Factorio is a one-time-purchase factory-building game by Wube Software where players automate mining, crafting, and production while defending their base.
Factorio is a factory-building and automation simulation game in which players crash-land on an alien planet and must build an industrial base from scratch. Starting with basic manual mining and crafting, players progressively automate every part of production, using conveyor belts, inserters, robots, and trains to move materials between mines, factories, and research labs.
The game is developed by Wube Software, an independent studio founded in 2014 and headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. Development on Factorio itself began in 2012, and the game left early access with a full 1.0 release in 2020. It has sold several million copies and has one of the most active modding and Let's Play communities in the simulation genre.
Factorio's core loop is about progressively automating tasks that started out manual: researching technologies unlocks better machines, and players redesign their factory layout to squeeze out more throughput, often at massive industrial scale involving thousands of interconnected machines. The game includes a full combat and defense layer, since the native alien creatures attack polluting factories, adding a strategic tension between expansion and defense.
A built-in Lua modding API has produced a huge library of community mods that add new mechanics, overhauls, and total conversions, and the game supports both competitive and cooperative multiplayer for building factories together or against each other. The Space Age expansion, sold separately, adds new planets, technologies, and end-game content on top of the base game.
Factorio is sold as a straightforward one-time purchase rather than a subscription or free-to-play title with microtransactions. The base game costs 35 dollars on Steam, GOG, and the developer's own web store, and the developers have publicly stated they do not intend to run sales or discounts on the base price.
The Space Age expansion is sold as a separate one-time purchase for players who want additional planets and late-game content, but it is not required to play or enjoy the base game. There are no in-game purchases, loot boxes, or recurring fees of any kind.
Factorio is a one-time purchase priced at 35 dollars on Steam, GOG, and the developer's own store, with no subscription fees.
Wube Software has released a free demo version in the past that lets players try a limited portion of the game before buying.
Yes, it has a built-in Lua-based modding API and a large community library of mods, ranging from small tweaks to total overhauls.
Yes, Factorio supports multiplayer so players can build and manage a factory together over a shared server.
No, Space Age is an optional paid expansion that adds new planets and late-game content on top of the base game, which is fully playable on its own.