Comparison

Game Studio Tycoon 3 vs Game Dev Tycoon

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Game Studio Tycoon 3

Simulate a complete game development studio, from hiring staff and creating games to designing hardware and managing finances. Compete against AI studios and grow your business across decades of gaming history.

Highlights
  • Build and manage a game studio
  • Develop games for various platforms
  • Create custom gaming hardware
  • Manage employees and teams
  • Engage with a complex fan system
  • Compete against AI studios
Features
Read full description

It’s a dream of every amateur and pro gamer to have their own personal game studio where they can hire the best developers, create awesome video games and sell them for a huge profit! Game Studio Tycoon 3 gives you the chance to simulate a fully functional game development studio! Do you have what it takes to beat the competition and become the best studio in the industry? • Start on your own in a small office, and grow your gaming business to owning 7 buildings and managing 50 employees while tasking 3 independent teams of game developers to produce different projects at the same time! • Build your video gaming business alone, or try to get help from investors. A unique investor system allows you to sell off part of your company for money when you’re in a pinch! • Develop games for devices from 50 years of gaming history as well as the near future. • Create your own video games and even MMO’s! Determine the level of support for your MMO games, create updates, and run advertisement campaigns to attract new users! • Create your own hardware! You can create a traditional console, handheld device, or even a mobile device (tablet/phone). Once your hardware is released you can try to increase your market share by investing in third party developers to produce games for your hardware. Every game you release on your own hardware can help increase your market share! • Set the price for your games and hardware. Lower priced products tend to sell more, but turn less of a profit – find the right balance to capitalize! • Participate in 3 yearly conventions, each targeted at different types of fans. • Incredibly complex fan and user system. Each fan has a genre preference, and platform preference, and an age. On top of that, your fans will grow older as the game progresses! • Compare your studio against 7 AI studios and compete for yearly awards. • Analyze and strategize! Pour over various charts and graphs to determine what games you should make and decide what direction to take your company in. • Plan your game projects and hardware ahead of time. You can queue up to 3 projects for each team to work on for a total of 9 projects. This means when a team is done with their current project, they will move on to the next one right away! • Take a gamble and make games for big publishers! However, publisher deals rely on your past projects so be sure to have a high average game rating! • Certify your employees in 8 different technical fields to help improve their performance. Chase your dream and get immersed in the ultimate tycoon adventure of the Game Development industry!

About

Game Dev Tycoon

Build your own game development company from the 1980s to the present. Design and create your own games, research new technologies, and manage a team to become a market leader. Enjoy a full simulation experience without ads or in-app purchases.

Highlights
  • Start a game development company
  • Design and create your own games
  • Research new technologies
  • Hire and manage a development team
  • Replay gaming history
  • Built-in screen recording and streaming
Features
Read full description

"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.

Screenshots

Game Studio Tycoon 34 screens
Game Dev Tycoon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Game Dev Tycoon at 4.9 against Game Studio Tycoon 3's 3.8. Game Dev Tycoon also leads on review sentiment (91% vs 53%) and ratings volume (24K vs 90). Game Studio Tycoon 3's advantage is update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Game Studio Tycoon 3 costs $4.99 and Game Dev Tycoon $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Game Dev Tycoon holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Game Dev Tycoon has 24K ratings behind it against 90, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 53% of Game Studio Tycoon 3's written reviews are positive against 91% of Game Dev Tycoon's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Game Studio Tycoon 3 ships an update every 8 days, Game Dev Tycoon every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Game Studio Tycoon 3 versus Game Dev Tycoon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGame Studio Tycoon 3Game Dev Tycoon
Price$4.99$4.99
Rating3.8 (90 ratings)4.9 (24K ratings) — better
Positive reviews52.8% of reviews91.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings9024K — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#49 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size165 MB204 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAshley SherwinGreenheart Games Pty. Ltd.

Customer experience

Game Studio Tycoon 3

All ratings90 ratings
Positive68.9%
Neutral8.9%
Negative22.2%
Written reviews127 reviews
Positive52.8%
Neutral15.7%
Negative31.5%

Game Dev Tycoon

All ratings24,004 ratings
Positive98.6%
Neutral0.6%
Negative0.8%
Written reviews1,111 reviews
Positive91.1%
Neutral3.9%
Negative5.0%

User reviews

Game Studio Tycoon 3

From 90 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 The best game ever!!
  • 👍 Pretty fun and addicting game would recommend
  • 👍 Great Game
  • 👍 It's super fun
  • 👍 Fun

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Keeps crashing
  • 🐛 Crashes continuously
  • 🐛 Impossible To Win!
  • 🐛 Doesn't fit my screen correctly. Crashes all the time. An ugly looking copy of Game Dev Tycoon. Save your money.
  • 🐛 The game isn't even optimized to fit an iPhone, yet you're trying to 'sell' it instead of making it a free app? Worst 3 dollars or so I've ever spent in my life. It's to bad I can't rate 0 stars.

Game Dev Tycoon

From 24K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Cheap price
  • 👍 No in-app purchases or ads
  • 👍 Addictive and fun gameplay
  • 👍 Realistic game development simulation
  • 👍 Detailed and complex mechanics

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Game crashes on launch for some users
  • 🐛 Orientation issues on iPhone X
  • 🐛 Difficulty remembering research and specialist information
  • 🔋 Game can be very time-consuming
  • 🤔 Lack of difficulty options or sandbox mode

Bugs and requests

Game Studio Tycoon 3

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Ratings Problem
  • Impossible To Win!
  • Doesn't fit iPhone notch
  • Разрешение экрана
  • Слiders don't work for engine
Show 6 more
  • Kein Update
  • Game over penalty is too small and easy is the best way to play
  • Load Game menu Dosen't work only some times works you sometimes have to redownload game.
  • After finishing the first50yrs, I was told to own those console and engine but I don't see anything when I create a new game
  • My game crashes every time I try to load a save after finishing the first 50yrs of game
  • Certification is insanely hard to get, I am wondering if there are function if I got those certification

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add a newsreel I feel like it'd be an interesting concept to the game
  • Sandbox mode
  • More genres and topics
  • Ability to move staff to a new office
  • Simplified Chinese
Show 1 more
  • Update Food Tyccon for iOS11 please

Game Dev Tycoon

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Loan payback amount inconsistency
  • Game reports not carrying over knowledge

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more console and game genre options
  • Implement employee personalities and interactions
  • Provide more detailed game performance history
  • Allow simultaneous game development
  • Add difficulty settings and sandbox mode
Show 1 more
  • Implement mod support and custom content

In-app purchases

None

Game Studio Tycoon 3

No in-app purchases

None

Game Dev Tycoon

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Game Studio Tycoon 3 free?
Game Studio Tycoon 3 costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Game Dev Tycoon free?
Game Dev Tycoon costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Game Studio Tycoon 3 or Game Dev Tycoon?
Game Dev Tycoon is rated higher. Game Studio Tycoon 3 averages 3.8 out of 5 from 90 ratings, while Game Dev Tycoon averages 4.9 from 24K ratings.
Do Game Studio Tycoon 3 or Game Dev Tycoon have ads?
Neither Game Studio Tycoon 3 nor Game Dev Tycoon shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Game Studio Tycoon 3 or Game Dev Tycoon?
Game Studio Tycoon 3 ships an update every 8 days, and Game Dev Tycoon every 3 months. Most recently, Game Studio Tycoon 3 was updated on October 20, 2026 and Game Dev Tycoon on October 23, 2026.

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