There are so many incredible tycoon games out there in the marketplace today. However, we do have some recommendations if you’re after some business management style video game titles. Now don’t go into this list thinking any particular game outranks the next. The games here are so varied and can be niche so not every game will be appealing but you should find something worth playing below.
#15 Software Inc
Software Inc throws you into the world of making software. I’m sure you didn’t guess that from the title alone. At any rate, this is a title that puts players into the role of owning a company and slowly building up software into the marketplace. However, it’s not just about making software as it is about knowing the competition and market. This title will play a big role in your finances and knowing just how well you’re able to expand and release content into the market while turning a profit. This is not the easiest thing to pull off either.
You have to know when to hire employees, knowing if you’ll be able to afford them, fund your product, and understand when to release it into the marketplace as again you’re fighting off other companies that may have a better product and or one that has more marketing power. Despite that, if you know how to keep funds up and continue to build your empire, soon your little startup company may rival the big head corporations that can spend a whole lot more money than you and can afford a stacked group of employees. Software Inc is also an early access title at the time of writing this description so you’ll likely find some tweaks and adjustments along the development process if not completely new features being tossed into the mix.
#14 Rock God Tycoon
Rock God Tycoon doesn’t put you in front and center on stage playing your heart out to a massive audience. Instead, you’re the manager of a rock band, and getting your group out of a garage and into a studio with a successful tour is the name of the game. Here players will be crafting up a rock band where you’re customize up a member while hiring a few other musicians to join in. It’s then a fight to create some music, record an album, rehearse the music and start going on tour in hopes of more fans taking the group. After initially getting things started off your pocket, you’ll soon get offers for record deals and the process to further create some incredible hits that will sell albums is underway.
Not only are you crafting up music but you’ll need to make up tours along the way to give fans a chance at seeing their favorite band live. Of course, trouble could swoop in at any moment so it’s best to monitor your band members to ensure they are not only healthy but not gunning for each other’s throats when the tension proves to be brewing far too much. It’s a bit of a simplistic game and an interesting one at that. We don’t typically see music business tycoon releases but this is a title that may keep you hooked in for a good while.
#13 Rise of Industry
Rise of Industry puts players in control of an industry-building game. It’s here that you’re dropped into a map with different cities and your job to build up your industry and profiting off the nearby towns. For instance, you could be controlling a farmers market and with that, you’ll need to ensure that you have plenty of requested goods available to sell. Meanwhile, there will be competitor companies around the area as well who are also looking to make a profit. To ensure you come out on top, not only will you be managing your business and attempting to grow it with new resources or make it even more efficient, but you’ll also want to buy out other companies as well to further grow your corporation. Still, there’s also the ability to lose money and go bankrupt so keeping a close eye on your profit margins and how to properly spend money without creating an endless money pit issue.
#12 Game Dev Tycoon
If you ever thought making video games would be fun or easy then you might find Game Dev Tycoon a title worth picking up. With Game Dev Tycoon, players are starting up a game development studio in the 1980s where you’re building up new video game titles for fans worldwide. I’m sure you’ve probably seen this game already as it was quite the hit at launch, but here players are building up video games and working on a few aspects of the title such as the storyline, gameplay mechanics, and soundtrack to name a few. As you start to find the success you’re moving on to overseeing employees, getting a new office space, hiring skilled developers, and deciding on how much cost should go into certain areas or features for your game.
Depending on the choices you may play a big role in the reception your title receives from the media outlets along with fans. You’re constantly working to bring out thrilling and fun video game titles for players to enjoy but also ensuring that you make enough money back to cover everything that went into the building and marketing your title. Likewise, you’ll need to ensure that you made enough to see your next big project get funded. Of course, you may have to make some decisions that won’t be as popular for fans worldwide such as adding DRM to your products to combat piracy.
#11 Transport Fever 2
With Transport Fever 2 players are essentially crafting up different means of transportation around the world. This means roadways, railways, charting ships, and airplanes. Those of you who enjoyed playing around with train sets growing up will find quite a bit of enjoyment here. It’s a more laid-back management approach that allows the game to be rather casual. That doesn’t mean you won’t be battling with the economy to turn a profit but this title has grown a massive following for those that just enjoy managing your courses. While this game features a campaign for players to go through that offers some of the basics on how to get players started with their transportation ventures, you can find countless hours spent in just the sandbox mode.
To top it off, there’s the ability of Steam Workshop that offers players plenty of additional content for this game and since it’s fairly new with the game launching back in 2019, you’ll find an active community today. Unfortunately, those of you who were hoping to take this game online and face off with other players with their transportation companies in some capacity will be out of luck. This is strictly a single-player video game experience.
#10 Satisfactory
Currently available through early access at the time of writing this, Satisfactory is a unique look at factory building tycoon. Players are dropped into an alien planet and with just a few tools. Your job is simple, go around the planet, craft resources, and construct a complex factory for your employer. As you gather more resources, you’ll be able to upgrade and build up your factory, but you’ll have to deal with the hostile aliens that inhabit the world. The game has already become a hit and it’s yet to fully launch.
Despite being in early access, updates are going into the game with one of the latest tossing in new locomotive transportation units to even the addition of nuclear power sources. Outside of content, the developers have also been working on the actual environment locations as well such as tweaking the biomes to make it fleshed out in comparison to the other parts of the in-game world. Once this game does come out of early access, the developers plan to feature even more machines, resources, landmarks, creatures, mod support, and even a full narrative. So if you’re feeling that the game is lacking at the moment in any particular area, it should be rather full upon its release.
#9 Offworld Trading Company
Offworld Trading Company has been around for a few years now and it’s proved to be a fun RTS game with plenty of management building. In this game, players are building up a corporation that has started to gather resources on Mars. You’ll constantly make decisions on what resources you’ll mine and gather up from Mars which is how you’ll compete against the other corporations on the planet. Knowing how to make acquiring these resources easier and selling them for a profit is crucial to winning but with a market that will continue to fluctuate, you’ll need to ensure that you’re pulling in resources that are not only suitable to make a profit now but potentially gathering goods for resources that may soon take over demand.
Not to mention that you can take this game online and face other players or friends. Here you can see just how well you can take a company and turn it into a money-making machine or quickly find yourself going bankrupt. Likewise, since this game has been around for a few years now, there’s other DLC in place to give players more content to go through.
#8 Anno Series
The Anno series has been around for quite a long time now. After getting its start back in 1998, we’re still seeing the series thrive today with new installments, the latest of which being Anno 1800. This game installment was released back in 2019 and will likely be your best installment to get into today if you’re interested in the gameplay. At any rate, this is a city-building and managing video game title with the Anno 1800 taking place in the 19th century. Here players are building up a city during the industrial age and to get your location thriving with the profit you’ll need to manage all sorts of attributes to your town. This means managing productions, supply chains, your workers, and artisans alike.
However, you can’t rely on your city to only be good at producing resources as tourism is also a big part of managing your city funds. For instance, you might need to ensure that your town has little pollution and events that would attract citizens in visiting your area. While this game has been around since 2019, the developers Blue Byte has released DLC and seasonal content launches which continue to add new unique items into the game whether it’s hotels, policies, or constructing the first skyscrapers. If you enjoy city-building and managing the town, this is a game that shouldn’t be passed up.
#7 Two Point Hospital
Two Point Hospital has players building up their unique hospital and providing healthcare to those in need. Everything about the design and how you upgrade your hospital to treat your patients are under your control. You’ll need to diagnose an illness along with providing a cure for them. Likewise, you’ll need to hire and train your staff to ensure that they are capable of providing excellent care. Although, not everyone on the staff will be a team player so you’ll need to keep an eye on your employees to see just who is working to provide a great service and those that are proving to be problematic.
Being in control of a hospital will also mean making sure that not only are you ready for the oddball illnesses that may come up but also big emergencies that could come through your hospital doors at any moment. If you enjoy a relaxing management RTS game then this could be a perfect fit. Likewise, it’s a game that’s suitable for a wide audience with an ESRB E rating, you might find that this game could be just as entertaining to kids as well.
#6 Parkitect
Parkitect is a business simulator that is based around theme parks. Now, this won’t be the only theme park game on this list as we’ll be going into Planet Coaster later on. However, those that enjoyed the likes of Roller Coaster Tycoon and some of the other theme park games from the early 2000s may have plenty of enjoyment here. Similar to the other games on this list, players are actively building up the area in which case it would be the theme park. You’ll need to build up the rides and decor to make it appealing to guests.
However, it’s not all about building in this game as you’ll have to check on the finances of your park regularly. Know how much funds you can spare for different builds while also managing staff is crucial to keep your business opened. Not to mention that managing your employees will need to be done in a few different ways. Not only do you need to keep them trained for their jobs but ensuring that there is a break room available and an employee pathway to allow the staff to quickly move around the area while also staying out of sight from the guests to keep the immersion alive.
#5 Prison Architect
As I’m sure you can guess from the title alone in this game players are taking the role of a prison architect where you’ll need to create and manage a prison. For instance, players won’t only be designing the prison for the cells and different facilities it includes but also ensuring that the location is trained with staff members such as guards to ensure the inmates are not looking for a quick means of escape. Much like the other games on this list, players will also have the responsibility of managing the finances. You may also opt to incorporate more reform programs to rehabilitate the prison inmates to live a productive and law-abiding life outside of prison. Likewise, this game also comes with a few DLCs you can purchase to bring in more content and challenges to the gameplay such as a DLC where you’re introducing agriculture to your compound such as farming and producing exports.
#4 Planet Coaster
As mentioned earlier, another point in our list goes to Planet Coaster. In this game, players are taking the role of a park creator. It was developed as a spiritual successor to the iconic Roller Coaster Tycoon franchise. Here players will be crafting up their unique parks and designing them up to be themed however they’d like. Meanwhile, just like with the previous theme park-focused game, there are plenty of management aspects to this game as well. You’ll need to check out the finances while also keeping your park running efficiently with staff that can maintain the rides along with keeping guests entertained or the park clean.
#3 Cities: Skylines
Cities: Skylines is quite often compared to the SimCity series, where players are building up and maintaining a city, full of buildings and civilians. The game will put gamers in control of various zoning’s, road placements, taxation, transportation, and even public services. Of course, the game will throw players a few problems as well. This could be as simple as focusing on desires from your civilians to natural disasters wrecking sections of the city. Again, much like the other games on this list, there’s plenty of DLC available as well to give players more content to enjoy so if you’re interested in city-building and management games, you’ll find this title recommended quite often.
#2 Rimworld
Rimworld tosses players into a science fiction colony management game. It may look simplistic but if you enjoy management-type games then you can’t go wrong here. The game has players building up their base and doing the normal odds and ends you would expect such as ensuring you have resources available for your colonist. However, the story AI is what drives this game as it offers some unique challenges such as the colonist all having their thoughts or desires.
As a result, the game can quickly go off the rails due to colonists slowly going mad or psychotic. Fortunately, the game does offer three AI storytellers in which will determine just how difficult the game may or may not get. Ultimately, you really won’t know what kind of story you’re going to get until you start the game up and let the title generate what’s going to happen.
#1 Factorio
Factorio is one of the games that constantly gets recommended and for good reason, it’s a solid video game experience. This is a game in which you build, manage, and organize automated factories in this seemingly infinite world. Of course, the more you build up your factory, the more you’ll have to ensure that you have enough resources readily available to keep your complex build sustained. You can spend countless hours here as you let your imagination go wild while building along with managing your factory. Of course, there will be trouble with the locals that will send in hostiles to wreck your production line so you’re constantly making sure you can properly defend your machinery along the way.
