ARK: Survival Evolved Goes Mobile And It Will Be Free-To-Play

War Drum Studios just made a major announcement regarding the hugely popular dinosaur-taming survival simulator, ARK: Survival Evolved. The company will release a mobile version of the game for iOS and Android devices after teaming up with the game developer Studio Wildcard, which will come with the “full online experience” that is enjoyed by PC and console players. What’s more, it will apparently be free-to-play.

Since the mobile version of the game will involve much smaller screens than players on other platforms have to deal with, there are going to be some tweaks and additions to ARK, IGN reports. All the good bits such as the crafting, the taming of giant beasts, and building features are still going to be present.

What will change are the interface and the controls, in order to accommodate the limited space that players will need to work with. Players on the mobile version will also be able to get a head start on the level and resource arena by using “Amber” to give their characters a boost. This will enable them to do things like revive fallen mounts and create structures not available without paying.

This is where the biggest difference between the mobile version of ARK and the version everywhere else comes in. For the PC and console versions of the game, players are required to pay the full price, BGR reports. With the mobile app, the profits will likely come from either advertising or increased microtransactions.

It’s no secret that a huge portion of the revenue via in-game economies comes from mobile games, and these are from such titles as Candy Crush. As such, it’s not surprising that major video game publishers would also want to cash in on the craze, especially with the billions of dollars that they can earn from gamers who can’t control themselves.