Comparison

Idle Game Dev Empire vs Ship It

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

Head to head
About

Idle Game Dev Empire

Build and manage your own game development studio from a small office to a multinational corporation. Design, develop, and release various types of games, manage your team, and grow your company even while offline. Compete on leaderboards and prestige to restart with advantages.

Highlights
  • Design and develop text, 2D, 3D, and VR games
  • Mix genres and themes for unique game creation
  • Hire and manage development teams
  • Grow your company with investments and marketing
  • Earn revenue while offline
  • Prestige system for harder restarts
  • Compete on leaderboards and complete achievements
Features
Read full description

Start in a small office and grow your own game studio into a multinational software house! Idle Game Dev Empire is a game studio tycoon where you design, develop and release your own video games. Hire your team, choose the right ideas and climb the charts, even while you are offline. CREATE YOUR GAMES • Make text, 2D, 3D and VR games • Mix 7 genres (Action, Adventure, RPG, Strategy, Simulation, FPS, Casual) with 35+ themes: fantasy, cyberpunk, pirates, horror, sport, steampunk and many more • Find the perfect combination, set the right price and read the reviews • Follow every phase of development: design, scripting and bug fixing MANAGE YOUR TEAM • Hire developers and assign them to your projects • Pay salaries, watch their energy and send tired employees on vacation • Use ideas to earn money, boost creativity or fix bugs GROW YOUR COMPANY • Take on commitments and collaborations for money, experience and fans • Invest in marketing, game engines, consoles, cyber security and new studios • Keep earning while the game is closed PRESTIGE • Reach the multinational and restart a harder climb, keeping gems, shop items and themes • Complete achievements and compete on the leaderboards: record sales, 5-star games and restarts • Invite your friends with your friend code AND MORE • A 3D office where you watch your team at work • Available in English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and German • Smart notifications that respect your sleep • Automatic save and cloud save Do you love idle, tycoon and business simulation games? Download Idle Game Dev Empire and build the biggest game company in the world! Feedback & support: alexdevsolutions@gmail.com

About

Ship It

Build a virtual app development empire from a small studio to a large business. Manage tech debt, handle app store reviews, and hire advisors to optimize your growth. Make strategic exits to gain permanent benefits for future runs.

Highlights
  • Build and improve apps
  • Manage tech debt
  • Handle app store reviews and incidents
  • Hire and upgrade advisors
  • Automated builds and idle earnings
  • Make strategic studio exits
  • Unlock permanent legacy benefits
Features
Read full description

Turn taps into apps. Turn a tiny studio into your pocket empire. SHIP IT! is an incremental game about building apps, growing a studio, and making your next big exit. Start small, ship new versions, improve your apps, and put your earnings back into the business. BUILD SOMETHING BIGGER Write code, launch apps, and choose upgrades that move your studio forward. Build a portfolio a buyer wants, unlock automation, and keep shipping new versions. MIND YOUR TECH DEBT New features make an app earn more. Most also add tech debt, which slows its next builds. The Features screen shows exactly how much before you buy. When the debt piles up, refactor: pay a quarter of what those features cost, clear the debt, and keep every feature. THINGS BREAK From your second studio, App Review checks every 25th version. Ship a release with too much debt and it's rejected. The app goes off sale until the fix ships. Design Polish raises the limit, and each app warns you before a release would fail. Incidents keep you on your toes: servers go down, payments wobble, a Friday deploy goes wrong. Spend cash to fix it, send an adviser, or wait it out. Nothing random happens while you're idle or away, and your versions never go down. LEAVE WITH A PLAN Create a Build plan with app-version targets and let your automated builds get to work. Your studio keeps building and earning for up to 8 hours while you're away, and Night Shift stretches that to 24. Stay away longer and the overflow bank keeps earning at a quarter of the rate, for up to the same time again. MEET YOUR UNFAIR EDGE Discover 68 satirical advisers with different abilities. Choose a Power for a timely boost and seat a passive adviser at your Studio desk for an ongoing perk. Every card shows its effect at a glance, and you can swipe through your collection. Find combinations that suit your run, and collect duplicates to improve them. Rotate your team: lean on one adviser too often and they need a longer rest. A COLLECTION THAT GROWS WITH YOU Unlock CI to choose a free first passive adviser. Earn extra expansion cards as you recruit. For dedicated collectors, reaching Rank V with every adviser unlocks the road to Master VI. MAKE YOUR BIG EXIT Sell your studio and carry permanent benefits into the next run. Later, take on optional Exit Goal quests with distinct rules and rewards. Late in the game, their targets grow with your studio, so they stay a real challenge. Complete a quest to retire it from the board, or keep building a normal studio at your own pace. PLAY THE LONG GAME After 18 exits, each of your next 17 Legacy sales adds 13% code speed, compounding, so the late game keeps its pace. Old apps become classics: from v1000, an app earns ×1.5 for every newer app you've launched. Chase 8 badges and 23 tiers in the Hall of Fame, and keep every tier after every sale. Earn Feature Complete to unlock Max out, which buys every feature level you can afford on an app in one tap. Then see how your all-time revenue ranks on the Fortune leaderboard in Game Center. MAKE IT YOUR STUDIO Enjoy a lively pixel-art workspace with an original soundtrack that grows with your career, and big moments that land with stamps, bursts, and count-ups. Dress the studio with neon signs, window views, desk toys and pets, with a new drop every Monday, and fill a trophy cabinet with every exit. Watch your seated adviser join the crew. Play without an account or an internet connection. Optional purchases are available. One more version. One more upgrade. One more big idea. Ship it. Game Center wallet backup is optional. Optional in-app purchases and Founder Club subscriptions are available. All cash and earnings shown in the game are fictional in-game currency. Privacy: https://www.cleardays.co/ship-it/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Idle Game Dev Empire4 screens
Ship It4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Ship It at 5.0 against Idle Game Dev Empire's 4.3. Ship It also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 10 days). Idle Game Dev Empire's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Idle Game Dev Empire sells 7 one-off in-app purchases and Ship It sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ship It holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 6 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Idle Game Dev Empire ships an update every 10 days, Ship It daily. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Idle Game Dev Empire versus Ship It: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterIdle Game Dev EmpireShip It
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings36 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysDaily — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size275 MB190 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperAlexander SollazzoHendrik Haandrikman

Customer experience

Idle Game Dev Empire

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Ship It

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Idle Game Dev Empire

One-time7
  • 250 Gems$1.99
  • Buy Starter Pack$3.99
  • 1.000 Gems$3.99
Show 4 more
  • 2.500 Gems$8.99
  • 10.000 Gems$22.99
  • 25.000 Gems$44.99
  • 60.000 Gems$89.99
4 purchases

Ship It

Subscriptions1
  • Founder Club$4.991 Month
One-time3
  • Pocket Chips — 30 Chips$0.99
  • Stack of Chips — 160 Chips$4.99
  • Crate of Chips — 350 Chips$9.99

Questions

Is Idle Game Dev Empire free?
Idle Game Dev Empire is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ship It free?
Ship It is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Idle Game Dev Empire or Ship It?
Ship It is rated higher. Idle Game Dev Empire averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Ship It averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Idle Game Dev Empire or Ship It have ads?
Both Idle Game Dev Empire and Ship It show ads.
Which is updated more often, Idle Game Dev Empire or Ship It?
Idle Game Dev Empire ships an update every 10 days, and Ship It daily. Most recently, Idle Game Dev Empire was updated on November 3, 2026 and Ship It on October 31, 2026.

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