Why Early Access?

“Friendsmob is a social trading game where the economy is entirely player-driven - and that means we need YOU, our morally flexible early adopters, to help us create the perfect capitalist dystopia!

After years of running Friendsbroker (our prototype that proved people really do want to buy and sell each other), we've built the core trading mechanics that make exploitation fun. But a game about human capital needs actual humans to reach its full potential. Early Access lets us:

Build WITH Our Community: Your trading patterns, exploitation strategies, and creative ways to break the economy will help us balance the game properly. We can't simulate the beautiful chaos of thousands of players manipulating markets in real-time - we need you to actually do it!

Scale Responsibly: Social games live or die by their economy. By growing gradually through Early Access, we can adjust currency generation, prevent inflation, and ensure the bubble doesn't burst too early (or too late).
Add Features That Matter: We have ambitious plans for team systems, mentorship programs, and seasonal events, but we want your feedback on what to prioritize. Should we add more ways to exploit your friends, or more ways for them to exploit you?

Perfect the Satire: Comedy is hard, and satirical capitalism simulation is even harder. Your feedback helps us walk that perfect line between hilarious social commentary and actually fun gameplay.

Think of Early Access as insider trading, but legal and encouraged. You get in early, help shape the market, and establish your empire before the masses arrive. Plus, you'll be able to say you were exploiting humans before it was mainstream (again).”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We're planning approximately 3 seasons of Early Access - that's about 9 months (3 x 91-day seasons) of collaborative exploitation before full release!
Season 1: The Debug Depression (Days 1-91)
Iron out bugs in the core trading mechanics and ensure the exploitation engine runs smoothly. This is where we discover all the creative ways you'll break our economy and frantically patch them.
Season 2: The Feature Bubble (Days 92-182)
Roll out the remaining core features and mechanisms we've been promising - team systems, advanced social features, and new ways to monetize human suffering. Your feedback will directly influence which exploitation tools we prioritize.
Season 3: The Great Rebalancing (Days 183-273)
Fine-tune the economy based on real metrics from thousands of capitalists. We'll analyze your trading patterns, adjust currency generation, and ensure the market manipulation stays fun rather than frustrating.
After these three seasons, we'll have enough data on human greed to properly balance the game for full release. Of course, like any good capitalist venture, these timelines are subject to market conditions and may expand if we need more time to perfect your exploitation experience.
Think of it as a 9-month internship, except you're paying us and there's no job at the end - just like real internships!”

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

“The full version aims to evolve from a simple exploitation simulator into a comprehensive platform for digital capitalism, with significantly expanded features and refined gameplay:

Diversified Income Streams

While Early Access focuses on core trading and work systems, we plan to introduce multiple new ways to generate wealth - because one method of exploitation is never enough. Think idle mechanics, collection systems, and competitive mini-games that all feed into your growing empire.

Enhanced Social Systems

We're planning to implement full chat systems (global and team-based), team formation mechanics, and collaborative features that let you coordinate market manipulation with up to 30 co-conspirators. The economy is more fun when you can actually brag about your profits in real-time.

Expanded Event Calendar

Beyond our current daily and weekly tasks, we aim to add regular community events, competitive tournaments, and special limited-time activities that give everyone new ways to prove their moral bankruptcy.

Refined Economy Balance

Three seasons of real player data will help us perfect currency generation rates, trading algorithms, and reward structures. The goal is an economy that's exploitative but sustainable - like real capitalism, but actually functional.

Polished User Experience

We plan to continuously refine the interface based on player feedback, making exploitation more intuitive across all platforms. Every click should feel like profit.

Themed Seasonal Content

We're working toward fully themed 91-day seasons with unique narratives, special collections, and ridiculous themes like "People Who Still Have Cable TV" or "Humans
Who Read Terms & Conditions."

Our vision is to create the definitive social trading experience - but we're not making promises, we're making educated bets on human greed. The market will decide what features matter most!”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The core exploitation engine is complete and currently in testing!

What's Working Now:

Full Trading System:
Buy, sell, and profit from other players in our dynamic marketplace
Work Assignment Mechanics: Get assigned work as someone's pet and earn passive income even while sleeping

Achievement Framework:
600+ badges tracking your journey to moral bankruptcy (370+ permanent, 230+ seasonal)

Task Systems:
Daily and weekly objectives that reward your dedication to capitalism
Ranking Competitions: 25+ different leaderboard categories with weekly competitions
91-Day Seasons: Fresh competitive cycles to keep the exploitation interesting
Cross-Platform Foundation: Server-based architecture supporting Web, Mobile (iOS/Android), and Steam

Current Testing Focus:
We're stress-testing the economy to ensure it can handle thousands of simultaneous traders without imploding (immediately). The core buy/sell/work loop is functional, and we're fine-tuning the mathematical models that prevent any single player from monopolizing all humans (too quickly).

The game is fully playable with the fundamental social trading mechanics that made our prototype Friendsbroker addictive for years. What you're getting in Early Access is a solid foundation of exploitation that we'll expand upon based on your feedback and trading patterns.

Think of it as capitalism in beta - all the essential mechanisms for exploiting others are there, we're just making sure the market doesn't crash on day one. Though if it does, that's probably good satire too!”

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

“No - the price remains the same during and after Early Access.

We know this goes against every capitalist instinct (shouldn't we exploit early adopters with a lower price, then jack it up for latecomers?), but we're committed to this one ethical stance in our otherwise morally bankrupt game.

Early Access players get the advantage of establishing their empires before the masses arrive, learning the market dynamics while competition is lighter, and helping shape the game's development. Consider these benefits your 'early investor returns' rather than a discount.

Besides, in a game about exploiting others for profit, keeping the entry price consistent is probably the only fair thing we'll ever do. The real value isn't in saving money on the purchase - it's in getting three seasons head start on building your human capital portfolio before everyone else shows up.

Equal opportunity exploitation for all!”

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

“Your exploitation preferences matter to us! We're genuinely curious about what makes digital capitalism fun for you.

What We Want to Learn:

Which exploitation methods bring you the most joy (and profit)
What features make you feel like a proper oligarch

How you prefer to crush the dreams of others - quickly and efficiently, or slowly savoring every moment?

What additional tools of capitalism you need to optimize your human resource extraction

How We'll Listen:

The Steam Community Hub will be our primary headquarters for gathering feedback, where you can post your suggestions, report which features make you feel most morally bankrupt, and share your favorite exploitation strategies. We'll be actively monitoring discussions, responding to feedback, and taking notes on which aspects of capitalism simulation resonate most with our players.

We'll also run regular polls and surveys asking important questions like "What's your favorite way to exploit others?" and "Which new feature would make you feel more like a billionaire?" Your answers will directly influence our development priorities.
Think of it as market research, except instead of manipulating you into buying things, we're asking you how you'd like to manipulate others. It's collaborative capitalism at its finest!

Early Access players aren't just customers - you're consultants helping us build the perfect dystopia. Your feedback during these three seasons will shape how millions of future players experience the joy of treating humans as commodities.

Remember: In Friendsmob, every voice matters (weighted by net worth, of course).”