Game

The Forest

2018

Insufficient evidence

We did not find enough credible, independent evidence to publish a numeric cash-grab score. Unrated is more honest than a guess.

What counts as a cash grab?

Commercial extraction prioritized over meaningful consumer or creative value. Profit, popularity, adaptations, sequels, remakes, high budgets, and normal marketing do not count by themselves.

Why?

The Forest (Endnight Games, 2018) shows multiple signals of substantial consumer and creative investment rather than predatory extraction. It spent four years in Steam Early Access (first alpha 2014, full release April 30, 2018) with frequent patches and a free VR version on May 22, 2018. Reviews from major outlets praised its interlocking survival systems. Endnight reported selling over 5.3 million copies by November 2018 and stated an initial budget of $125,000. I found no credible reporting of loot boxes, pay-to-win mechanics, or deceptive monetization.

No microtransactions, sold as a one-time purchase on major storefronts.
Four years in Early Access with frequent updates and a free VR update after launch.
Contemporary professional reviews praised design, survival systems, and scope.

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Score factors

Direction	Factor	Evidence	Impact
Against	No microtransactions	The Forest is distributed as a one-time purchase and storefront and preservation resources list no microtransactions in the game.[5]	-13
Against	Long Early Access and updates	The Forest spent four years in Steam Early Access (alpha from 2014) and moved to full release on April 30, 2018, with frequent patches and a free VR update published May 22, 2018.[1][2]	-18
Against	Positive critical reception	Major outlets including GameSpot and Game Informer gave generally positive reviews highlighting the game's survival systems and pacing rather than calling it low-effort or exploitative.[3][4]	-14
Against	Sales milestone and small initial budget	Endnight announced The Forest sold over 5.3 million copies by November 2018 and stated the project was created on an initial budget of $125,000 in the developer press release.[6][7]	-12

Confidence: Low · No source-backed commercial-extraction signal was found. · Researched 2026-07-24

Sources reviewed

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