Dwarf Fortress has topped 800,000 sales on Steam in just over a year.
That’s according to developers Tarn and Zach Adams, who shared the latest sales milestone with PC Gamer during a recent interview.
Dwarf Fortress officially launched on Steam in December 2022 after spending over a decade in production and early access. Publisher Kitfox confirmed the title amassed over 160,000 sales within 24 hours of launch. As of February 6, 2023, it had topped 600,000 sales.
At the time, Kitfox co-founder Tanya Short said Dwarf Fortress had delivered “good success,” with the title’s performance generating over $7 million in revenue for developer Bay 12.
Kitfox also broke down the title’s sales trajectory during the two months following its full launch and indicated it massively over-performed.
Dwarf Fortress blasted by sales projections
“Before launch, an economist used historical Kitfox Games sales data to project that, if Dwarf Fortress followed our usual trends, it would sell around 160,000 copies in the first two months,” wrote Short. “Instead, we sold that many in the first 24 hours.”
1 million sales now feels like something of a forgone conclusion–the Adams brothers told PC Gamer that Dwarf Fortress has been wishlisted by that many Steam users—but there’s a sense that Bay 12 is determined to stay grounded.
“I didn’t actually think of [hitting a million sales],” said Tarn Adams, speaking to PCG. “Because you’re like, ‘when is that going to happen?'”
Instead, Bay 12 is focused on supporting the title with the addition of an Adventure Mode that will bring new mechanics to the premium release. And if that update happens to push Dwarf Fortress past the 1 million mark? Maybe there’ll be a small shindig. “There’s probably going to be a little party,” continued Tarn. “Probably a trip to somewhere exotic,” added Zach.