I still remember the first time I tried to fire up 2 player co-op Ark on my Switch with my roommate. We’d spent 20 minutes digging through menus, getting booted back to the home screen twice, and almost gave up before we figured out the right settings to make it run smoothly. If you’ve ever been frustrated trying to team up with a friend for dinosaur taming, base building, and island survival on your Switch, you’re not alone. Learning how to play 2 player Ark on Switch doesn’t have to be a headache, once you know the specific settings and workarounds tailored to Nintendo’s console.
How to Play 2 Player Ark on Switch: Step-by-Step Setup
First, note that split screen 2 player play is only supported for local co-op on Switch, not for online public servers. You can use a local hosted world or a private dedicated server you have permission to access, but public online lobbies won’t support split screen. The setup process is straightforward once you follow the right order, and you can be playing in under 10 minutes if you have everything prepped first.
Before you launch the game, run through these quick pre-setup checks to avoid common errors:
- Update both your Nintendo Switch system software and Ark game to the latest available version to patch known split screen bugs
- Pair both controllers to your Switch before launching the game to avoid connection errors mid-setup
- Back up your existing single player save first if you plan to use it for co-op, to avoid losing progress if settings glitch
- Make sure you have at least 3GB of free storage space on your Switch or SD card for temporary co-op save files
Once those are done, launch Ark and select the Host/Local option from the main menu, not the online join option. Adjust your world settings first before loading in, then load your chosen save or create a new world. Once the host has fully spawned in, press the + button on the second controller, and the second player will get a prompt to create or load a character. That’s all it takes to get started, but you’ll want to tweak a few settings to make the experience run smoothly.
Common 2 Player Ark Switch Glitches and Quick Fixes
The Switch version of Ark has come a long way since its initial launch, but there are still a few common glitches that pop up for co-op players. These small fixes resolve 90% of issues people face when they try to play 2 player Ark on Switch for the first time, and you won’t have to download any extra software or make major changes to your console to apply them.
The most common glitch is the second player getting a black screen when they try to join the world. This is almost always caused by dynamic resolution being turned on in your graphics settings. Go to the graphics menu before loading your world and toggle dynamic resolution off entirely, and the black screen issue will disappear 9 times out of 10. Another common issue is input lag for the second player, especially if you’re using split joycons for both players. This one is an easy fix: use separate full controllers or Switch Pro Controllers for each player, and the input lag will drop significantly.
If you run into a glitch where the second player can’t access chests, tame dinos, or interact with world objects, just have the host fast travel to a nearby bed and back. This resets the local world state and fixes most interaction bugs instantly. I had this happen once mid-T-Rex tame with my friend, and we were back to normal 30 seconds after fast traveling, no progress lost.
Best Settings for Smooth 2 Player Co-op on Switch
The Switch has less processing power than other modern consoles, so you’ll need to tweak a few settings to get a steady playable framerate when playing split screen. These optimized settings make it far easier to play 2 player Ark on Switch without constant lag or frame drops, and you won’t lose enough visual quality to impact your gameplay experience.
First, adjust your graphics settings before loading your world: set view distance to medium or low, turn foliage density to low, disable shadows entirely, turn off anti-aliasing, and keep motion blur turned off. These changes will give you a steady 30fps for most of your playtime, even when both players are near large bases or big groups of dinosaurs. If you still get lag when exploring dense forest areas, turn texture quality down to medium as well for extra performance.
For gameplay settings, turn on shared map progress so both players unlock map areas when either of you explores, that saves a ton of time you’d otherwise spend running around the same areas twice. Turn on shared tribe ownership too, so both players can build, access chests, and tame dinos without constant permission prompts. If you’re playing PvE co-op, turn off friendly fire so you don’t accidentally hit each other while fighting off raptor packs. I made that mistake my first co-op run, and we wasted 3 med kits because I kept hitting my friend with a spear while we fought a pack of dilos.
Fun 2 Player Ark Activities to Try After Setup
Once you have your co-op world running smoothly, there’s no shortage of fun things to do when you play 2 player Ark on Switch, so don’t limit yourself to just basic resource gathering. Playing with a friend lets you progress far faster than single player, and you can take on challenges you’d never be able to complete alone.
Split up tasks to speed up early game progression: have one player focus on gathering wood, thatch, and stone, while the other builds out your first base and crafts tools. You’ll get a fully functional base set up in half the time it would take you alone. For taming runs, have one player distract the target dino while the other shoots tranq darts, that’s way safer than taming alone, especially for large aggressive dinos like Rexes or Spinos. You can even make a game out of it: set a 2 hour timer and see who can tame the highest level dino in that window.
Boss fights are also way more fun with a second player. You can split the damage between you and bring twice as many tames to the fight, so you can take on the first Ark bosses 10 to 15 hours earlier than you would in single player. You can also build a shared base with separate themed rooms for each player, or set up a small PvP arena for friendly duels when you want a break from PvE survival.
At the end of the day, you don’t have to deal with buggy menus or laggy gameplay to enjoy co-op survival on your Nintendo console. Once you get the settings right and know how to work around common glitches, learning how to play 2 player Ark on Switch opens up a whole new way to experience one of the most popular survival games ever made. Grab a friend, tweak your settings, and get ready to build, tame, and survive the island together. You might even have more fun than you do playing single player.