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Dwarf Fortress has shifted over 600k copies

Dwarf Fortress has shifted over 600k copies

Indie smash hit Dwarf Fortress has sold over 600,000 copies to date.

That's according to Tanya Short, the boss of game's publisher for Steam and Itch.io, Kitfox, who posted on Medium that within its first two months on sale, it had shifted 606,342. Of that figure, "almost exactly" 5,000 were on Itch.io.

Developers Zach and Tarn Adams – aka Bay 12 Games – have also received over $7 million from the game.

"The appreciation you give us is part of our being now," Zach and Tarn Adams said.

"It carries us in the cars we drive. It sustains us as the food that we eat. There is now no longer any existence except the one that you have provided. When we pass from this world, you will be the reason we are remembered."

Short added: "So, it’s only been two months, but as a game designer, I am humbled. I’m so genuinely proud that we were able to help Tarn and Zach achieve a new level of success. Even if Kitfox never accomplishes anything else, at least we contributed to an important moment in the history of art. I am content."

Development on Dwarf Fortress started back in 2002. It was initially released in an alpha form four years later, with a version coming to Steam and Itch.io in December in 2022. 


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.