Built for the burgeoning wild west of eSports competition, ARK: SotF challenges gamers to fight each other and the Jurassic environment that players loved in ARK: Survival Evolved. However, rather than a huge open world to survive in, this newly refactored game is an epic dinosaur survival arena with a continually shrinking “ring of death.” In the end, survivors are eventually pushed into an epic final showdown where only one “Tribe” will make it out alive.

Survival of the Fittest contestants begin in a neutral staging area where they can communicate pre-game, strategize, or talk trash. After a count-down, they dramatically descend from the sky onto the ARK in a circular formation via beams of light. There is a cache of valuable items in the center – do survivors dash for the goods and fight it out, do they run into the forest and hide, search for dinosaurs to rapidly build their army, or do they freeze up from the sheer terror of death? The continually shrinking arena boundaries force contestants ever closer together over time. The hunt is on!

Survivors can form one- to six-person Tribes with the options to choose Unofficial and Official (Ranked) servers, and a variety of game-lengths and sizes in which to play. Players will start in the base forest environment introduced in the original ARK: Survival Evolved, with new environments and creatures introduced regularly as the game evolves. Dedicated eSport ranking, matchmaking, reward, and tournament features make ARK: SotF readily accessible to all players.

Studio Wildcard announced the start of the May ‘Survivor League’ for its competitive spin-off ARK: Survival of the Fittest. This monthly contest counts down the days to when the timer hits zero and the highest-scoring Survivors are then invited to compete for a $65,000+ prize pool.

Looking for even more cash to build your mad dino taming skills? During May and June, registered four-player ‘Tournament Mode’ Tribes can compete for a spot in the first ever Offline “Summer Cup: Season One,” which will bring together the world’s top ARK: Survival of the Fittest teams during China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy 2016) to compete for a $42,000 cash pool. More information can be found the official summercup website where tribe leaders can register their teams right now.

NOTE! Recent Changes Made to Season 1: Summer Cup

• Six-player Tribes have been removed
• Four-player Tribes have now become the Official Tournament Mode
• Match times have been reduced for shorter, more action-packed gameplay
• The 40 top-scoring Summer Cup registered players from both May and June will be invited to a Finals Match on July 1 (80 players in total). At its discretion, Studio Wildcard also may invite additional contestants to complete four-player Tribes, depending on their score placement
• The top eight Tribes (approximately 32 players in all) will be invited to ChinaJoy in Shanghai for the Offline Summer Cup Championship matches, where they’ll meet up to compete with four top Chinese Tribes

The ongoing ‘Survivor League’ rankings for all elite titles in ARK: Survival of the Fittest are visible in real-time on SurviveTheArk.com at launch.

Key Features:

• Free, action-packed core survival gameplay
• 30+ creatures to tame and ride at Early Access start, many more planned at full launch
• Multiple game modes (1v1, 2v2, 4v4, and 6v6)
• One-to-six player tribes
• Variable game configurations ranging from 30-minute “instant action” to three-hour long “epic wars”
• Top-ranked players are listed dynamically on SurviveTheArk.com, as well as provided monthly prize packages!
• Game-changing tameable super creatures (Dragon, Giant Ape, Brood Mother)
• Random “Evolution Events”
• Arsenal of weapons, traps, armor, structures and other items from primitive to modern tech tiers
• Robust ranking, tournament and spectator features
• Exclusive SotF cosmetic items that can also be used in ARK: Survival Evolved
• Custom-painted “War Banners” enable tribes to show off their team spirit on flags across their army of dinosaurs, and are also broadcast on the gigantic billboards during game events. Just don’t draw anything offensive!
• A custom soundtrack written by award-winning composer Gareth Coker of Ori and the Blind Forest!

To join in the battle, journey over to the Steam page for detailed feature list and weekly reveals of new dinosaur dossiers