Studio Wildcard
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersKirkland, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
Studio Wildcard firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Studio Wildcard
- Legal name
- Studio Wildcard
- Website
- https://studiowildcard.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Studio Wildcard is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Kirkland
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Studio Wildcard business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Game Sales - Base Title: One-time purchase revenue from ARK: Survival Evolved sold across PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), Xbox, and PlayStation platforms. The game launched in June 2015 on Steam Early Access and has sold over 35 million copies across all platforms.
- Expansion Packs: Revenue from expansion packs such as ARK: Genesis Part II, which introduce new biomes, story missions, creatures, and gameplay features as paid downloadable content.
- Free-to-Play Weekend Promotions: Periodic free weekend events on platforms like Steam drive player acquisition, converting free players to paying customers through the base game purchase.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Studio Wildcard product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Studio Wildcard develops and publishes the ARK franchise of multiplayer dinosaur and primitive survival video games across PC and console platforms. Its flagship product is ARK: Survival Evolved (launched June 2015 on Steam Early Access), supplemented by paid expansion packs such as ARK: Genesis Part II, an upcoming next-generation sequel ARK II built on Unreal Engine, and an original animated television series ARK: The Animated Series.
Product overview
Studio Wildcard offers a portfolio of interconnected products centered around the ARK franchise. The core product is ARK: Survival Evolved, a multiplayer dinosaur survival game available across PC and console platforms. Building on this, the company is developing ARK II as a next-generation sequel, ARK: The Animated Series as an original TV spin-off with voice talent, and ARK: Genesis Part II as a major expansion pack. The products share the same universe narrative and characters, with Vin Diesel involved as President of Creative Convergence providing crossover between the game sequel and animated series.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- ARK: Survival Evolved The definitive online multiplayer dinosaur survival experience. Players stranded on a mysterious island must hunt, harvest, craft items, grow crops, and build shelters to survive while taming, breeding, and riding dinosaurs and primeval creatures. Supports online co-op with hundreds of players or offline solo play.
- ARK II Next-generation sandbox survival experience and sequel to ARK: Survival Evolved. Thrusts players into a brutal world of primitive survival against intelligent dinosaurs, aggressive alien fauna, and exotic environments of an unearthly planet, continuing ARK's eons-spanning story of human evolution. Features Vin Diesel as executive producer and protagonist Santiago.
- ARK: The Animated Series Original animated television series based on the ARK: Survival Evolved franchise. Fourteen 30-minute episodes across two seasons, featuring characters from throughout human history resurrected on a mysterious primeval land populated by dinosaurs. Features voice cast including Gerard Butler, Michelle Yeoh, Elliot Page, David Tennant, Jeffrey Wright, Russell Crowe, and Vin Diesel, with crossover to the video game sequel.
- ARK: Genesis Part II Paid expansion pack (DLC) for ARK: Survival Evolved featuring new biomes, story missions, exotic creatures, and game-changing additions. Features voice talent David Tennant as Sir Edmund Rockwell and Madeleine Madden as HLN-A/Helena Walker. Culminates in a final confrontation on a gigantic colony ship traveling through deep space.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 35 million copies sold across all platforms
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Studio Wildcard
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Studio Wildcard technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
Studio Wildcard partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- One Race Films / One Race TVflagshipVin Diesel's production company, founded in 1995, has produced major film franchises including Fast & Furious. Diesel joined Studio Wildcard as President of Creative Convergence, serving as executive producer for ARK II and ARK: The Animated Series, and voicing the protagonist Santiago in both.
- Lex + OtiscoreIndependent animation studio founded by Jay Oliva (animation veteran since 1996, formerly with Marvel and DC). Lex + Otis is co-showrunning and producing ARK: The Animated Series, which features 14 30-minute episodes across two seasons.
- Jay OlivacoreAnimation industry veteran who has directed over a dozen animated films for Marvel and DC, including The Dark Knight Returns. Oliva serves as executive producer and co-showrunner for ARK: The Animated Series.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Studio Wildcard competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Re-Logic: Independent developer of Terraria, a long-running 2D sandbox-survival title sold as a one-time purchase across PC and consoles. Comparable in business model to Studio Wildcard: small team, founder-led, multi-decade franchise with strong community engagement and ongoing content updates.
- Iron Gate AB: Developer of Valheim, which became a breakout hit in the survival-sandbox genre following ARK's lead. Targets the same core-gamer audience with cooperative primitive survival, crafting, and exploration, distributed primarily via Steam as a one-time purchase.
- Funcom: Developer of Conan Exiles, an online survival-craft game set in the Conan universe that directly competes with ARK in the primitive survival multiplayer segment. Distributes via Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation with paid DLC expansions analogous to ARK's Genesis packs.
- Endnight Games: Developer of The Forest and its sequel Sons of the Forest, survival-craft titles with primitive wilderness settings that overlap ARK's open-world exploration and base-building gameplay. Competes for the same survival-sandbox PC and console audience.
- Facepunch Studios: Developer of Rust, the most direct head-to-head competitor to ARK in the multiplayer open-world survival-craft genre. Both titles sell as one-time-purchase PC games with strong community and modding ecosystems, and both target the same core gamer persona of online multiplayer sandbox survival.
- Bohemia Interactive: Independent studio behind DayZ, one of the original open-world multiplayer survival titles and a key antecedent to ARK's design. Operates a similar model of long-lived PC and console survival titles with ongoing paid content updates and community-driven development.
- Mojang Studios: Developer of Minecraft, the dominant sandbox-survival franchise and a key design reference for ARK's voxel-craft and creature-taming mechanics. Shares ARK's emphasis on user-generated content, community tools, and cross-platform availability across PC and consoles.
Broad incumbents
- CD Projekt: Polish independent game developer and publisher of the Witcher franchise, comparable in narrative-driven AAA ambition and franchise-led growth strategy. Shares Studio Wildcard's pattern of expanding a single core IP across multiple products and distribution channels.
- Epic Games: Developer of Fortnite and creator of Unreal Engine, which Studio Wildcard is using for ARK II. Also operates the Epic Games Store, a competing distribution channel for ARK. Comparable as a major platform-holder and competing survival-style live-service franchise operator.
- Valve Corporation: Operator of Steam, ARK's primary PC distribution platform since its 2015 Early Access launch. Also a major first-party survival and online multiplayer developer (Counter-Strike, Dota 2), making it a hybrid platform-and-content peer.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Studio Wildcard social profiles
Digital presenceStudio Wildcard financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Studio Wildcard leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Studio Wildcard funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Studio Wildcard M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Studio Wildcard
What does Studio Wildcard do?
Studio Wildcard develops and publishes the ARK franchise of multiplayer dinosaur and primitive survival video games across PC and console platforms. Its flagship product is ARK: Survival Evolved (launched June 2015 on Steam Early Access), supplemented by paid expansion packs such as ARK: Genesis Part II, an upcoming next-generation sequel ARK II built on Unreal Engine, and an original animated television series ARK: The Animated Series.
Is Studio Wildcard a public or private company?
Studio Wildcard is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Studio Wildcard founded?
Studio Wildcard was founded in 2014. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Studio Wildcard based?
Studio Wildcard is headquartered in Kirkland, United States, in the North America region.
How does Studio Wildcard make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Game Sales - Base Title is the primary driver. The others are expansion Packs and free-to-Play Weekend Promotions.
Who are Studio Wildcard's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Re-Logic, Iron Gate AB, Funcom, Endnight Games, Facepunch Studios, Bohemia Interactive and Mojang Studios. Broad incumbents are CD Projekt, Epic Games and Valve Corporation.
Does Studio Wildcard have an API?
No public API is recorded for Studio Wildcard.