Comparison

Minimum Effort vs Silicon Empire

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

Head to head
About

Minimum Effort

Features
Read full description

You have a job. You do not want to do it. Minimum Effort is a satirical workplace strategy game. Every workday runs from 09:00 to 17:00, and everything you can do with those 480 minutes trades three things against each other: the time it saves you, the output it actually produces, and how conspicuous it makes you. The goal is not to be good at your job. It is to find the least amount of work that survives. HOW A DAY WORKS • Do the work, fake the work, or avoid it entirely. Looking busy covers part of a shortfall when the boss checks the deliverables. It never files the report. • The boss patrols the floor. When he walks past in the middle of something you get a couple of seconds to look busy . and less time the hotter you already are. • Repeat an act and it gets riskier every time. The fourth bathroom break is not the first bathroom break. • Colleagues talk. Each one has their own trust in you and their own doubts, and a rumour that crosses the floor twice reaches the boss's office from a direction you were not watching. THE PEOPLE Your accomplice will cover for you. The overachiever notices an unearned win. The snitch keeps a note of when people leave their desk. The gossip has already told two other people. You can chat, delegate your work, ask somebody to cover, genuinely help them . or put your name on their work, which they never forget. PROMOTIONS ARE A TRAP Every rung on the ladder pays more and expects more. Getting promoted is easy. Staying just competent enough not to be fired, one rung higher, with a bigger quota and the same amount of effort . that is the game. FIVE CAREERS - Corporate. Easy. Meetings, decks and a quarterly review nobody reads. - Startup. Chaotic. Twelve people, no structure, and everybody notices everything. - Consulting. Medium. Frameworks, workstreams, and never being the one with the answer. - Investment banking. Extreme. Enormous money, enormous work, and an associate who never leaves. - Home office. Nobody can see you and everything is measured. The green dot is your new boss and it cannot be charmed. Corporate and Startup are included. Consulting and Investment Banking are unlocked together by the Career Pack. Home Office is its own pack. Both are one purchase each, not a subscription, nothing recurring, and either one removes the advertising. THE ONLY SCORE THAT MATTERS Total money earned, divided by hours you actually worked. Retire at the top of a ladder having been paid for years and worked for weeks, and the number on your record board will say so. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO No account and no sign-in. Your careers are saved on your device and nothing about them leaves it. It does show advertising, which Google's ad kit loads over the network, and either pack removes it. Minimum Effort is a work of satire. The offices, the colleagues and the careers are invented, and nothing in it is advice about a real job. Recommendations for our other apps load online. Their views and taps are counted as daily totals, without personal profiles or user/device identifiers. See our privacy policy.

About

Silicon Empire

Build a leading chip company from 1995 onwards. Research technologies, design hardware, manage production, and compete with AI rivals across decades of industry evolution. The base game offers a complete business simulation experience.

Highlights
  • Research new technologies
  • Design CPUs and GPUs
  • Manage factories
  • Hire specialists
  • Compete with AI companies
  • React to changing markets
  • Single-player business simulation
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Start in 1995 with a small office, a handful of engineers, and one goal: build the most important chip company in the world. Research new technologies, design CPUs and GPUs, create complete laptops, hire specialists, manage factories, and turn each product generation into a real business. Performance, manufacturing cost, thermals, pricing, timing, and demand all shape the result. Compete with AI-controlled companies as the industry moves across decades of hardware. Expand your offices and production, react to changing markets, and build a product lineup strong enough to survive the next technological shift. Silicon Empire is a deep single-player business simulation built for players who want to understand why a product succeeds — or why it fails. Optional one-time expansions add manual die-layout and architecture tools, plus ISA, operating-system, and software-ecosystem design. The base game remains a complete experience without them.

Screenshots

Minimum Effort4 screens
Silicon Empire4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Silicon Empire at none against Minimum Effort's shown. Silicon Empire also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks) and device support (3 vs 1). On price 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. Minimum Effort sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Silicon Empire sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Minimum Effort ships an update every 3 weeks, Silicon Empire every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Minimum Effort versus Silicon Empire: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMinimum EffortSilicon Empire
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB89 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLevin David SchwabDima Zubchenko

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Minimum Effort

One-time2
  • Home Office Pack$3.99
  • Career Pack$3.99
2 purchases

Silicon Empire

One-time2
  • Deep Architectures$6.99
  • The Software War$6.99

Questions

Is Minimum Effort free?
Minimum Effort is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Silicon Empire free?
Silicon Empire is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Minimum Effort or Silicon Empire have ads?
Minimum Effort shows ads; Silicon Empire does not.
Which is updated more often, Minimum Effort or Silicon Empire?
Minimum Effort ships an update every 3 weeks, and Silicon Empire every 3 days. Most recently, Minimum Effort was updated on October 31, 2026 and Silicon Empire on November 6, 2026.

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