Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the most popular games on Steam Early Access. It became so successful that the developer created a free to play spin-off game mode titled ‘Ark: Survival of the Fittest’. Unfortunately, since then, the studio has decided that it isn’t “cut out for free to play mechanics”, so the free to play standalone game will be going away, but Survival of the Fittest will live on as a game mode within Ark: Survival Evolved.

Right now, all major updates on Survival of the Fittest have been placed on hold until the studio can increase its team size. However, any optimisation updates made to the main game may also carry over to the Survival of the Fittest mode, Studio Wildcard explained in a Steam update post.

The good news is, while Survival of the Fittest will be part of the Ark package going forward, those who have been playing the standalone version for free up until now can continue to do so. Going forward, newcomers will need to buy Ark to get access.

With Survival of the Fittest now being a game mode within Ark, it won’t need any free to play style monetisation. This also means that Studio Wildcard won’t need to go through the trials and tribulations of trying to pull off a free to play game well, with mechanics that make everyone happy while still making money.

KitGuru Says: Ark: Survival Evolved has been doing so well on its own that it didn’t really need a free to play spin-off game. Still, it was a nice way of drawing people in while it lasted. Have any of you guys played Ark?

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