Citadel: Forged With Fire

VS

Ark: Survival Evolved

Citadel: Forged With Fire is a multiplayer sandbox RPG that launched in 2019. It peaked with modest interest but has seen steep declines due to limited long-term updates, smaller indie studio support, and competition in the survival/fantasy sandbox genre. Current player populations are very low, with estimates typically under a few hundred daily. It does feature persistent world elements and can be considered an MMO, albeit with relatively small servers compared to major MMO titles.

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.