Dwarf Fortress (opens in new tab) has been a huge success on Steam. In less than a month after its debut on the storefront, the game sold nearly half a million copies (opens in new tab), incidentally, more than 16 years after its initial standalone release, earning the two-man development team more than $7.2 million. And sales are still growing: Dwarf Fortress co-creator Tarn Adams said during a GDC chat that the game has sold roughly 630,000 units on Steam

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Adams noted that this figure does not include refunds, so the actual sales number will be somewhat lower. He continued, "With the percentage of refunds, it's probably around 600,000 units." "Our wish list is double that, and it's at ....... It continues to grow."

It is worth noting that Dwarf Fortress hit these numbers without a major price cut: it was 10% off during the Steam Spring Sale (open in new tab) and had the same discount in the last week of February. And while sales have slowed since its launch, as expected, Adams expects it to continue to sell well for a long time to come.

"I feel like it's going to tail off for a long, long time. And it's always been kind of our experience in the game." [The huge success of Dwarf Fortress and the wealth and fame it brought to him and his brother Zach was "strange," Adams admitted.

"I grew up when computer games were a lot tougher, so I never imagined being a game developer or becoming a semi-famous person or anything like that. But I guess I did."

"It's weird. I would get on the ferry in Seattle and someone would come up to me and say, 'Hey, you're the guys who made Dwarf Fortress.' And they say, "Oh, yeah.

They seem to be adapting well so far: after 20 years of working on their own, the brothers hired a second programmer (opens in new tab) in December 2022, and Tarn is now looking for "a very special guitar (opens in new tab)."

The Dwarf Fortress sale on Steam ends on March 23.