Another interesting detail, it was in November 2021 and therefore five months in advance that Sony Interactive Entertainment had taken care to conclude this agreement with Snail. The presence of the game in the PlayStation Plus program, but also the possibility of recovering the latter for free on Steam from June 14 to 19, have also enabled Ark: Survival Evolved to record a record number of installations during the first half of 2022: 28.2 million players have installed the game compared to 4.1 million in the first half of 2021.
Before making a move to PlayStation Plus, Ark: Survival Evolved was already a regular on Xbox Game Pass. Unfortunately, the document does not reveal the full amount that Microsoft spent to host the game, but it is known that the agreement was initially for a three-year presence in the subscription (from November 2018 until December 31, 2021) . In the end, Snail and Microsoft extended the fun so that Ark: Survival Evolved entered the Xbox Game Pass catalog permanently. For the first half of 2022 alone, Snail indicates that it received $ 2.5 million from Xbox Game Pass.
At the same time, Snail and Microsoft have formed an alliance around Ark 2, which we learn will be available on the Xbox Game Pass for three years. Again, the total amount of this agreement is not disclosed, but Snail indicates that it received $2.3 million in the first half of 2022 alone in connection with Ark 2. Naturally, it would have been juicier to know the price of console exclusivity brokered by Microsoft, but let’s not expect too much.
33.3 million copies sold since January 1, 2016
The document is also rich in lessons on the health of the game and the finances of Snail. As of June 30, 2022, Ark: Survival Evolved had 76.5 million installations on consoles and PC since its release, including 33.3 million copies sold and 38.4 million copies downloaded in subscriptions or free promotions. In the first half of 2022, the survival game still had 395,150 daily active players on Steam and the Epic Games Store alone. The game’s peak was recorded in June 2022 with 755,000 users.
For the years 2019, 2020, and 2021, Snail recorded revenue of $86.3 million, $124.9 million, and $106.7 million, respectively. While the group had a net loss of $15.2 million in 2019, its net profit was $29.8 million in 2020 and $7.9 million in 2021.
In 2020, which was the biggest year in gaming thanks to the containment effect, Ark: Survival Evolved generated a turnover of 40.5 million dollars on Steam, 31.6 million dollars on Xbox and 27 .6 million on PlayStation.