Free to Play ARK Spinoff Hits Major Player Milestone

Summary

• ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition achieved over 3 million downloads in its first three weeks.
• Despite mixed reviews, the game's popularity continues to grow on iOS and Android.
• Grove Street Games plans to expand the game's world with new maps and content.

The free-to-play mobile game, ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition, has surpassed three million downloads within three weeks of its December 18, 2024 launch. This survival game, a spin-off of 2017's ARK: Survival Evolved, is set in the same universe.

Despite receiving mixed reviews upon release, ARK: Survival Evolved itself enjoyed considerable success, exceeding one million downloads even before its official launch. This popularity led to a remastered version, ARK: Survival Ascended, released in early access in 2023, featuring significantly improved graphics. Beyond the main series, the Studio Wildcard IP has spawned several spin-offs, the latest being ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition, developed by Grove Street Games for iOS and Android. This free-to-play title offers players a familiar experience: resource gathering, crafting, base building, dinosaur taming, and more, mirroring the core gameplay of its console counterparts.

On January 10, 2025, Snail Games, the publisher of ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition, announced the game's impressive three-million-download milestone within its first three weeks. This launch significantly outperformed the 2018 mobile port of ARK: Survival Evolved, boasting a 100% increase in downloads. Snail Games also confirmed that Grove Street Games is actively developing new content, including maps like Ragnarok, Extinction, Genesis Part 1, and Genesis Part 2, to further enrich the dinosaur-filled world of ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition.

ARK Mobile Game Sees Promising Launch Stats, Marks Another Strong Release by the Developer

While App Store and Play Store download numbers are highly promising, ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition continues to climb popularity charts. At the time of writing, it holds the 24th position among iOS adventure games and ranks 9th among top-grossing Android adventure games. User reviews are currently 3.9 out of 5 stars (412 ratings) on the App Store and 3.6 out of 5 stars (over 52,500 ratings) on the Google Play Store. This successful launch adds to Grove Street Games' track record, following their work on the enhanced Nintendo Switch port of ARK: Survival Evolved in 2022.

Following its release on major mobile platforms last month, ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition is slated for release on the Epic Games Store in 2025, offering players greater platform choice. Studio Wildcard recently unveiled an updated roadmap for ARK: Survival Ascended, highlighting upcoming content. Fans eagerly await further news regarding ARK 2, which unfortunately missed its projected late 2024 release window.