It's hard in the industry right now for games at all levels, but especially for indies, for whom even managing to stand out can be a mountain. Gothic Stardew Valley-like Graveyard Keeper has bucked several trends in this respect, and being (temporarily) free is a central reason why, according to publisher tinyBuild.
On Twitter, Alex Nichiporchik, the CEO of tinyBuild, posts a graph demonstrating the current popularity of Graveyard Keeper. "Graveyard Keeper is currently the top39 most played game on Steam, propelling the sequel to 400k wishlists," he says, proudly showing off having over 40,000 concurrent players in the graveyard management game.
In a follow-up post, then, he looked at inquiries about recently offering the original for free for a limited time on Steam and consoles (not including Switch) ahead of Graveyard Keeper 2, and whether that's a smart move for releases such as these. "Outside of the currently 400k wishlists for the sequel, we've also made almost 250k USD from selling DLCs for the original," he states.
Many are asking if it’s worth it, to give away a game like this for freeOutside of the currently 400k wishlists for the sequel, we’ve alsoMade almost 250k usd from selling DLCs for the original. This is just on Steam. Haven’t gotten the console numbers yetSo it makes sense… https://t.co/37DHqMAgyYApril 13, 2026
"This is just on Steam. Haven't gotten the console numbers yet," he adds. "So it makes sense when you have a lot of DLC."
Since the base game came out in 2018, there's now almost eight years' worth of paid DLC for new players to pick up. Clearly, whatever fraction of folks dove into those additional features have made up some pretty substantial earnings here, and it sounds like it's all worked out quite well for tinyBuild, and developer Lazy Bear Games.
And, to top it all off, the sequel's got a hefty amount of wishlists to boot, helping maintain its place in Valve's algorithms. Being free definitely isn't a catch-all solution, but if you know there'll be plenty of supplemental material that players will want to buy, then it could be just what you game asked for.
