Hit or Sink: How ARK Player Count Stacks Up Today

Esports News

January 9, 2024

Chiara Balbo

ARK: Survival Evolved is a massive, and we mean truly massive, action-adventure survival game that takes the freedom of the genre of survival games and turns it up to a thousand. Released in 2017, the game primarily has you gathering and farming for resources, building structures, and taming actual dinosaurs and fictional monsters while surviving natural hazards and even hostile human players on one of many massive maps.

ARK has managed to grow, with every update, to cater more towards its community and the massive ARK player count, which started as a small following and has grown to multiple communities with tens of thousands of players living each day. Today, we will discuss what makes the ARK player count that high and what keeps users returning to the game.

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Figuring out how ARK works? Take a look

The answer to the question “How many people play ARK?” being high shouldn’t surprise anyone, as survival games generally have thriving communities and high player counts. This is because the games usually have crossplay, allowing you and your friends to survive for long playthroughs and have fun together, much like other survival games like Minecraft, Once Human, The Forest, Raft and Rust. As a matter of fact, ARK’s player count matches Rust’s player count.

To fully grasp how many people play ARK, we need to understand that ARK: Survival Evolved is the base game and ARK: Ascension works as an expansion for players who have beaten the base game and are looking for more content to play. So here are all the features of ARK and ARK: Ascension that keeps the ARK player count rising.

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ARK: Survival Evolved (SE) Features

Vast Dino Ecosystem: Tame and ride over 150 dinosaurs, each with unique abilities.
Intense Survival: Gather resources, craft tools, build shelters, and fight for survival.
Progression & Customization: Level up, unlock engrams, craft weapons, armor, and saddles.
Tribes & PvP: Form tribes, build massive bases, or go solo in a brutal PvP world.
Exploration & Discovery: Uncover hidden secrets and lore across diverse biomes.
Free DLC & Expansions: Continuously expanding content with new maps, creatures, and mechanics.
Active Modding Community: Endless possibilities with custom maps, creatures, items, and game modes.

ARK: Ascension Features

Story-Driven Expansion: Embark on a journey to the ARK’s core with a new storyline.
Unique Map: Explore a densely packed map with new content and challenges.
New Creatures & Items: Discover and tame exciting new prehistoric creatures and find powerful items.
Generally Easier Difficulty: Designed to be more beginner-friendly than ARK: SE.
Single-Play Only: Focuses on the narrative experience, with no separate game modes.

Due to all these features and how many people play ARK daily, it’s no surprise that the ARK player count is well over 250,000 active players.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the ARK community has, without a doubt, put ARK on the map and has definitely answered the question, “How many people play ARK ” with a resounding yes. With that said, if you’re interested in picking up ARK, now is the best time to do so. However, be warned as you might need a lot of storage space to play, about 300 GB.

If you’re also interested in seeing how Vainglory’s player count stacks up to ARK, you can check out that article.