8BitMMO

VS

Ark: Survival Evolved

8BitMMO is a sandbox-style indie MMORPG that launched in 2015. While it is a persistent world with MMO elements, its indie status and age make it unlikely to have a large active playerbase today—most similar indie MMOs decline to a small but loyal community after 5+ years. The lack of major publisher support or recent updates further limits its reach. Estimated daily players likely in the low hundreds.

Ark: Survival Evolved is a popular survival sandbox game released in 2017 and available on nearly all platforms. Its peak was several years ago, but it maintains a stable community thanks to official and community servers, modding, and occasional event content. While numbers have declined since launch, the game still sees tens of thousands of daily players across PC and consoles, especially due to its ongoing updates and active mod scene. However, it is not an MMO as it does not feature a single, large-scale persistent world—servers are capped and players are sharded.