1.0·Every feature free until Premium arrives in October
ARK: Survival Ascended vs Unturned
ARK: Survival Ascended is the more played game right now: 22,612 players on Steam against 13,469 for Unturned, about 1.7× more players. ARK: Survival Ascended has been ahead for 74 days straight.
Unturned counters with better Steam reviews: 91% positive vs 60%. Unturned is free to play, while ARK: Survival Ascended costs $11.24 (−75%).
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 72.9h in ARK: Survival Ascended and 26.3h in Unturned. 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
72.9h
average of 14 members
Unturned
26.3h
average of 152 members
See my hours in both
Free · read-only via Steam OpenID · no password · delete anytime
ARK: Survival Ascended
17,994Unturned
11,638Daily averages · latest day · ARK: Survival Ascended, 55% ahead of Unturned
One point per day, averaged · Your time zone · drag or use arrow keys to read the lines
Tracked by Coilr since April 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
ARK: Survival Ascended has had the higher daily player count for the last 74 days, every day since Coilr began tracking both games.
ARK: Survival Ascended led 74 daysUnturned led 0 days
- Days tracked
- 74
- Current streak
- 74 days
- ARK: Survival Ascended
- Lead changes
- 0
- Closest gap
- 3%
- Oct 1, 2026
How this works: each game's daily average concurrent players (from Coilr's own Steam readings), compared on the 74 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 | Unturned |
|---|---|---|
| Players right now | 22,612 | 13,469 |
| 24-hour peak | 24,579 | 14,013 |
| 7-day average | 19,935 | 11,643 |
| 30-day average | 19,953 | 12,752 |
| 30-day trend | −15% | −11% |
| Peak (tracked) | 40,199 | 23,394 |
| Steam reviews | 60% positive | 91% positive |
| Recent reviews (3 mo) | 59% positive | 86% positive |
| Total reviews | 118,598 | 564,780 |
| Owners (SteamSpy est.) | ~2,000,000 | ~50,000,000 |
| Release date | Oct 24, 2023 | Jul 7, 2017 |
| Price | $11.24 (−75%) | Free to play |
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 | Unturned | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg | Peak | Avg | Peak | |
| Apr 2026 | — | — | 10,905 | 10,905 |
| May 2026 | — | — | 14,551 | 23,394 |
| Jun 2026 | — | — | 13,057 | 18,304 |
| Jul 2026 | 26,433 | 34,799 | 13,058 | 17,141 |
| Aug 2026 | 23,920 | 38,546 | 14,521 | 21,722 |
| Sep 2026 | 21,476 | 40,199 | 13,173 | 17,952 |
| Oct 2026 (so far) | 19,422 | 32,306 | 11,865 | 16,875 |
Frequently asked
Which has more players, ARK: Survival Ascended or Unturned?
ARK: Survival Ascended currently has more players: 22,612 concurrent players on Steam vs 13,469 for Unturned, about 1.7× more players.
Is ARK: Survival Ascended bigger than Unturned on Steam?
Over the last 30 days ARK: Survival Ascended averaged 19,953 concurrent players and Unturned averaged 12,752. By that measure ARK: Survival Ascended is currently the bigger game.
Has Unturned ever had more players than ARK: Survival Ascended?
Not in Coilr's head-to-head tracking: ARK: Survival Ascended has had the higher daily average concurrent player count on Steam on every one of the 74 days both games have been tracked.
Is ARK: Survival Ascended better than Unturned?
By Steam review score, Unturned rates higher: 91% positive across 564,780 reviews vs 60% across 118,598 for ARK: Survival Ascended. ARK: Survival Ascended has the larger player base right now (22,612 vs 13,469 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 19,953 concurrent players over the last 30 days, down 15% vs the previous 30 days. Its highest tracked player count is 40,199.
Is Unturned growing or declining on Steam?
Unturned averaged 12,752 concurrent players over the last 30 days, down 11% vs the previous 30 days. Its highest tracked player count is 23,394.
More comparisons
ARK: Survival Ascended vs Rust
23K vs 116K playing
ARK: Survival Ascended vs Valheim
23K vs 118K playing
ARK: Survival Ascended vs Palworld
23K vs 48K playing
ARK: Survival Ascended vs Project Zomboid
23K vs 61K playing
ARK: Survival Ascended vs Terraria
23K vs 33K playing
7 Days to Die vs ARK: Survival Ascended
26K vs 23K playing
ARK: Survival Ascended vs RimWorld
23K vs 29K playing
ARK: Survival Ascended vs The Isle
23K vs 23K playing