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 today it will now offer full Steam Workshop support for the competitive dinosaur survival spin-off ARK: Survival of the Fittest (ARK: SotF) including mods, maps, and total conversions across all PC/Mac/Linux/Steam OS platforms. Starting today ARK: SotF will no longer be a standalone game, but be re-integrated into ARK: Survival Evolved (ARK: SE) so the developer is able to provide unlimited modding support which will then offer users the ability to freely take assets from ARK: SE and move them into ARK: SotF without restriction.

“We think that Steam Workshop support for Survival of the Fittest is a significant addition -- it's pretty much the most-requested feature for the game at the present time,” said Jeremy Stieglitz, lead designer, programmer, and co-founder, Studio Wildcard. “We can now support unlimited modding with both games and modders have instant access to work with new content as it drops into either game.”

In the last year more than 4,000 mods have been created by the ARK community, including two that have been selected to be included in the main ARK: Survival Evolved game -- total conversion mod The Center and functionality mod Primitive+. Players who have purchased ARK: Survival Evolved can begin their own mods immediately! Follow the "How To Mod" tutorial to get started, then join the ARK community, participate in the Unreal Engine ARK Modding forum, and find content in the Unreal Engine Marketplace. Modders can then share their creations with the ARK gamer community using Steam Workshop.

Key Features:

• 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