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 on iOS and Android continues to grow.
• Grove Street Games plans to expand the game's content with new maps and features.

The free-to-play mobile game, ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition, celebrated a remarkable launch, surpassing three million downloads within just three weeks. Released on December 18, 2024, this survival game is a spin-off within the same universe as 2017's ARK: Survival Evolved.

While initial critical reception was mixed, ARK: Survival Evolved itself enjoyed considerable success, exceeding one million downloads even before its official release. This popularity led to a remastered version, ARK: Survival Ascended, launched in early access in 2023, featuring significant graphical improvements. Beyond the main titles, 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 familiar gameplay: resource gathering, crafting, base building, dinosaur taming, and more, mirroring the core ARK experience.

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

The strong download numbers on the App Store and Google Play Store are complemented by the game's rising popularity rankings. At the time of writing, it holds the 24th position among adventure games on iOS and ranks 9th in the top-grossing adventure games category on Android. While user reviews are mixed, with a 3.9 out of 5 rating (412 reviews) on the App Store and a 3.6 out of 5 rating (over 52,500 reviews) on the Google Play Store, ARK: Ultimate Mobile Edition represents another successful launch for Grove Street Games, 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. Recently, Studio Wildcard unveiled an updated roadmap for ARK: Survival Ascended, outlining future content updates. Fans are now eagerly awaiting news on the status of ARK 2, which unfortunately missed its projected late 2024 release window.