Comparison

Thirsty Empire vs CEO Tycoon

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

Head to head
About

Thirsty Empire

Build a business empire from humble beginnings on the San Antonio Riverwalk. Grow from a street vendor to a billionaire by investing in various businesses and real estate across the city. Experience a rags-to-riches journey with strategic economic choices.

Highlights
  • Rags-to-riches climb with 8 wealth tiers
  • Explore real San Antonio locations
  • Engage in a hustle economy with savings, crypto, and loans
  • Save and resume empire progress
  • Street-smart guide with full voice narration
  • Deterministic and replayable game runs
Features
Read full description

You're broke, standing on the San Antonio Riverwalk with nothing but hustle. Thirsty Empire is a fast, addictive tycoon game about clawing your way from busker to billionaire across real San Antonio. Start with a single frozen-drink cart. Flip it into a bar. Then a candy shop, an e-bike store, real estate, the casino floor - until you own the whole city. FEATURES - Rags-to-riches climb: 8 wealth tiers from Broke to Run the City - Real San Antonio: Riverwalk, Southtown, downtown landmarks - A hustle economy: savings, crypto, casino, property, loans - Save and resume your empire anytime - A street-smart guide who talks you through every move (full voice) - Deterministic, replayable runs: chase your best score No timers nagging you. No pay-to-win. Just you, the city, and the grind. How fast can you run the city?

About

CEO Tycoon

Make critical business decisions as a CEO in this pixel-art simulation game. Manage cash, board trust, and team morale across various industries. Your choices impact the company's fate, and getting fired is just the start of a new career.

Highlights
  • Decision-based gameplay
  • Manage four key metrics
  • Multiple industries to run
  • Dynamic company visuals
  • Collectible achievement posters
  • Unlockable CEO characters
  • Customizable office and HQ
Features
Read full description

Everyone thinks they could run a company. Here's your chance to find out — usually in under ten minutes. CEO Tycoon: Don't Get Fired is a pixel-art decision game about the job everybody assumes they'd be good at. Every day drops a stack of memos on your desk, and none of them have a clean answer. Pick fast. The board is watching the same four numbers you are. A DAY AT THE TOP - Read the memo, pick a side. There's rarely a right answer, only a bill that arrives later. - Four numbers judge everything you do: cash, board trust, team morale and the stock price. - Every call comes with a receipt, so you see exactly what it cost. - When you close the day, the market closes with it. Even a quiet day costs money. - Duck a decision and it doesn't go away. It comes back older, and it brings friends. FOUR INDUSTRIES, FOUR KINDS OF TROUBLE Run a tech startup, an airline, a restaurant or a drug company. Burn rates and breaches, grounded fleets and unions, health inspectors and one viral review, clinical trials and pricing scandals. Same rules, very different disasters. A COMPANY WITH A PULSE Walk the headquarters floor and watch your decisions show up in the room. When morale and results are good, desks fill up. When they slide, people drift to the lobby. THE BOARD REMEMBERS Lose their trust and you're walked out with a cardboard box. Burn through the cash and the company folds around you. Either way you get the post-mortem: how many days you lasted, and the decision that finished you. IT'S A CAREER, NOT A RUN Getting fired isn't the end — it's a line on your record. Every company hands you a mandate with real targets: reach the deadline with the cash, the trust and the morale to show for it. Hit them and the badge is permanent. Miss them and your contract quietly ends. Then two new companies land on the table, and you choose whose mess to inherit. MAKE IT. FRAME IT. Earn thirty collectible achievement posters, from your first call to the Triple Crown, and hang your favorite on the corner-office wall. RUN IT YOUR WAY - Eleven executives to be, from a steady owl to a wolf nobody has ever asked to repeat itself. - Your CEO's face changes with the quarter. So do the four animals on the board. - Want a new face at the top? Hire a new CEO with company cash, or for free after every mandate you complete. - Build out the corner office with desk pieces you arrange yourself, and staff the HQ floor with new hires. - 8-bit art throughout, and a synthwave soundtrack that shifts when the pressure does. MADE FOR IPHONE DUO Unfold it and the memo sits right beside your desk, with the HQ floor and your office side by side. Fold it and the same day carries on on the outer screen, mid-decision. Portrait or landscape, the game follows you. NO ADS. NO TIMERS. NO ENERGY BARS. Optional cosmetic packs are permanent, one-time purchases, and not one of them touches the game. The entire career is playable without spending anything. Requires an internet connection — your career lives on the server, so it survives closing the app. Sign in with Apple, optionally, and it survives a new phone too.

Screenshots

Thirsty Empire3 screens
CEO Tycoon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Thirsty Empire at none against CEO Tycoon's 10. Thirsty Empire also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). CEO Tycoon's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. CEO Tycoon sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Thirsty Empire asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Thirsty Empire against 5.0 for CEO Tycoon. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thirsty Empire ships an update every 3 weeks, CEO Tycoon weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 4 level
Thirsty Empire versus CEO Tycoon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThirsty EmpireCEO Tycoon
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size98 MB183 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperJoel PanchevreRummenige Baron

In-app purchases

None

Thirsty Empire

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

CEO Tycoon

One-time10
  • Golden Parachute$0.99
  • New Hires$2.99
  • Back Office$3.99
Show 7 more
  • Front Office$3.99
  • Hollywood Studio$4.99
  • Fashion House$4.99
  • Sports Franchise$4.99
  • Crypto Exchange$4.99
  • Members Only Office$6.99
  • All Industries$12.99

Questions

Is Thirsty Empire free?
Thirsty Empire is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CEO Tycoon free?
CEO Tycoon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Thirsty Empire or CEO Tycoon?
Thirsty Empire and CEO Tycoon are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Thirsty Empire or CEO Tycoon have ads?
Neither Thirsty Empire nor CEO Tycoon shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Thirsty Empire or CEO Tycoon?
Thirsty Empire ships an update every 3 weeks, and CEO Tycoon weekly. Most recently, Thirsty Empire was updated on October 31, 2026 and CEO Tycoon on November 6, 2026.

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