A challenging business and studio management simulation where you create games, manage staff and cash flow, react to a changing industry, and fight to stay alive.
Start in 1984 and build your studio from a scrappy startup into a legendary name, or run it straight into the ground trying.
You’ll hire staff, manage payroll, choose what to build and when, chase trends and innovations, survive market crashes, deal with policy regimes, investors, publishers, and competitors… and try not to miss payroll while doing it.
There are no perfect runs. Only lessons.
Create games across multiple eras of the industry, from the early console years to modern platforms
Choose genres, scopes, engines, platforms, and business models
Release hits, ship flops, or build cult classics that find an audience over time
Support games after launch with DLC, live services, ports, sales, and updates
Your games don’t exist in a vacuum, the market changes, competitors react, and timing matters.
Manage cash flow, payroll, rent, taxes, loans, grants, and investors
Choose where your company is based and expand offices across countries
Deal with shifting policy regimes, tax changes, and economic cycles
Balance growth against risk, scale too fast and you’ll collapse
Money runs out faster than you think.
Hire staff with traits, skills, morale, fatigue, and ambitions
Promote leaders and deal with internal politics and alignment
Burnout, resignations, key departures, and succession all matter
Your culture decisions shape how your studio behaves under pressure
A great team can save a bad plan. A bad culture can sink a great studio.
Run marketing campaigns across different eras — magazines, TV, web, events, partnerships
Compete against AI studios that hire, release games, and pursue different approaches
Navigate sponsorships, expos, publisher deals, and platform exclusives
Respond to crises, controversies, and industry shocks
Reputation matters. Timing matters more.
Every run tells a story.
Past runs are tracked so you can see what you built — and how it ended
Bankruptcy is a failure… but also a lesson
Learn, adapt, and try again with better decisions next time