Who owns ARK?
ARK is made and sold by Snail (the United States, NASDAQ: SNAL) under licence, an arrangement in place since 2015; Snail does not own the name.[1] The ARK name is owned by SDE Inc. (parent of Studio Wildcard).
Evidence: Snail, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-03-19, SEC EDGAR, 19 March 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Licensed to
- Snail, Inc. verified
- Since
- Headquarters
- 🇺🇸 United States, Culver City
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Founded
- 2015
- Category
- Technology › Game makers & platforms › Game publishers & studios
- Parent ticker
- NASDAQ: SNAL
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About ARK
ARK: Survival Evolved is a dinosaur survival sandbox game that reached Steam Early Access in June 2015 and retail in August 2017. Snail publishes it under an exclusive licence from SDE Inc., the parent of developer Studio Wildcard, which is controlled by the spouse of Snail's founder. The agreement dates from November 2015. The franchise had 108.6 million console and PC installs by the end of 2025.
Ownership timeline of ARK
Where ARK sits in Snail
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Snail ownership tree →
See the full Snail brand portfolio (4) →
Other brands owned by Snail
Snail controls 5 brands on Brandtree, 3 of them in technology.
Also in technology
Other brands in game publishers & studios, and who owns them
The 11 brands in game publishers & studios on Brandtree belong to 4 owners. The largest is PLAYSTUDIOS, with 4; Snail has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Brainium | PLAYSTUDIOS | 🇺🇸 United States |
| KartKraft | Motorsport Games | 🇺🇸 United States |
| DoubleDown Casino | DoubleDown Interactive | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| myVEGAS | PLAYSTUDIOS | 🇺🇸 United States |
| POP! Slots | PLAYSTUDIOS | 🇺🇸 United States |
| The Win Zone | PLAYSTUDIOS | 🇺🇸 United States |
| rFactor 2 | Motorsport Games | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Studio 397 | Motorsport Games | 🇺🇸 United States |
About the owner: Snail
Snail is a publicly listed company headquartered in Culver City, United States.
Snail, Inc. is a Delaware holding company, incorporated on 11 January 2022, whose operating business Snail Games USA is based in Culver City, California. Its 10-K for 2025 describes an independent developer and publisher of games for consoles, PCs and mobile devices, with net revenue of $81.2 million, 89.4% of it from the ARK franchise. Its founder, chief executive and chairman, Hai Shi, controls a majority of its common stock.
🇺🇸 ARK and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; ARK is not one of them.
- AccuTrade — Cars.com 🇺🇸
- AxiomSL — Nasdaq 🇺🇸
- Blankfactor — Globant 🇱🇺
- Brainium — PLAYSTUDIOS 🇺🇸
- CoreCard — Euronet 🇺🇸
- Cornerstone — IDEXX 🇺🇸
Frequently asked questions
Who makes ARK?
Snail makes and sells ARK under a licensing agreement that has been in place since 2015.
Does Snail own ARK?
No. Snail holds a licence to make and sell ARK, which is not the same as owning it.
Where did ARK come from?
ARK originated in the United States in 2015.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Snail, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-03-19 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 19 March 2026; retrieved 17 October 2026.
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