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

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

#271

Post by yCombLinks »

genocidicbunny wrote: post #256
eps wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were also making 14-15K per month before that (it's mentioned in the post), so they were already extraordinarily successful as far as 2-person indie gamedev teams go.

As far as indie devs, yes, but in the greater scheme of things that is still fairly pittance money. $180k pre-tax split two ways, and then eaten into heartily by health insurance (Tarn and his brother have mentioned that medical issues are what pushed them to do the Steam release) doesn't leave a whole lot. But that also means that as long as they don't significantly increase the cost of their lifestyle, that $7m pre…

That's January sales. Sure, they'll fall off, but it's not suddenly zero additional money

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

#272

Post by kilgnad »

bombcar wrote: post #170
kilgnad wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah. DF became popular because it's free. That is a huge part of the allure.

DF became popular because of the stories it created - and being free helped that expand because people could try-before-buy. As it was, the risk would have been way too high for most people to pay tenbux or whatever BEFORE playing it (many have "donated" way more than that after playing).

The free part was super important because, if the buyer doesn't know much about the game, those text graphics are a huge deal breaker when combined with payment.

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

#273

Post by azernik »

jtms wrote: post #222
b4je7d7wb wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they will just keep working on df the way they have so far for another 20 years before retiring.

I really hope so, but I also hope they continue to work with the UI team… the Steam version changes have really impressed me!

They are absolutely continuing to work with the UI team (who, as far as I understand, are just modders doing a bunch of discounted/free design while Tarn still does the coding). Getting the Steam version working with adventure mode is what they're working on now.

(Their new developer seems to be more of an old-school low-level hacker working on performance and systems.)

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

#274

Post by fragsworth »

genocidicbunny wrote: post #256
eps wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were also making 14-15K per month before that (it's mentioned in the post), so they were already extraordinarily successful as far as 2-person indie gamedev teams go.

As far as indie devs, yes, but in the greater scheme of things that is still fairly pittance money. $180k pre-tax split two ways, and then eaten into heartily by health insurance (Tarn and his brother have mentioned that medical issues are what pushed them to do the Steam release) doesn't leave a whole lot. But that also means that as long as they don't significantly increase the cost of their lifestyle, that $7m pre…

It sucks that their tax burden is going to be higher on account of making all this money in a single year, putting almost all of it in the highest brackets. Unless they did some clever accounting tricks throughout the 20 years to prepare for this situation, which I highly doubt they did.

I don't know where he lives, but in California it could easily add up to close to 50% since he's "rich".

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

#275

Post by HDThoreaun »

jliptzin wrote: post #198

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.

I think the main trick is not having kids, plus remote work has given lots of people ~2 hours a day back.

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

#276

Post by thegjp210 »

fragsworth wrote: post #274
genocidicbunny wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as indie devs, yes, but in the greater scheme of things that is still fairly pittance money. $180k pre-tax split two ways, and then eaten into heartily by health insurance (Tarn and his brother have mentioned that medical issues are what pushed them to do the Steam release) doesn't leave a whole lot. But that also means that as long as they don't significantly increase the cost of their lifestyle, that $7m pre…

It sucks that their tax burden is going to be higher on account of making all this money in a single year, putting almost all of it in the highest brackets. Unless they did some clever accounting tricks throughout the 20 years to prepare for this situation, which I highly doubt they did. I don't know where he lives, but in California it could easily add up to close to 50% since he's "rich".

You're confusing income tax liabilities with corporate taxes

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

#277

Post by HDThoreaun »

TillE wrote: post #209
eatsyourtacos wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Valve used to make games, now they make money You can say that, but really what they moved to is creating a platform that saved PC gaming. I can't imagine where we would be at without Steam. There would be 20 different platforms we would have to install full of bloatware garbage and everything would be horrific as all fuck. Indie games would be having a much harder time, because sure there would be other things out…

The Steam app itself is also pretty great. I didn't fully appreciate that until the Epic Games Store, which runs about as well as a sloppy Javascript app from ten years ago. It's been in the same dire state for years. Meanwhile Steam is pretty quick, the interface is well organized, and there are tons of useful features from controller configuration to the mod workshops. I definitely agree that there's an alternate S…

Steam demands I update every time I open it.

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

#278

Post by eatsyourtacos »

jtms wrote: post #219
eatsyourtacos wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Valve used to make games, now they make money You can say that, but really what they moved to is creating a platform that saved PC gaming. I can't imagine where we would be at without Steam. There would be 20 different platforms we would have to install full of bloatware garbage and everything would be horrific as all fuck. Indie games would be having a much harder time, because sure there would be other things out…

without Steam there might have been 20 different platforms, but another possibility would have been Microsoft just fully taking over the space and treating the PC like a very expensive Xbox. Even with Steam’s success this has always been a possibility. I think Steam’s massive investment in game compatibility for Linux (ie: Steam Deck) has been an amazing counterbalance to stave off the potential of MS monopoly on the…

Given the state of the "Microsoft Store" on windows... dear lord we are lucky that is not the case.

I do love Microsoft to a large degree for a lot of things.. but holy shit they suck ASS at things like store fronts in their own ecosystem. I have barely ever been forced to use it, but it literally did not work or gave me random cryptic errors when I did.

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

#279

Post by jtms »

azernik wrote: post #273
jtms wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope so, but I also hope they continue to work with the UI team… the Steam version changes have really impressed me!

They are absolutely continuing to work with the UI team (who, as far as I understand, are just modders doing a bunch of discounted/free design while Tarn still does the coding). Getting the Steam version working with adventure mode is what they're working on now. (Their new developer seems to be more of an old-school low-level hacker working on performance and systems.)

That's really great news! I am so happy for them and everything they have accomplished and will continue to accomplish. It's truly an inspiration to me.

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

#280

Post by filoleg »

fragsworth wrote: post #274
genocidicbunny wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as indie devs, yes, but in the greater scheme of things that is still fairly pittance money. $180k pre-tax split two ways, and then eaten into heartily by health insurance (Tarn and his brother have mentioned that medical issues are what pushed them to do the Steam release) doesn't leave a whole lot. But that also means that as long as they don't significantly increase the cost of their lifestyle, that $7m pre…

It sucks that their tax burden is going to be higher on account of making all this money in a single year, putting almost all of it in the highest brackets. Unless they did some clever accounting tricks throughout the 20 years to prepare for this situation, which I highly doubt they did. I don't know where he lives, but in California it could easily add up to close to 50% since he's "rich".

As far as I know, they live in Washington state. Which should help with the tax on income at least a little bit, given the state has no income tax.

Still, yeah, having the entire amount being dropped on them in a single year will probably have pretty major federal income tax consequences. Hopefully, they will figure it out, and the sales of Dwarf Fortress on steam won't dwindle. I find that it is a pretty good timing for the release, given that Rimworld (the spiritual competitor) has gone extremely mainstream, so people are definitely more open these days to that type of games.

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