The storming success of Dwarf Fortress continues steadily. DF programmer and co-designer, Tarn Adams, announced this week that the “premium” Steam version of the game sold nearly half a million copies (opens in new tab) last month after its release on December 6. It seems like people are lining up around the corner to spend money on a game that has been available for free for 16 years, and with good reason: Dwarf Fortress is an incredible and incredibly unique game (opens in new tab).
The news means DF has ripped its pre-release sales estimates to shreds. Before the release of the Steam version of the game, an economist enlisted by the publisher, Kitfox, tentatively predicted it would sell about 160,000 copies on Steam over the course of its first two months. It achieved that within 24 hours of release (opens in new tab). It’s now more or less tripled that number of sales in less than a month.
“Dwarf Fortress is a huge success, it seems,” says Adams, “but it’s all an illusion without you.” Adams, writing under the nickname “Toady One” which he has used since DF’s initial public release, continues: “None of this would have been possible without the support of the people who helped us. […] during these amazing 20 years, by far the best in my life […] We’re winning… and it’s your fault!”
He’s not wrong. Since December 6, Tarn Adams and his brother, DF co-developer Zach Adams, have faced two life-changing new realities. Number one: The brothers are now millionaires (opens in new tab) thanks to the success of the game. Number two: they had to hire a second programmer (opens in new tab).
DF’s Steam release was originally planned to allow the brothers to pay for health care costs and take better care of themselves while continuing to tinker with their life’s work. I think they can sort that out now. At this rate, it won’t be long before the game has sold over a million copies. When PCGs Wes Fenlon spoke with Tarn Adams (opens in new tab) in 2019, he asked what the brothers would do with the money if the game sold so well. Adams had one answer: “You know, there’s a lot of people and animals and other things that are in trouble. Kids who don’t have school supplies. All sorts of things. It’s like Brewster’s Millions, isn’t it? You just got to get rid of it, man , that’s what I think about it.”