The publisher of the Steam hit ARK: Survival Evolved had an outstanding amount in the millions with a company with which it soon entered into an exclusive deal.
What kind of company is this? Nitrado is a German company that offers servers for video games and belongs to the Karlsruhe-based Marbis GmbH.
- For example, players of the Steam hit ARK: Survival Evolved can rent a server at Nitrado to play undisturbed and without other players with their individual settings.
- In addition to ARK: Survival Evolved, Nitrado’s offering also includes servers for games like DayZ, Minecraft, Squad, and Battlefield 4.
On August 15, 2023, ARK publisher Snail Games and Studio Wildcard announced an official partnership with Nitrado. It has now been revealed that ARK publisher Snail Games has settled outstanding amounts with Marbis GmbH through the deal.
How did the deal come about? As shown by an SEC filing dated July 26, 2023, the partnership between Nitrado and ARK is the result of an exclusive deal concluded between Snail Games and Marbis GmbH (via investor.snail.com).
Since 1994, all relevant documents have also been publicly available in a database operated by the SEC and can be accessed via the Internet.
The document states that Marbis is forgiving Snail Games, the ARK publisher, outstanding amounts of $1,046,932 and additionally pays $3 million to secure exclusive rights to server hosting for ARK for seven years.
What does the deal include? Through the exclusive deal between Marbis and Snail Games (ARK), Marbis will henceforth be the sole provider of servers for Ark: Survival Evolved, Ark: Survival Ascended, and Ark 2.
The SEC filing states:
According to the cooperation agreement, the company [Note from the editor: Snail Games] has agreed, among other things, to grant Marbis the exclusive, non-transferable, global, and irrevocable right for the period starting with the date of the cooperation agreement [Note from the editor: July 26, 2023] and ending with the expiration of the seven (7) year contract term:
- to host and operate the games titled Ark: Survival Evolved, Ark: Survival Ascended, and Ark II (together with Ark SA, Ark II, and all future remakes, sequels, prequels, spin-offs, and other related content)
- to rent private servers and community servers […]
- to host and operate the games on private/community servers.
It is also stated in the document that Marbis is entitled to provide the mentioned services through its own servers and grant sub-licenses “to its subsidiaries and/or subcontractors commissioned by Marbis”.
The relevant excerpt from the SEC filing by Snail Games can be seen here:
In ARK, players distinguish between official (provided by the developer or publisher) and private servers that are rented from companies like Nitrado or GPortal and operated by the community.
Private and official servers have different advantages for players and their own player base, as the play styles can vary greatly.
ARK: Survival Evolved: Private servers or official? – These are the advantages
