Special Report PCG INVESTIGATES
Acclaimed indie colony/existence sim Dwarf Fortress launched on Steam on December 6, 2022, and within hours the PC’s most famously complex game had 2,000 positive reviews. Someone on the Steam forums asked if all the people reviewing the game on Steam after launch had been “playing free DF for 25 years and just waiting for an opportunity to pay $30?”. A week later, nearly every post in the 253 page thread was someone answering, “Yes.”
Other game developers gushed about and its influence on launch day. Publisher Kitfox Games tweeted that had blown past its predicted two-month sales figure in less than 24 hours. In less than sold around 300,000 copies, developer Tarn Adams told PC Gamer.
