Comparison

Game Dev Tycoon vs East Trade Tycoon

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

Head to head
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.

About

East Trade Tycoon

Experience a comprehensive business simulation where you trade goods across 80 cities, build businesses, and manage your family to achieve ultimate wealth. Grow your empire, train heirs, and become the richest tycoon.

Highlights
  • Trade goods across 80 cities
  • Build and upgrade businesses
  • Manage family and heirs
  • Real simulation economic system
  • Strengthen caravans
  • Life simulation with family events
  • Complete trade tasks
Features
Read full description

East Trade Tycoon is a trading simulator game. In the game, you can from zero to hero. By trading markets, build a business, earn money, level up, investing accurately, and manage family to become a trading tycoon! While running a business, we can also experience life simulator, you can get married, have children, and mark your family stronger. With the growth of family members, they can also do business with you, work and earn money, which is an indispensable help for us to grow into a trading tycoon. The ultimate goal of the game is to be the richest man, to be the biggest businessman in every city, and to have a strong family so that our career can be passed on forever. Game feature: -80 cities, nearly 100 kinds of goods, have a real simulation economic system, commodity prices go up and down, you need to buy low and sell high at the most appropriate time, earn money through price differences, achieve wealth growth, and become a trade master. -Strengthen your caravan, increase the number of your caravan, increase the carrying capacity of goods, so that each transaction can make more money and profits! -Exercise eloquence, management, charm, improve yourself and family members, and make trade more powerful. -Mysterious props can increase the quantity of each transaction and the ability to reduce the price during the transaction. Try to reach the conditions and get them! -Life simulation, family members will be born, old age, sickness and death, each person has an independent appearance system, talent system, train your strongest heir! -You can set up a business in every city, which will automatically and extra ear money and fame for you. You just need to invest in it, upgrade it, and the business will give you a good return. -Accomplishing a variety of trade tasks is the secret to becoming a trade tycoon quickly. -The game will record all kinds of growth data and trade data, and when you become a trading tycoon, it must be very impressive to look back on the road you have traveled. Finally, I hope this trade simulation game can bring you happiness. If you have any questions, please contact us via email: hiwhalex@gmail.com

Screenshots

Game Dev Tycoon4 screens
East Trade Tycoon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: East Trade Tycoon at Free against Game Dev Tycoon's $4.99. East Trade Tycoon also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). Game Dev Tycoon's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.2) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On device support 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

East Trade Tycoon is free to download; Game Dev Tycoon costs $4.99 up front. East Trade Tycoon sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Game Dev Tycoon asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Game Dev Tycoon holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Game Dev Tycoon has 24K ratings behind it against 115, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of Game Dev Tycoon's written reviews are positive against 75% of East Trade Tycoon's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Game Dev Tycoon ships an update every 3 months, East Trade Tycoon every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard10 real differences · 1 level
Game Dev Tycoon versus East Trade Tycoon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGame Dev TycoonEast Trade Tycoon
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (24K ratings) — better4.2 (115 ratings)
Positive reviews91.1% of reviews — better75.0% of reviews
Number of ratings24K — better115
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#48 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size204 MB191 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGreenheart Games Pty. Ltd.Shenzhen Jingying Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Game Dev Tycoon

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

East Trade Tycoon

All ratings115 ratings
Positive79.1%
Neutral4.3%
Negative16.5%
Written reviews104 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral8.7%
Negative16.3%

User reviews

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

East Trade Tycoon

From 115 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Addictive gameplay loop
  • 👍 Good progression speed
  • 👍 No ads
  • 👍 Deep strategy and mechanics
  • 👍 Family building system

Room to improve

  • 💰 Paywall after 3 years
  • 💰 Game requires payment to continue
  • 💰 Expensive for some
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🐛 Poor English translation

Bugs and requests

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

East Trade Tycoon

Reported bugs

25 issues
  • Paywall not restoring purchase
  • Glitch with 12+ contribution unlocks
  • UI elements cut off on curved screens/notches
  • Some text boxes not translated
  • Instructions are erroneous/poorly translated
Show 20 more
  • Quest locations hard to find
  • Typo 'fart' instead of 'cart'
  • Purchase button cut off on some screens
  • UI not adapting to phone screens
  • Bug where price spikes when out of money
  • Family tree not scrollable with many children
  • Map screen freezes with time update messages
  • Game crashes/resets progress
  • Lost staff after reloading game
  • Family income not received
  • Side menu not visible on iPhone X
  • Map boundary scrolling issues
  • Blank graphics settings
  • Random events and translations have grammatical errors
  • City/player names missing spaces
  • Incorrect phrasing for sales/price increases
  • Found products disappear and cannot be sold
  • Children referred to as 'he' when female
  • Map screen shakes/jitters
  • Cannot click cities at map edge

Requested features

10 requests
  • More things to do with money
  • More threats/defense mechanics
  • Assign employees/kids to run trade routes
  • Add location notifications for quests
  • More updates
Show 5 more
  • Restore purchases
  • French translation
  • More content
  • Difficulty levels
  • More interactive elements

In-app purchases

None

Game Dev Tycoon

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

East Trade Tycoon

One-time1
  • Magic Token$2.99

Questions

Is Game Dev Tycoon free?
Game Dev Tycoon costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is East Trade Tycoon free?
East Trade Tycoon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Game Dev Tycoon or East Trade Tycoon?
Game Dev Tycoon is rated higher. Game Dev Tycoon averages 4.9 out of 5 from 24K ratings, while East Trade Tycoon averages 4.2 from 115 ratings.
Do Game Dev Tycoon or East Trade Tycoon have ads?
East Trade Tycoon shows ads; Game Dev Tycoon does not.
Which is updated more often, Game Dev Tycoon or East Trade Tycoon?
Game Dev Tycoon ships an update every 3 months, and East Trade Tycoon every 10 days. Most recently, Game Dev Tycoon was updated on October 26, 2026 and East Trade Tycoon on October 24, 2026.

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