Dwarf Fortress sold nearly 500k during December

[Astrogamer]

Dwarf Fortress sold close to 500,000 copies in December

Dwarf Fortress sold almost 500,000 copies on Steam in December 2022, according to developer Bay 12 Games.

www.gamedeveloper.com

The 1.0 version sold close to 500 thousand in it's launch month, according to developer Bay 12 Games. This follows the news that it sold 160 thousand within 24 hours of it launching.

 

[SilverACREQ]

Great for the team and hopefully this lets him continue developing the game and being able to enjoy a life free of worries.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

New milestone: 800k Copies sold

Dwarf Fortress hits 800k copies sold, generating over 1 million wishlists on Steam | Game World Observer

The premium version of Dwarf Fortress is approaching an impressive milestone of 1 million copies sold. And the Adams brothers have no plans to stop developing their life’s project.

gameworldobserver.com

Tarn and Zach Adams told PC Gamer that Dwarf Fortress has surpassed 800k copies sold in just over a year since its paid release on Steam in December 2022.

In January 2023 alone, Dwarf Fortress generated over $7 million in revenue, turning the Adams brothers into millionaires. Although a portion of this money went on taxes and salaries for new team members, it was enough to solve the “main issues of health/retirement that are troubling for independent people, as well as safeguarded the future of the game well enough.”


For comparison, the Adam brothers earned just over $1 million over the 15-year period from 2007 to 2022, when Dwarf Fortress was free and survived solely on donations from the community (by the way, the classic version remains available at no cost).


With nearly 1 million copies sold now, the Adams brothers told PC Gamer that the success just makes them feel “comfortable and stable.” For example, Zach was finally able to buy a house and a Honda Civic (“because I’ve always wanted one”).

The long-waited RPG/roguelike mode will finally be added to the premium version of Dwarf Fortress on April 17. “It’s just a gentle update,” Tarn Adams noted. “But it’s also the first time we’re communicating with our wishlist people ever. We have not emailed them [before] or anything.”

So in less than two weeks, more than 1 million Steam users will receive an email announcing the update’s launch. And the Adams brothers, as always, will continue to further develop and support the game they have been working on for the last two decades.

This is one of the best feel good stories in gaming in recent years for me.
A brotherly(literally) gaming duo and their family finally able to get their health and finances in order through their long standing passion project.

 

[Gimmick]

I find this to be a bizarre game, as it's so convoluted and anti-intuitive, but people love it. Reminds me of Crusader Kings or Hearts of Iron, where you need to spend 45 minutes on tutorials to understand half of what is going on.

 

[Mekanos]

I forgot that the game was technically not fully released for like 15 years.

 

[Garlic]

This game has been so massively influential on subsequent games, wonderful to see the creators reaping financial success after all these years