Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 12:53 am
Game Dev Tycoon – Simulation Game Review
Game Dev Tycoon is a Simulation/Strategy game from Greenheart Games Pty. Ltd., first launched in 28th November 2017.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 23,542+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Game Dev Tycoon Stand Out
"It’s the perfect sort of game for mobile devices and there’s so much to do here […]" –
5/5 – Toucharcade
Game Dev Tycoon is a casual business simulation game where your success depends on your creativity and willingness to experiment. The game does not contain any in-app purchases or ads. Slip into the role of a game developer: start your own company, design your own games and make your way to the top to become a Game Dev Tycoon.
- Start your own game development company in the 80s
- Replay gaming history
- Design and create your own games
- Hold your breath and wait for reviews to come in
- Research new technologies
- Hire and manage a world-leading development team
- Become the leader of the market
- Gain worldwide fans
Game Dev Tycoon for iPhone and iPad introduces:
- An updated story line
- New topics to enable even more varied games
- A challenging (but optional) ‘pirate mode’
- Built-in screen recording and streaming support
Game Dev Tycoon does not require an internet connection so go ahead and build your gaming empire in Airplane Mode.
This Simulation game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Game Dev Tycoon is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 3rd November 2025
Recent improvements include:
Thank you for playing!
Changes:
- Performance optimizations
- Bug fixes
Download & Availability
Game Dev Tycoon is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Game Dev Tycoon on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
\> Kairosoft has entered chat Good game though.
If youre looking for a fun game dev game, youve found it.
Only phone game worth buying, as addictive as nicotine.
Fantastic game and phone port, but experiencing an irritating bug where we cant start a new game after completing a game that ends after 35 years. Not crippling, but irritating as we cant keep track of high scores. When we restart the app, it takes us back to 35Y 12M 2W auto save but has the same issue when we try to complete the game. If theres an easy fix please let us know – love the game otherwise.
The ratings you get for games youve developed are extremely random, or thrown into a complex algorithm that makes it practically impossible to routinely create great games, as everything imaginable will count against you. For every good game you make, enjoy barely surviving for the next 6 games you make. Supposedly you can perform market research, but Ive found it to be fairly useless in telling us why a game did poorly. Sales figures seem odd at best sometimes, and in some instances make zero sense. Theres no visibility on how your profit is calculated, and while there isnt a cash shop, it feels almost like youre playing a F2P game thats just edging you along in order to get you to buy a pack so you can get more cash. We enjoyed the game for the first day we played it. It seemed fun, but as Ive put more time into it, Ive just become frustrated with it.
Ive played this game so many times over the years. No one else has a game like this, console desktop or ios. Our favorite game of all time. Please make something new! Worth the money.
We remember playing this game like around the time the wii u came out and we love that its on mobile. Only complaint is that some of the UI gets cut off by the curved screen.
We tried everything to get the sound to work even Bluetooth headphones, just the phone speaker, in game settings, our phone settings, checking if sound actually works on our phone which it does by the way, making sure our volume is up, and just literally anything but we cant get any sound at all.
Really fun, GoingThrough It a Second Time But needs newer consoles like the mbox(Xbox) series s/x.
Good game, heres like 5 cents that you probably got from a 5; star review.
Other tycoon game are pay to win but this game takes strategy to win we love the idea of it.
We love this game its addicting and amazing at the same time.
This game is fairly old but it keeps getting updates even to this day. Very well designed and can be quite challenging.
Hope to see more and that it doesnt stall out after 35 years, but we cant wait to see more.
We always wondered whats it like to create games and and how to amaze the audience and customers.
We absolutely love this game. Ive played the story through several times and never get bored. Highly recommend.
Ive only played for at most 20 minutes and Im addicted this game is too good.
Its so fun our brother got us playing it and we cant stop.
Absolutely one of the funnest games that have never received expansions or additions. Would be nice.
Going from nearly bankrupt to thriving with one game is SIMPLY rewarding.
We think there should be more details in everything with the creating a game like the sliders should have levels to them ok how they make better.
Really fun game just the screen isnt fitting on the 13 Max. Creative and fun game lot of passion in this game.
Im not gonna write a bot like paragraph again.. Play it or miss out, just know its unmatched as far as in depth gameplay and as stimulating as a simulation game can get.
Love these types of games this is definitely one of them.
The Business ideas needed in hardcore mode really stimulate us. We will rise above all! A small but important change we would make is more nuanced consideration between genres and themes. We think some visions can be poor in one era rather than the other, and while you display this, it could be even more specific. Just a thought.
Iconic game still fun to this day.
We Love the game it is fun to plan and imagine what the games are like! 5 stars.
Very easy to play and enjoyable. Get to kind of parody reality and it makes for interesting playthroughs.
Been playin for years and it's always gone hard.
Amazing game the way it keeps us attending to how we make the games is how it should be.
Mostly play on PC but its still similar, we would recommend playing because it a amazing experience.
Played this game on PC first, and other than mod support (obviously), the mobile version has everything the desktop version has. Never seen any other mobile port do this. 11/10 port.
We're an imaginative person and this scratches the itch, allowing us to be goofy with game ideas that float in our head. The overall structure of the game is perfect. We wouldn't change much. But here are our ideas for what to add in a sequel. – Ability to combine topics similar to genres – Acquisitions, we.e. Buy Bethesda or Bungie – Sell your company (upload a playthrough and it may randomly be up for sale in another person's game) – (settings option) Randomize what the audience likes in a genre or topic (for more replayability) – research on "current trends" as a way to learn more about audience interests – Game description (optional) but would be hilarious to read another "company's" games (related to sell your company idea above) – A team and B team (twelve members to rep the company) – employees can quit (optional setting) – more tech research – handheld console – streamer idea from the netflix version is great – it'd be interesting if you could see "competition" — we don't care about online competing, but procedural npc competitors could be fun –Or maybe updates similar to the chirp feature in Cities Skylines. We.e. Opt in to get periodic updates on other real player progress (we.e. Companies going out of business, good and bad games. Just random goings on of other people's games could be entertaining) – more options for engine components — ai only having 3 components feel like it could be spread out better. Lastly, a Movie/TV tycoon game in the same style could be fun as well. Thanks for the fun.
We get tired of playing freemium games. This is the best Simulation game in years. We love it on Steam and now the iPhone. If youre on the fence: buy this game. You wont regret it. Edit: years later and we still come back to this game. Why havent you purchased it already.
Played this on android back in the day with play pass. Hands down best game ever worth buying. No issues at all. This is a game the devs really care about. Thank you! 5/5 we recommend.
Its a good game but easily tellable for a first game.
So yes the game is extremely good.
Definitely worth the price! Ill probably be playing this game for the rest of the year and maybe even do a YouTube review.
Re-playability is the best word to describe what keeps this game going. Everytime you start a new company, you have the skills and knowledge of last time, and you can go just a littttttttle bit further than last time, pushing you to play again. We would have liked to see more game topics but thats why Im excited to see what the sequel holds.
Honestly, really good game, if this were a quesadilla we would eat it.
Great game and we absolutely love playing, although after so long it does get stale as there are only so many events that can happen and each time you play it becomes increasingly more redundant.
The game is great. However, it would be amazing if there was competition from other corporations in the game, which would add even more dynamics and realism. It would also be cool if you could create your own online store like Steam or Epic Games (and yes, we know that you can do this in the lab, but it seems too limited and we would like more) and, for example, create items in the lab for your online game store and somehow integrate it with the competition. And finally, besides creating DLCs and sequels, make updates for MMO games or just for games. Thank you GreenHeart for the game, you guys are the best.
We love this game. We love this we love the developer Greenheart. Buying GDT for the fifth time just to support Tavern Keeper.
Even though by the time Im writing this, Ive already lost twice its still a really fun game especially because of losing and currently Im trying to make Bethesda a thing but honestly we just love it especially since the mechanics are what it would be like to make an actual game kind of shows what they went through.
This game is crazy good its just that the last update was 2+ years ago. Please come back developers.
It is so fun that you can create your own games.
Been playing this on our computer and phone since the day it was released. Never fails to entertain. Enough mechanics to keep you busy.
Their are so many fun little things you can do! We love passing time on our phone playing this! Its way better than any of the mindless games we saw when we were looking for something to play. Totally worth our money.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.6.20
- Size: 204.41 MB
- iOS: 17.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Greenheart Games Pty. Ltd.
Last updated: 3rd November 2025 | Genre: Simulation, Strategy | Developer: Greenheart Games Pty. Ltd.