurs, tasking players with building bases and weapons, taming and taking care of dinosaurs, and joining up with other players in tribes.

A few other features coming to ARK on mobile include:

– 80+ Dinosaurs: Use cunning strategy and tactics to tame, train, ride and breed the many dinosaurs and other primeval creatures roaming the dynamic, persistent ecosystems across land, sea, air, and even underground.
– Discover: Explore a massive living and breathing prehistoric landscape as you find the means to survive, thrive, and escape on the Ark.
– Craft and Build: Using any means necessary to survive, craft weapons, clothes, and items, and build shelters, villages, or even large cities.
– Survive Alone or With Others: Group up with, or prey on, hundreds of other players in a large-scale online world or choose to go it alone in single-player mode.
– Join a Tribe: The ‘Tribe’ system encourages cooperation, by supporting dynamic parties to share resources, XP, and re-spawn points.

Beta invites for iOS are already open for the game, and mobile game developer War Drum Studios stated that the plan for the smartphone version "is to contain the full online experience as the PC version of ARK." This includes the game's 50-person multiplayer environment where players can join tribes to share resources, gain XP, and more, as well as engage in an offline single player experience.

There will also be a few tweaks in the transition to mobile, including faster paced gameplay, a unique user interface, and a "specialized control setup" that was developed specifically for ARK on mobile. The iOS and Android version of the game will offer optional upgrades that players can acquire with "Amber" to progress faster, obtain certain buffs for certain amounts of time, build unique crafting structures, and bring lost dinosaurs back from the dead. The developers said these updates "allow for the ultimate experience on mobile," while maintaining the true ARK experience as closely as possible.

In a tweet on the new @PlayARKMoible Twitter account, War Drum Studios said that ARK will require 2GB of download space on iOS, and run at 30 FPS on iPhone 7 devices and newer. It "will feature the entire Island map with most of the creatures," requiring 2GB of RAM on iOS and 3GB of RAM on Android. The developers also put out a trailer for the game, noting that all gameplay footage included was recorded live using an iPhone 8.

ARK will be free-to-play when it launches on iOS and Android widely this spring, but details about any potential microtransactions have not yet been revealed.