ARK Dev Suggests Plans for VR on Project Scorpio
By Dalton Cooper 04 January 2017
Studio Wildcard co-founder and ARK: Survival Evolved developer Jeremy Stieglitz discusses the potential of Project Scorpio, suggesting the console will have VR support.
During Microsoft’s E3 2016 press conference, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer teased fans about the potential of Project Scorpio, said to be the most powerful home console ever when it releases later this year. Despite the promise of immense processing power, there’s still a lot of unknowns when it comes to Project Scorpio and the console’s unique features, but recent comments by ARK: Survival Evolved developer Jeremy Stieglitz suggest that Microsoft’s new system will have full virtual reality support, as previously speculated.
Stieglitz spoke with the Daily Express about Scorpio’s VR potential, saying that the console seems powerful enough to support it, and – more importantly – do it well. “It looks plenty powerful enough to support [virtual reality] and have it look really good,” Stieglitz said. “It’s just a matter of getting our hands on the console and seeing what we can achieve with it.” So even though Stieglitz is confident in Scorpio’s ability to support virtual reality, it’s worth noting that the ARK: Survival Evolved team at Studio Wildcard apparently hasn’t received a development kit yet to test it out.
What we can gather from Stieglitz’s comments, though, is that ARK: Survival Evolved will likely support Project Scorpio, and if the console features VR, then ARK‘s VR experience, ARK Park, shouldn’t be far behind. What remains to be seen, however, is what form virtual reality will take on Project Scorpio – will Microsoft develop its own headset or will it rely on pre-existing hardware?
Chances are Project Scorpio’s virtual reality headset will come in the form of Oculus Rift. Xbox has already forged a relationship with Oculus, with Oculus Rift headsets bundled with Xbox One controllers and capable of streaming Xbox One games. Considering this strong relationship, it seems as though Microsoft’s best way to enter the VR market would be by pushing Project Scorpio as the only home console that is compatible with Oculus Rift.
If Project Scorpio does have Oculus Rift support, ARK: Survival Evolved and the ARK Park VR experience seem to be locks for the device, based on Stieglitz’s enthusiasm. However, Stieglitz also teased the possibility of expanding ARK‘s VR capabilities to encompass more than just ARK Park, something that could be added in one of the many future updates planned for the ambitious dinosaur survival game.
Besides expanded virtual reality functionality, fans should expect Studio Wildcard to continue adding new areas, gameplay features, and dinosaurs to the game, along with special holiday events. It’s clear that Studio Wildcard is looking to support ARK: Survival Evolved for the long run, and it will be exciting to see how it improves on the game in the future.
ARK: Survival Evolved will leave Early Access and officially release for PC, PS4, and Xbox One later in 2017.
