20-year-old game writes crazy numbers 2 months after release on Steam: over €6 million, 95% positive

The most complex world simulator comes to Steam after 20 years - Is so deep, cats die

Over the past few months, ancient indie game Dwarf Fortress has been making headlines with insane success on Steam. The developers now gave exact figures.

The long history of the game “Dwarf Fortress” started more than 20 years ago, but took a crazy turn at the end of 2022.

  • Since 2002, brothers Tarn and Zach Adams have been developing the game as indie developers. It became more and more complex, but originally it was free.
  • At the end of 2022, the brothers then decided to release it on Steam because they needed money. Donations would simply not be enough to cover health concerns, for example.
  • Then, on December 6th, the game exploded on Steam. The sales went beyond the developers’ imaginations, and they suddenly became millionaires.

The brothers reported that the game sold half a million copies in December. Exact numbers, they said at the time, could not be given until the processes with Valve and the new publisher Kitfox Games were completed.

But now the time has come.

Developer reports exact figure: “Thanks to everyone who helped”

In the forum of Bay 12 Games, the studio of the two, Tarn Adams reported with an update under the nickname “Toady One”. On February 01, 2023 he stated:

“So the cogs have turned, and here’s what we got, especially yesterday,” he writes (via bay12forums.com).

Adams writes that Dwarf Fortress grossed a whopping $7,230,123.58 – or €6,619,973.45. For the months before, he lists the following figures:

  • December: $15635.07
  • November: $14071.27
  • October: $15374.72
  • September: $14679.51
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With the Steam release, the game has grossed 426 times a “usual” month – arguably ending the developers’ biggest concerns, as Adams describes.

“A little less than half goes to taxes and we continue to pay people and new business expenses and so on, so it’s not all personal money,” the statement said. “But a lot of it is. Enough that we’ve solved the major health/retirement issues that are problematic for independent people.”

In addition, the future of the game is now secured for the time being – so much so that the team has even been enlarged: “Thank you to everyone who helped!”

In terms of ratings, things continue to look good: on Steam, the game is rated “extremely positively” with a total of 95%.

It will be exciting to see how Dwarf Fortress continues after the initial hype on Steam. Other games are also getting good feedback on Steam – like the space co-op game Astroneer.

Reference-mein-mmo.de