Dinkum: The Solo-Made Aussie Life Sim That Took Eight Years and Sold a Million
James Bendon quit his retail job, taught himself 3D modelling and spent eight years building an outback island by himself. Krafton published it, a million people bought it, and now it is on Switch 2.
"Dinkum" is Australian slang for genuine, the real thing. It is a fitting name for a game made by one person, over eight years, about building a life in a version of the Australian outback.
Dinkum was created by James Bendon, a solo developer from Queensland, and published by Krafton. It entered Steam early access on 14 July 2022, sold 350,000 copies in its first month and passed 1 million by September 2025. The full version arrived on Steam in April 2025, followed by Nintendo Switch on 6 November 2025 and Nintendo Switch 2 on 22 April 2026.
One developer, eight years
Bendon started work in November 2017. A graduate in graphic design and illustration, he was not a programmer by training. He quit his retail job to focus on the game and taught himself 3D modelling and programming in the Unity engine.
It is a familiar shape for solo success stories, from Eric Barone's years on Stardew Valley (read our feature) to the potato builds of Brotato (here): a long, lonely stretch of work, followed by a sudden audience. In Bendon's case, the audience arrived when Dinkum was announced at IGN Expo in June 2022 and went into early access a month later.
Life on an outback island
Dinkum drops you onto a randomly generated island inspired by the Australian outback, and asks you to build a town. The island has four biomes: cold, desert, bushland and tropical, each with its own resources and moods.
The activities will be familiar to anyone who has played a life sim: farming, mining and fishing, gathering materials and slowly turning a patch of wilderness into a community. Dinkum adds a light layer of survival, too: you have to keep your energy up by eating or sleeping.
The full release added a Creative Mode, letting players build without the usual limits, a welcome addition for the many players who treat life sims as digital dollhouses.
Praise, and a question about whose outback it is
Reviews were generally positive, with praise for the game's environment design and its sheer range of activities. Some critics felt it was more iteration than innovation, a well-made version of a familiar formula rather than a new one.
Dinkum also drew criticism for not including Indigenous Australians in its version of the outback. Bendon addressed this directly, saying it would be "inappropriate" for a non-Indigenous person to take elements from Indigenous culture. It is a thoughtful debate about representation that many games set in real places now face.
From early access to every Switch
Dinkum's path, from early access to full release to consoles, has been steady:
- 14 July 2022: Steam early access
- April 2025: full release on Steam
- September 2025: Switch version announced at a Nintendo Direct
- 6 November 2025: Nintendo Switch
- 22 April 2026: Nintendo Switch 2
Why it matters
WGC's take: Dinkum is a reminder that a strong sense of place can sell a familiar genre. Life sims are crowded, but very few are set somewhere so specific, with outback biomes and a distinctly Australian flavour. Bendon took the Stardew template and gave it a home address.
It is also a quiet example of a large publisher backing a solo developer all the way from early access to a full release and two Nintendo consoles.
Dinkum is available on Steam for Windows, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. For more cosy life sims, read our story on Stardew Valley (here), or try the underwater sushi life of Dave the Diver (here).