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ARK: Survival Ascended vs DayZ
DayZ is the more played game right now: 34,353 players on Steam against 21,962 for ARK: Survival Ascended, about 1.6× more players. DayZ has been ahead for 73 days straight.
DayZ also has the better Steam reviews: 78% positive vs 60%. ARK: Survival Ascended is currently 75% off on Steam. Across all tracked metrics, DayZ leads 10 of 10.
Players over time
Live Steam player counts, read every 10 minutes. Both are Action / Adventure games.
Which one have you played more?
Coilr members average 72.5h in ARK: Survival Ascended and 71.1h in DayZ. Connect your Steam account and this row fills in with your own hours instead — then keeps tracking both, so you can see which one you are actually still playing.
ARK: Survival Ascended
72.5h
average of 14 members
DayZ
71.1h
average of 49 members
See my hours in both
Free · read-only via Steam OpenID · no password · delete anytime
ARK: Survival Ascended
17,412DayZ
28,675Daily averages · latest day · DayZ, 65% ahead of ARK: Survival Ascended
One point per day, averaged · Your time zone · drag or use arrow keys to read the lines
Tracked by Coilr since May 2026 · Read every 10 minutes · methodology
These are Steam players only. A game that also runs on its own launcher, a storefront of its own or on console has players this number cannot see, so read it as a comparison of Steam audiences rather than of total ones.
Head-to-head record
DayZ has had the higher daily player count for the last 73 days, every day since Coilr began tracking both games.
ARK: Survival Ascended led 0 daysDayZ led 73 days
- Days tracked
- 73
- Current streak
- 73 days
- DayZ
- Lead changes
- 0
- Closest gap
- 17%
- Jul 27, 2026
How this works: each game's daily average concurrent players (from Coilr's own Steam readings), compared on the 73 days where both games have data. Whichever averages higher leads that day.
Side by side
Every number Coilr has for both games. The better figure in each row is in green.
| Metric | ARK: Survival Ascended | DayZ |
|---|---|---|
| Players right now | 21,962 | 34,353 |
| 24-hour peak | 24,780 | 45,309 |
| 7-day average | 19,616 | 34,122 |
| 30-day average | 20,256 | 33,936 |
| 30-day trend | −14% | −9% |
| Peak (tracked) | 40,199 | 65,084 |
| Steam reviews | 60% positive | 78% positive |
| Recent reviews (3 mo) | 59% positive | 85% positive |
| Total reviews | 118,598 | 470,319 |
| Owners (SteamSpy est.) | ~2,000,000 | ~10,000,000 |
| Release date | Oct 24, 2023 | Dec 13, 2018 |
| Price | $11.24 (−75%) | $24.99 (−50%) |
Players by month
Monthly average and peak concurrent players on Steam, from Coilr's own tracking (readings every few minutes for the biggest games, hourly averages beyond 30 days).
| Month | ARK: Survival Ascended | DayZ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg | Peak | Avg | Peak | |
| May 2026 | — | — | 40,401 | 64,822 |
| Jun 2026 | — | — | 36,811 | 65,084 |
| Jul 2026 | 26,433 | 34,799 | 36,804 | 64,972 |
| Aug 2026 | 23,920 | 38,546 | 35,988 | 63,434 |
| Sep 2026 | 21,476 | 40,199 | 33,345 | 62,236 |
| Oct 2026 (so far) | 19,613 | 32,306 | 31,475 | 55,919 |
Frequently asked
Which has more players, ARK: Survival Ascended or DayZ?
DayZ currently has more players: 34,353 concurrent players on Steam vs 21,962 for ARK: Survival Ascended, about 1.6× more players.
Is ARK: Survival Ascended bigger than DayZ on Steam?
Over the last 30 days ARK: Survival Ascended averaged 20,256 concurrent players and DayZ averaged 33,936. By that measure DayZ is currently the bigger game.
Has ARK: Survival Ascended ever had more players than DayZ?
Not in Coilr's head-to-head tracking: DayZ has had the higher daily average concurrent player count on Steam on every one of the 73 days both games have been tracked.
Is ARK: Survival Ascended better than DayZ?
By Steam review score, DayZ rates higher: 78% positive across 470,319 reviews vs 60% across 118,598 for ARK: Survival Ascended. DayZ has the larger player base right now (34,353 vs 21,962 concurrent). Player counts, ratings, price and trend are compared side by side above.
Is ARK: Survival Ascended growing or declining on Steam?
ARK: Survival Ascended averaged 20,256 concurrent players over the last 30 days, down 14% vs the previous 30 days. Its highest tracked player count is 40,199.
Is DayZ growing or declining on Steam?
DayZ averaged 33,936 concurrent players over the last 30 days, down 9% vs the previous 30 days. Its highest tracked player count is 65,084.
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