Live data from Hacker News

Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

bay12forums.com

241–250 of 322 posts

Re: Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

#241

I haven’t played it, and I have no doubt it is an amazing game I would enjoy. But how do people have time for all these games? There are so many compelling games out there, each demanding hundreds or thousands of hours of time to fully enjoy.

Play it little by little when you do have time. Play whichever game captures your intrigue the most. Don't waste time on deciding which one to play.

Re: Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, because of having inflation close to 20% in the past year where they live.

I’m guessing they’re multi-millionaires by now. Poor guys.

Do you know this for sure? How big is their company?

Re: Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

#243

What are they going to do next? Perhaps they will start a studio, hire some more people and work on some new endeavors with this money?

They've already hired another developer to work on the game with them.

I doubt they have any grander plans than continuing to work on DF, its their life's work after all.

Re: Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

#244
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we assume their previous income was covering their expenses (a reasonable assumption for a 18 year old company), the $7M from Steam would be pure profit. Now I'm not sure about Washington (?) tax rates, but just for comparison: in Germany you would have paid about 35% taxes on company profits, and another 20% income/capital gains taxes if you just pay it all out to the owners. Not that this is the smartest choice,…

Didn't Kitfox games did a lot of work on the Steam version (I assumed art, UI etc. were not done by Bay 12 games)? They must have incurred some expenses.

As I understand it, the figure quoted in the Bay 12 update is after Steam and Kitfox took their cut from the sales.

Re: Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

#246
post #237
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just spritz them with water mist and they’ll be fine!

Working on that for my fortress now but I have managed to flood the caverns with a river I've redirected...

Sounds like Fun was had! I’m guessing you were going for a proper waterfall? In the future you could try a Dwarven Mist Generator. I like to put them above high traffic areas so everyone has to pass through it constantly.

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Mist#Ring_gen...

Re: Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

#247
Are these sales numbers or how much they make after everyone else gets their cut? Is that what they mean by "taxes"? Steam takes 30%. The publisher can easily take 50%, but they may have negotiated better terms due to the funds they put in on their own and that it's an existing game.

Re: Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, because of having inflation close to 20% in the past year where they live.

I’m guessing they’re multi-millionaires by now. Poor guys.

Maybe a the founders. But definitely not employees, which is where a good chunknof the money is bound to be going towards.

Re: Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

#249

Glad to see this, because they have worked long and hard on this game. For the optimistic, divide ~$4m (post-tax) by team of 2 for ~20 years (they started work in 2002). They've made some money in the meantime obviously, but seeing the final profit doesn't accurately capture the overall investment. Just in case you were thinking of quitting your day job to become an overnight millionaire making indie games.

Yeah it is pretty good, but not as good if someone really wants to take the risk. There are people, e.g. fund managers and corporate CXOs that talk about they get the big bucks because they take the risk, but TBH what risks do they experience? If something fucked up they can simply walk away, usually with fat profits for their own. On the other hand, a couple of indie developers risked getting nothing from a full-time job, that's what real risk-taking sounds like.

Re: Bay 12 Games has made $7M from the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Donations. They have a patreon and have had paypal donations long before that with the occasional donation drive to pump up numbers.

Yeah they used to have a PO Box you could mail checks/etc to. I still have it in my billpay. The only gaming value that has come even close for me has been Factorio.

Maybe aurora 4x could be to your liking.
Post reply on HN