Dino Game Ark's Free PS4 Version "On Hold," But Regular Game Coming Sooner

Dinosaur game Ark: Survival Evolved's free version, Survival of the Fittest, has been put "on hold" indefinitely for PlayStation 4, developer Studio Wildcard has announced. Previously, the studio expected to launch the game on July 19, but now there is no release date at all.

Writing on the PlayStation Blog, senior gameplay/technical designer Kayd Hendricks said, "While this means Ark: Survival of the Fittest won't be releasing on PS4 in July 2016, we're working towards an earlier release of Ark: Survival Evolved."

Hendricks did not provide any estimation for when Survival Evolved will launch on PS4. The game is already out on PC through Early Access and Xbox One via Game Preview.

Survival of the Fittest, the free version, remains exclusive to PC for now. In addition to PS4, the game will also be released on Xbox One.

Survival of the Fittest retains many of the same elements of Survival Evolved, such as crafting, building bases, and taming dinosaurs. But it differs in that it pits up to 72 players against each other in a battle that takes place within an always-shrinking circle referred to as the "ring of death."

In addition to the main online mode, there's also split-screen and LAN support, as well as an offline training mode which could eventually get AI-controlled bots to compete against.

Originally released in summer 2015, Survival Evolved has been a big hit, selling more than 5 million copies across PC and Xbox One. It's been one of the most-played games on Steam for a long time now; as of today, July 21, it sits in the No. 8 position with a peak player figure of more than 42,000.