Factorio is a game where players build and manage things. It was created by a company in the Czech Republic called Wube Software. In the game, a character who is an engineer lands on an alien planet after an accident. The player must collect materials and build machines to create a rocket. After completing the main goal, players can keep playing. The game has single-player and multiplayer options, as well as eight extra game situations.

The game was first introduced through a fundraising effort on Indiegogo in 2013. It was released for computers running Windows, macOS, and Linux on August 14, 2020, after being available for testing starting February 25, 2016. It later came out for Nintendo Switch on October 28, 2022, and for Nintendo Switch 2 on December 22, 2025.

A new paid expansion called Space Age was released on October 21, 2024. This update added four new planets and allowed players to continue the game beyond launching the rocket.

Gameplay

Factorio is a game where players build and manage a factory to gather resources, create tools, and develop technology. To move forward, players find and collect materials to make tools and machines. These tools help create more advanced items, which allow players to build better machines and learn new technologies. As players grow their factory, they automate tasks like mining, moving materials, and assembling products. The game encourages players to design factories that can produce more items and work more efficiently. Players can research new technologies to build structures, items, and upgrades, starting with simple automation and ending with oil refining, robots, and launching a rocket. The game includes a blueprint system, which lets players save designs for parts of their factory or whole factories. A circuit system allows players to create networks that control many automated actions.

The goal of the base game is to launch a rocket. To build a rocket, players need many resources and must research advanced technologies. This pushes players to create a large, efficient factory to reach this goal. After launching the rocket, players can continue building their factory.

Players must protect their factory from dangerous creatures called 'biters,' 'spitters,' and 'worms.' These creatures live in groups and can be destroyed to stop them from attacking. As players create more pollution, the creatures become more aggressive, so players must balance their production with the need to defend themselves. Players can use turrets, tanks, and other weapons to fight enemies. As the game continues, enemies become stronger and harder to defeat.

Players can choose to start the game in "peaceful" mode, where creatures only attack if directly harmed by the player or their units.

In multiplayer mode, players can work together or compete against each other locally or online. Factorio supports servers run by others or by players. The game used direct connections between players at first, but this was replaced with more reliable options. Saved game files can be used in both single-player and multiplayer. By default, all players on a server share technology unless the server host sets up multiple teams. Players can hurt each other by default, and they can share blueprints using a public library.

Factorio can be changed using mods, which add new content or small changes. Developers provide a website where mod creators can share their work. A mod manager in the game lets players download mods. Mods are written in the Lua programming language. Some mods are small, like Squeak Through, which lets players walk between buildings. Others add major changes, like Krastorio 2, which adds new mechanics and changes how combat works.

The Space Age expansion adds four new planets to explore and a new goal of traveling between stars. Players can reach these planets using "space platforms," which are factories in space that can be expanded and moved. Players and objects must be sent to space platforms using rockets. Each planet has unique ways to get resources, challenges, and new technologies. Vulcanus is a planet with volcanoes where resources can be taken from lava. Fulgora is a desert planet with ruins from an alien civilization that can be mined. Gleba is a jungle planet with many living things that can be farmed. Aquilo is a frozen planet covered in liquid ammonia. The expansion encourages players to grow their factories and automate moving resources between planets using new machines. New enemies appear on Gleba and Vulcanus: spider-like creatures called 'pentapods' on Gleba and large worm-like enemies called 'demolishers' on Vulcanus.

The Space Age expansion includes a mod called 'Elevated rails,' which allows players to build rail tracks above ground for better transport. Another mod called 'Quality' adds a system where machines and items can be upgraded randomly. Both mods are needed to use the Space Age expansion, but they can also be used in the base game if the player has the expansion. After completing the Space Age expansion, players can upload a snapshot of their game, including their map and stats, to an online star map called the "Galaxy of Fame."

The Space Age expansion also included a free update to the base game with improvements like better fluid movement, new terrain, and in-game tips.

Development

The game was created by a group of developers from Prague, Czech Republic, starting in mid-2012. At first, only one person worked on the project, but the team later grew. In September 2014, a company named Wube Software was formed in Prague by Michal Kovařík and Tomáš Kozelek. To help fund the game’s development, the team started a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo in January 2013. The campaign ended in March 2013 and raised €21,626, which was more than the goal of €17,000. After this success, Wube sold early access versions of the game to gather more money. The release of the game’s trailer in April 2014 helped increase these sales. As of February 2024, the team has 31 members.

Michal Kovařík, the game’s lead designer, said that Minecraft mods called IndustrialCraft and BuildCraft inspired parts of the game’s design.

The game was made available for download on its official website early in development and later released as early access on Steam on 25 February 2016. It officially left early access on 14 August 2020, earlier than its planned release date of 25 September 2020. This change was made to avoid competing with the release of Cyberpunk 2077, which was scheduled for 17 September 2020.

A version of the game for Nintendo Switch was released on 28 October 2022. This version does not include modding features or support for the Space Age expansion. A free upgrade called Factorio: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition was released on 22 December 2025 for Nintendo Switch 2. This upgrade allows the game to display 1080p on the console’s screen and 4K when connected to a TV or monitor. It also adds support for Joy-Con 2 mouse mode, which lets players use a cursor similar to the PC version. The Space Age expansion was also released for Nintendo Switch 2 at the same time.

In February 2021, the developers announced a new expansion pack. The expansion, named Space Age, was revealed in August 2023. It was designed to be as large as the base game, adding interplanetary gameplay. The expansion was released on 21 October 2024. A free update called "2.0" was also released on the same day. This update included quality-of-life and cosmetic changes, along with some gameplay adjustments.

In 2019, a video game key reseller named G2A was accused of selling stolen game keys, which affected many developers, especially indie game developers. On 5 July 2019, G2A offered to pay developers ten times the value of stolen keys if the issue could be proven through an audit. Wube Software was the only developer to respond, calling G2A “worse than piracy” and providing a list of 321 canceled Steam keys due to chargebacks. After over ten months, G2A confirmed that 198 of these keys were sold on its platform and paid Wube Software $39,600 as part of the agreement. The audit was conducted internally due to the sensitive nature of the investigation.

Reception

Factorio was well-received by critics even before its full release. By early 2020, the game had sold two million copies. By early 2021, developers reported over two and a half million copies sold. By February 2022, the game’s sixth anniversary, it had sold more than 3.1 million copies. In December 2022, developers confirmed total sales of 3.5 million copies, with about 500,000 copies sold each year up to that point.

When Factorio was released in 2020, it received positive reviews. Rick Lane of PC Gamer called it "a manufacturing masterpiece." Nicolas Perez of Paste praised the game’s use of early access, saying it "showed how effective the Early Access system can be." The game was named IndieGameReviewer.com’s Indie Game of the Year for 2020. In 2021, Rock Paper Shotgun ranked Factorio as the 7th best management game for PC.

Even though the graphics are simple, the game has earned the nickname "Cracktorio" because it is very addictive. Tobias Lütke, a co-founder of Shopify, allows his employees to expense their purchases of Factorio as a business cost.

The Space Age expansion also received strong praise. Rick Lane of PC Gamer called the expansion "an amazing addition," saying it was "as unique and engaging as the original game." The expansion sold over 400,000 copies in its first week of release.

In the 2018 Steam Awards, Factorio was voted by Steam users as a runner-up in the "Most Fun with a Machine" category.

Legacy

Neobuthus factorio is a type of scorpion in the Buthidae family that lives in Somaliland. It was named after the game Factorio by a researcher named František Kovařík, who is the father of the game's lead designer, Michal Kovařík.

Satisfactory, a factory-building game made by Coffee Stain Studios, is similar to Factorio. It is described as a 3D version of the game that players experience from a first-person perspective.