Awesome-Looking Dino Game, Which Isn't Even Done, Has Already Generated $10 Million

Incredible-looking dinosaur survival game Ark: Survival Evolved is off to a hot start.

An unfinished version of the game was released last week on PC through Steam Early Access, and has now moved more than 400,000 copies. The game sells for $25, which means it's already brought in more than $10 million in pure revenue.

Developer Studio Wildcard cofounder and cocreative director Jesse Rapczak points out in an interview with GamesIndustry International that it's too early to say how profitable the game will be. But, this initial revenue has already covered the game's $1.5 million development costs over the past seven months.

Ark: Survival Evolved is scheduled to launch one year from now, in June 2016, across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Though the game is still a long time out, Rapczak says its core components are set.

"80 percent of the main game is done, with hundreds of hours of gameplay there already," he explained. "It's just down to balancing and feedback from the players. If all goes well we may even add more content once the community gets their hands on the mod tools. More on that later."

Also in the interview, Rapczak said one reason why Ark: Survival Evolved is seeing such strong support out of the gate could be due to the fact that it enjoyed a week on Twitch's front page. "Watching people stream the game is better than the best focus group money could buy," he said.

Rapczak also said it didn't hurt that "dino fever" is sweeping through popular culture right now with Jurassic World set to hit theaters this weekend.

"We knew dino fever would be at an all-time high right now for us to take advantage of, and we wanted to be the first truly great dino survival game on the market," he said.

Be sure to read GamesIndustry International's full interview for lots more on Ark: Survival Evolved, the debate around Early Access games in general, and more. You can also watch our Now Playing feature through the video embed above.