Game

Train Simulator

2009

28Score

Some Cash-Grab Signs

There are sourced concerns, but the case is limited.

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?

Train Simulator 2015, published by Dovetail Games, shows multiple credible signals of monetization-first design, including a very large paid add-on catalog and contemporary reviews noting minimal base content with paid extras. Independent analysis documented extremely high cumulative DLC cost totals. Community threads and reviews repeatedly call out the companys DLC and annual-release practices as revenue drivers. At the same time some individual routes and loco packs received positive quality notes and the product includes community scenario tools, which counts as mitigating evidence against a pure extraction claim.

Independent tally found the Train Simulator/Dovetail DLC catalog reached very large cumulative monetary totals by 2016.
Contemporary reviews said Train Simulator 2015 shipped with little base content and relied on paid DLC priced up to about €30.
Community forums record longrunning complaints that Dovetail’s release cadence and DLC pricing push continued spending.

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Counterevidence shows several DLC routes and locomotives received positive quality assessments and the base product includes community scenario tools.

Score factors

Direction	Factor	Evidence	Impact
For	Very large cumulative DLC cost	An independent analysis documented that the cumulative price of Dovetail Train Simulator DLC catalog reached roughly $7,060 in March 2016, illustrating extensive paid add-ons across the product line.[1]	+23
For	Longstanding community complaints about pricing model	Multiple longrunning threads on Dovetail’s official forums document customer grievances about separate charges for routes and locomotives, season/annual release feelings, and concerns that frequent DLC releases prioritize revenue over core improvements.[2]	+15
For	Review criticized low base content and DLC pricing	A contemporary review of Train Simulator 2015 stated the game offered almost no base content and criticized DLC priced between approximately 4 and 30 euros.[3]	+14
Against	Included routes and locomotives show substantive content	Documentation and contemporary summaries note Train Simulator 2015 shipped with multiple full routes and a set of locomotives, and some individual route DLC received positive quality praise in player reviews.[5][4]	-10
For	Annual release cadence linked to repeated paid content cycle	Train Simulator 2015 was released as part of the series run of yearly Train Simulator editions, a cadence observers and community members linked to recurrent paid content cycles.[7][6]	+6
Against	Product supports community scenarios and standard DLC purcha	The official Train Simulator 2015 user guide documents free roam, community scenarios, and the Steam DLC purchase/voucher mechanisms, showing consumer-oriented features and an established DLC storefront model.[8]	-5

Confidence: Medium · Sources include independent pricing tallies, a contemporary critical review, and primary documentation, but much evidence is community or third party commentary and does not prove intent; gaps remain about internal development decisions and per-DLC production costs. · Researched 2026-09-07

Sources reviewed

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