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Once a free icon, indy game Dwarf Fortress finds new life on Steam
Releasing the paid version on Steam has opened the door for more players to access Dwarf Fortress, and it's now the fourth best-seller of the week on the platform.
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Tarn Adams, who cofounded Bay 12 Games with his brother Zach, demonstrates an old version of their single-player simulation game “Dwarf Fortress“ during an interview at their home office Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, on December 9 2022. A cult favorite among indie game fans, “Dwarf Fortress“ has been available for purchase on the Steam online store since December 6, a first for this title that has been distributed for free since its debut in 2006. The real-time management game, set in a medieval-fantasy world and involving overseeing a group of dwarves seeking to build a mighty fortress, has climbed to the fourth best-selling weekly title on Steam.
(AFP/Jason Redmond)
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warf Fortress, a quirky independent video game that has been free since its 2006 release, is now among the online marketplace Steam's best-sellers -- to the surprise of its US creators.
Set in a medieval fantasy world, Dwarf Fortress is what's known in the gaming world as a "construction and management simulation," in which players supervise a group of dwarves in building a mighty castle.
The classic, bare-bones version of the game remains available for download, but since December 6, players can buy an upgraded version with a soundtrack and better visual graphics.
Releasing the paid version on Steam has opened the door for more players to access Dwarf Fortress, and it's now the fourth best-seller of the week on the platform.
But the success has been unanticipated -- even though the creators, American brothers Tarn and Zach Adams, had an inkling of latent interest.
"We have internal metrics, so you can kinda say like, 'oh wow, this is actually gonna be pretty cool probably.' But it's not a sure thing, right? And so we're still surprised. It’s awesome," Tarn Adams said.
Illness in the family created financial necessity -- and creation of the paid version.
