Dwarf Fortress has had a successful first month on Steam, surpassing even the publisher’s expectations with strong sales.
What game is it? The two brothers Tarn and Zach Adams have been developing the free simulation game Dwarf Fortress since 2002, which was released on December 6th, 2022 on Steam for around €30.
The title puts you in a pixelated fantasy world in which you control a group of dwarves. Your goal is to survive. You build your own settlement and interact with your neighbors.
Dwarf Fortess is best known for the complexity of the game – even spilled beer is simulated and can kill cats.
For the release on Steam, the dwarf simulation also got new graphics, although the look of the game remains more functional. Here’s a trailer:
Dwarf Fortress on Steam Announcement Teaser
Fear of insufficient health insurance
Why did they need money? In an interview prior to the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress, the brothers revealed that Zach Adams was diagnosed with skin cancer.
The cost of the treatment, about $10,000, was largely covered by his wife’s insurance, but the incident made the brothers think: “It’s just not sustainable, not at our age,” said Tarn Adams. He elaborated, “You can’t hold GoFundMes forever until you can’t anymore and then you die at 50. That’s not cool.”
Realizing what it means to not have adequate health insurance in the US, the brothers teamed up with Canadian publisher Kitfox Games to bring Dwarf Fortess to Steam and still make some money.
Half a million sales in one month
How successful is the game? The release of Dwarf Fortess on Steam exceeded the expectations of the brothers and the publisher.
An analyst for Kitfox Games estimated that the dwarf simulation could be sold 160,000 times on Steam in the first two months (via kitfoxgames.medium.com).
As Kitfox co-founder Tanya X. Short revealed on Twitter, this estimate was reached in the first 24 hours, when Dwarf Fortress was impressive with 97% positive reviews on Steam.
After just one week, the game had sold 300,000 copies and made the brothers millionaires. Likewise, in the wake of the successful Steam release on December 22nd, Bay 12 Games, the studio of Tarn and Zach Adams, announced that the team behind Dwarf Fortress is growing for the first time. A historic moment for the brothers who, for the first time, received reinforcements from a third developer in the programming.
In a forum post dated January 1, 2023, Tarn Adams, under the nickname “Toady One”, also writes that Dwarf Fortress sold half a million copies in December 2022.
However, he will probably not be able to give any exact figures until mid-February, until all processes with Valve and Kitfox Games have been completed.
Tarn Adams also thanks them for their support, adding, “That’s it! We won… and it’s your fault!” – a nod to the fact that Dwarf Fortress is actually about savoring defeat.