Survival MMOs are currently in trend, and if you garnish them with dinosaurs, it seems you have generated a success, as evidenced by the one million sales in just under a month of the MMO Ark: Survival Evolved.
The early access version is very popular, even though the game isn’t even finished yet. Jesse Rapczak, one of the founders of Studio Wildcard and Co-Creative Director of Ark, explains that the launch of the movie Jurassic World surely contributed to this success. That was also intended. The fact that it also coincided with the Steam Summer Sale helped as well.
However, he believes that word of mouth has especially helped make Ark so popular. Many Let’s Players stream videos of the game and do many interesting things in the world. The fun they share with others in ARK via streaming is a very good way for the developers to get the game on everyone’s lips.
Community is Important
Doug Kennedy, Vice President of Business Development at Studio Wildcard, further elaborates that for the success of a game, it is also important to interact a lot with the community. They listen and take feedback to heart. If some players dislike something, they will try to change it. This interaction is very important for a healthy community.
Additionally, many fans of the failed dino-MMO The Stomping Lands Ark gave it a chance, even though there were concerns that the scorned customers would take out their anger on Ark. It was also noted that while there were frequent comparisons to Rust, this comparison was actually not accurate. Because Ark is not a pure survival game.
It is also very much about adventure and there are many solo contents that they aim to expand after the early access phase. Ark offers a somewhat deeper gaming experience than most survival games do. This also includes motivating players to cooperate and explore the world together, and that is often not the case in many survival games. All of this combined contributes to the current success of the game.
