# Merchant: Real World Empire — Cozy medieval trade strategy

> Real-world location-based trading and empire-building game. (iPhone/iPad app by Emphasis.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/merchant-real-world-empire/id347024989 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Emphasis](https://appshunter.io/developer/500169832)
- Category: Games, Simulation, Strategy
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 3.50/5 from 97 App Store ratings · 79 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 15.1 · 80 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2014-06-12
- Data updated: 2026-08-23
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/merchant-real-world-empire/id347024989/reviews.md

## What is Merchant?

A calm medieval trade empire, built on the real world.

No timers. No stress. No reflexes. Merchant turns the streets and cities around you into a living medieval economy — and lets you build it one unhurried decision at a time.

Found your first settlement at a real-world location, survey the land, and turn raw resources into refined goods through deep production chains. Connect your towns with trade routes, grow your population, and watch a humble camp become a prosperous empire that spans real cities and regions.

Made for unhurried afternoons — a few thoughtful minutes whenever the day allows. Your empire waits for you.

WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Found settlements at real places — a medieval map grows over the world you already know
- Master production chains — turn wood, stone and ore into lumber, bricks, food, wares, relics and luxuries
- Trade smart — move goods along trade routes to where they earn the most
- Send specialists — dispatch gatherers, carriers, minstrels and more from your caravan
- Barter with Tribes — trade and earn respect with independent settlements
- Grow your Realm — climb from district to city to region, raise your Might Score, earn noble titles
- Play with others — a persistent, shared world of fellow merchants

CALM BY DESIGN
There are no countdowns forcing you back. Nothing punishes you for putting your phone down. Merchant is a slow-strategy, cozy empire builder for people who love economy, trade and tycoon games but not the grind — a location-based game you play entirely at your own pace.

Free to play, with optional in-app purchases.

Merchant uses your location to place settlements on the real-world map. The game is played in English.

## Key features

- Explore real-world locations with GPS
- Build and upgrade settlements
- Master a player-driven economy
- Craft goods and fulfill requests
- Conquer and defend territories
- Engage in player-vs-player trading

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pouch of 10 Favors | $0.99 | one-time |
| Purse of 50 Favors | $2.99 | one-time |
| 500 Favors | $9.99 | one-time |
| 50,000 Gold | $19.99 | one-time |
| 500 Gold | $0.99 | one-time |
| 2,500 Gold | $2.99 | one-time |
| 5,000 Gold | $4.99 | one-time |
| Junior Scout | $7.99 | one-time |
| Master Scout | $34.99 | one-time |
| Senior Scout | $17.99 | one-time |
| Loaded Carts | $0.99 | one-time |
| Loaded Wagon | $2.99 | one-time |


## Recent user reviews (10 of 79)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/merchant-real-world-empire/id347024989/reviews.md

### 5/5 — I prefer the older version

*2026-07-22, version 3.3.0*

I don’t remember when I played it (maybe 10 years ago in 2016?). But I remember it was much more better and didn’t feel like vibe coded.

### 5/5 — Nothing Else Like It..

*2026-07-20*

This is simply an amazing game. There is nothing else in terms of phone games that is like it. It’s like a much deeper, multiplayer version of Settlers of Cataan. The player base is amazing, and cultivates a spirit of friendly, light-hearted competition. A fair number of us have played since the earlier versions around 15 years ago. The current version of the game is the best yet! They’ve really fleshed out the RPG side of things with the tribal mechanics. We also have a player run discord, where the dev team is regularly active. Come join us and build your kingdom on your real-life hangouts!

### 5/5 — New version

*2026-07-17, version 3.3.0*

New version is much better and devs are very responsive. Fun AR game.

### 5/5 — Game Relaunched

*2026-07-09, version 3.2.0*

The developer is relaunching the game after a while. The community discord is great, and the dev is very responsive to feedback.

### 5/5 — Reboot!

*2026-07-02*

I played this many years ago and had lots of fun with it. Now that it’s been picked up again and being regularly updated, I’m excited to get back into it! There’s some gameplay and balance issues right now (by far the most profitable way to advance is to just loot stuff during a long car ride), but the devs are active and responsive so I’m very optimistic about the game’s direction.

### 5/5 — This is a good game

*2022-04-18, version 2.0.7*

Game is great just need devs to start updating it again

### 1/5 — glitch guys

*2021-07-02, version 2.0.7*

i cant make it through the screen i gave it my location but it wont let me play i am mad and i feel so cheated

### 4/5 — I really enjoyed this

*2020-12-13, version 2.0.7*

When I played this on android I really enjoyed it, idk why I stopped, but I tried to go back a few months ago but it disappeared from the android store :(, glad to see it here hippie it doesn’t disappear :/

I wish the devs would/could get back to this....I really enjoy this :/

### 2/5 — The servers are down 1/2 the time

*2020-10-19, version 2.0.7*

This has the potential to be a fun game, but the servers are down and the game is completely inaccessible at least 50% of the time, and it is seriously a pay-to-win setup.  Don’t waste your time, the devs haven’t done squat for years, either.

### 1/5 — Game cannot connect

*2020-09-30, version 2.0.7*

I have done everything I can possibly do for ensuring that the game can connect at setup. Must be an issue with the game.

## Frequently asked questions about Merchant

### Does Merchant have ads?

No, Merchant does not contain advertisements. The game is free to play and offers in-app purchases.

### What devices does Merchant support?

Merchant is available on iPhone and iPod devices. It was last updated on June 21, 2026.

### How does trading work in Merchant?

Players can gather raw materials, craft them into valuable goods, and then trade them on a player-driven market. You can set your own prices, fulfill NPC requests, or sell instantly for quick coin.

### Can I play Merchant offline?

Merchant is a persistent online world and requires an internet connection to play. It features a living map and real-time interactions with other players.

### What is the age rating for Merchant?

Merchant has an age rating of 12+, making it suitable for teenagers and older players. The game involves strategy, trading, and conquest.

### How often is Merchant updated?

The latest version of Merchant, 3.0.3, was released on June 21, 2026. While specific update frequency isn't detailed, the game has been active since 2010.

### What are the in-app purchases in Merchant?

While specific details on in-app purchases are not provided, they typically support progression or cosmetic enhancements in free-to-play games like Merchant.

### How do I build my empire in Merchant?

You build your empire by exploring and claiming real-world locations, founding settlements, constructing buildings, and hiring specialists to expand your reach and resources.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 3.6.0 — 2026-08-20

The great arenas of the world have opened.

• Four hundred and six real arenas, across nine countries, now fly a Banner of their own. Pledge to one, and what you carry there is what raises it. You are free to leave for another whenever you like.
• Five kinds of support hold a Banner up: People, Food, Arms, Building and Luxury. The weakest of the five counts most, so a Banner is only as strong as what it lacks.
• A raised Banner pays its bannermen every day, in gold and in favors, and the three who gave most are named Champion, Companion and Guardian.
• Castles now climb: Castle, Crown Castle, Royal Castle, Imperial Castle. Each step widens the ground you can hold vassals on, and widens by just as much the ground others may march from to take yours.
• Before you lay siege, the march stands on the screen beside the castle. Your own castle decides how long an army of yours may be on the road.
• A title you earn is put on the moment it outranks the one you wear.
• Smaller comforts: the food market stall shows what your own caravan already carries, the instant sell opens on your largest pile, and a garrison reads as one line for each kind of soldier.

### 3.5.3 — 2026-08-08

Your land now says what it is good at.

• Every settlement's production chain shows how well that ground carries its commodity, on the same five dot scale the survey uses, with the tile's richness beside it.
• Gatherers bring back more from land that suits the goods, and less from land that does not. Good ground is worth the walk.
• Taming wild animals succeeds more often. Donkeys, horses, camels and elephants all became easier to win over.
• In your caravan, each commodity shows how much of it is already on the markets in range and the lowest asking price, so you can judge yours before you list.
• Gold amounts are written with the coin everywhere, and read the same on every screen.
• Tribal favors, titles and army trades come off cooldown sooner: nothing waits longer than three days now. Tribal titles do keep to that pace, one at a time.

### 3.5.2 — 2026-08-03

A follow-up to 3.5.1, all about the map camera.

• Tapping a tile slides it to the centre again, reliably. A second touch while the map was still gliding could cancel the slide halfway: the tile stayed selected, but the view froze wherever it happened to be, sometimes half off the map.
• With a Rookie or Master Scout, a selected tile lands exactly in the middle again. Since 3.5.1 it settled half a tile to the south-west.
• The real-map background lines up with the tiles again on Rookie and Master Scout grids. It sat half a tile off, which put streets under the wrong land.
• Food market stalls now list the wares of the four districts next door: north, south, east and west. A corner district is not next door, and eight districts made one stall read like a whole city.

### 3.5.1 — 2026-08-01

A same-day follow-up to 3.5.0, fixing what that update got wrong.

• Empty land shows its terrain again. Since 3.5.0 it read "Unclaimed", which told you nothing the map had not already said.
• With a Rookie or Master Scout, the map centres on the tile you are actually standing on. It had drifted to the north-east, which made the whole view feel shifted.
• Tiles at the far edge of a Master Scout's range accept actions again. The app was turning them down on its own, before it ever asked.
• The market screen opens the district you are standing in, rather than one off to the west.
• The Metropolis label has gone from the realm and visit cards. The settlement itself is unchanged: the name row was simply too crowded.

### 3.5.0 — 2026-08-01

A calm update, in the spirit of the game: no timers, no stress.

• Food markets on real market squares: a market hall or weekly market near you can now stand on the map as a stall. It keeps no stock of its own. It shows what the districts around it have for sale in raw food, food and luxuries, and adds a small markup for the haulage. For the seller it is an ordinary sale, wherever they are.
• The Pedia now shows a building's full upgrade chain, with the cost and yield of every step, so you can see where a building leads before you lay the first stone.
• Build cards show where a building sits in that chain, and an upgrade you cannot reach yet is shown as locked instead of hidden away.
• A Castle now unlocks the barracks ladder across your whole empire, not only in the settlement that holds it.
• Soldiers recalled from a garrison march home as the groups you recalled them in.
• Corruption was quietly charged twice a day. It is charged once now, so your daily gold is higher than it looked.
• Building costs read as they are written: three kinds of ten means three kinds of ten, and the invented limit of one Metropolis per city is gone.
• Visiting a tile no longer wipes it from your map, and a purchase queued while you were offline is now honoured.

## More apps by Emphasis

- [AVW Dakramenspecialist](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/avw-dakramenspecialist/id500169829)

All apps by Emphasis: https://appshunter.io/developer/500169832

## Related topics

[empire world](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/empire-world)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-23.*