So what if you had a business tycoon game where you focused on running a major business and had to compete against other players in real time? That’s the overall thrust of Econia, a newly released mobile game that challenges 14 players to play against one another in one map to run a successful business operation in what’s being called a “genre-bending” blend of city builder, tycoon game, and MMO.
“While players compete in Econia they will have to grapple with a complex closed economy that simulates the flights and stumbles of its real-world counterpart. This makes every game a unique experience that is shaped by the actions of all the individual players. Under changing, realistic conditions players will vie with each other for territory, power and business success all while trying to stay afloat and avoid bankruptcy.
“By making each map playable by 14 players at a time, the game’s developers have taken the city-builder and tycoon gaming genres and redefined them in the context of an MMO.”
Gameplay in Econia promises a variety of moral quandaries that players will have to consider while operating their business such as their business’ effect on the environment, as well as the need to adapt to the economic changes that other player decisions make. An introductory post touts a lack of pre-made scenarios and “non-linear and unpredictable” gameplay.
Econia is currently available for iOS and Android, while a roadmap at the bottom of the game’s website notes further expansion into PC, with beta testing in March 2021, a PC release in July 2021, and a launch on Steam in August 2021, though those windows may change.
