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GridController
An online power company tycoon. Start with an exercise bike wired to a car battery and a street full of dark houses, and grow it into a utility that lights whole regions with solar, wind, gas, hydro and nuclear, on a grid you wire yourself.

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Features
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔

Coming Soon To Early Access

The developers of this game intend to release as a work in progress, developing with the feedback of players.

Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“GridController is a live online game that grows with every update: new eras, sites, research and seasons. Early Access lets players start their company now and help shape what comes next.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Around a year to 2. Early Access ends when the planned eras (with more after that, but a baseline) and the Steam features are in.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“More eras past the market, more site types and upgrades for every kind of plant, Steam achievements and leaderboards, more seasons and world events, and more community projects for Power Pools. At the current moment, we're only about page 7 of 35 of my notes for this game, left to build.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Nine eras are playable, from the garage to the national market. Sites in 3D, the 69 kV network, builders and crews, research, contracts, the market, nuclear fuel and waste, Power Pools, seasons and weather are all in the game. Hundreds of hours of gameplay so far, and I keep it updated pretty frequently.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We will be staying free to play.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The community has shaped GridController from the start. A good 30 percent of what is in the game today began as a player's idea, and I plan to keep it that way through Early Access and beyond.

Where to reach me:
- Discord (Linked Via Steam Store): #suggestions for ideas, #bug-reports for problems, #strategy and #power-pools for how people play. I read every suggestion and say in the channel when one is picked up or why it is not.
- In the game: Report a problem in the menu sends what you saw, with the details needed to fix it, straight to the team, and the in-game chat has me and the moderators in it.
- The Steam discussions on this page.

What impact the community has:
- New features: suggestions that fit the game go on the roadmap, and the patch notes credit them when they ship, or even an easter egg in the game related to their suggestion directly.
- Balance and pacing: I adjust prices, research and progression from what players report and from anonymous game statistics on where people get stuck or move too fast. When a change affects existing saves, players are refunded for what changed. Every time, since day 1.
- Beta testing: any player can apply to test upcoming versions before everyone else (Settings > Account). Testers' feedback decides whether a feature ships as it is, changes, or goes back for more work.
- Seasons and events are tuned with community feedback, ideas, and live player saves, statistics, etc.

Updates come often, and every one is listed in the game's What's New panel, in #changelog on Discord, and here on Steam.”
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This game is not yet available on Steam

Planned Release Date: Q4 2026

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About This Game

Keep the lights on

GridController is an online tycoon about running a power company. It starts in a garage with an exercise bike, a car battery and a street full of dark houses. Pedal, store what you make, sell it to the neighbors, and build from there.

From one street to a whole region

Every era opens a bigger job.
  • Garage Tinkerer. An exercise bike, a car battery and a street full of dark houses.
  • Homestead Solar. The sun works for free. Time to put it to work.
  • Independent Producer. Your first land. Your first power plant.
  • Hometown Utility. Wires, poles and customers who call when the lights go out.
  • Regional Utility. Three towns, one 69 kV network, a seat at the market.
  • Power Authority. Coal, gas, water and atoms. The whole valley runs on your plants.
  • Interregional Power. A second region, a long line home and wind that blows all night.
  • National Grid Operator. Five regions, one grid to keep at 60 Hz.
  • Market Operator. Every megawatt has a price, every hour.

Build it, wire it, run it

  • Build solar fields, wind farms, gas and coal plants, dams and nuclear reactors, every site in 3D.
  • Connect each site through its own switchyard to a 69 kV network you lay out line by line. Lines load up, storms knock things down, and the evening peak always comes.
  • Hire builders and crews and send them out. Nothing is built, upgraded or repaired without people to do it.
  • Research a deep tree of upgrades, from better panels to bigger reactors.
  • Sign contracts, sell into the market when prices spike, and keep enough in reserve for the hours that matter.
  • Run nuclear on its own economy: inspected fuel in, waste out, and a market for both.

A world that keeps moving

  • Weather crosses the map and your output follows it. A game day passes in an hour, from a quiet night to the evening rush.
  • Your company keeps running while you are away. Check in, make the calls, and see what happened.
  • Join a Power Pool with other operators to share power and build community projects together.
  • Seasons bring new goals, rewards and the occasional surprise. Nature has a temper.

A console for people who like systems

A dark control-room console shows what the grid is doing: loads, line flows, prices and work orders. Read it at a glance, or dig into every number.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Generative AI is used for the assets of this game, I'm a one man developer with a little help for technical issues, but I'm a software engineer with no creativity. Artists will be involved and compensated when that is an option for me.

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
SteamOS + Linux
    Minimum:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10 64-bit
    • Processor: Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 2200G
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620, NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 or AMD Radeon RX 550
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: An Internet connection is required to play. Hardware graphics acceleration must be on.
    Recommended:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 11 64-bit
    • Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, AMD Radeon RX 580 or Intel Arc A380
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: An Internet connection is required to play.
    Minimum:
    • OS: macOS 12 Monterey
    • Processor: Apple M1, or quad-core Intel Core i5 (2017 or later)
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Apple M1 graphics, or Intel Iris Plus 640 / UHD 630
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: An Internet connection is required to play. Universal app, runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
    Recommended:
    • OS: macOS 14 Sonoma or later
    • Processor: Apple M1 Pro, M2 or later
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Vulkan 1.3 GPU with 4 GB (GeForce GTX 1060, Radeon RX 580, Intel Arc A380), current drivers
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: An Internet connection is required to play. Universal app, runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
    Minimum:
    • OS: 64-bit Ubuntu 22.04, SteamOS 3 or equivalent
    • Processor: 4 threads at 2.5 GHz (Intel Core i3-8100 / AMD Ryzen 3 2200G)
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: OpenGL 4.5 or Vulkan 1.1 GPU with 1 GB (Intel UHD 620, GeForce GT 1030, Radeon RX 550), Mesa 22 or NVIDIA 525 drivers or newer
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: An Internet connection is required to play. Hardware graphics acceleration is required. Runs on X11 or XWayland. On Steam Deck it plays with the trackpads and touch; controller glyphs are not supported yet
    Recommended:
    • OS: 64-bit Ubuntu 24.04 or equivalent
    • Processor: 6 threads at 3.0 GHz (Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600)
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Vulkan 1.3 GPU with 4 GB (GeForce GTX 1060, Radeon RX 580, Intel Arc A380), current drivers
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: An Internet connection is required to play. Hardware graphics acceleration is required. Runs on X11 or XWayland. On Steam Deck it plays with the trackpads and touch; controller glyphs are not supported yet