Start your own board game publishing company! Combine themes and mechanics, name your games and customize their covers. Have your prototypes playtested, refine your ideas and publish your games. Invite creators, win over fans and critics, and create your first hit.

Sign in to add this item to your wishlist, follow it, or mark it as ignored

This game is not yet available on Steam

Planned Release Date: 2027

Interested?
Add to your wishlist and get notified when it becomes available.
 

About This Game

Start your own board game publishing company!

In Board Game Tycoon, your idea becomes a box with your company's name on it. Combine themes and mechanics, name your games and customize their covers. Simulated playtest groups try your prototypes. Work out the rough edges at the game table until your design is ready to publish. Game by game, you build your own catalogue. An approachable management sim for anyone who would love to tinker with board games.

Family game night or a challenge for seasoned players?

Will your game be easy to get to the table, or full of tricky decisions? Choose a theme, player count and audience, then combine the right mechanics.

Your game, your cover

Give your game a name and customize its cover. When your title joins the catalogue, you can see your own idea in it. Each release adds another box with your company's name on it.

The playtest tells the story

The game ends and everyone is talking about a rematch. Or the group spent more time leafing through the rulebook than playing. Watch their reactions and work through the findings. Another playtest group might see your design very differently. Revise what needs work and test your prototype again. Every change takes time and money. You decide when it is ready for print.

Off to the printer

Send your first print run to the printer and publish your game. Your prototype becomes a title in your catalogue. Now you find out how many boxes will sell and how much of your budget is left for the next idea.

Give your game an audience

Invite fictional content creators to a stream night with your prototype, or commission videos about games you have already published. Players rate and discuss your titles on BoardGameFreak, the fictional community site, while fictional magazines review them from their own perspectives. You put your game in the spotlight. Their videos, reviews and community reactions show you how it lands.

Keep an eye on sales and stock too: unsold boxes tie up money on your shelves. As the last copies sell, it is time to arrange a reprint.

The next playtest at the table, sales figures on the computer, another idea on the whiteboard: your isometric office brings it all together. Your catalogue tells the story of the games you have made.

What's inside

  • Game concepts for different audiences, shaped by themes and mechanics.

  • Individual names and covers for your games.

  • Simulated playtest groups, visible reactions and focused revisions.

  • Publishing, sales, stock management and reprints.

  • Fictional content creators, magazines and the BoardGameFreak community site.

  • Conventions as another way to showcase your games.

  • Single-player management in English and German.

Planned for the full release

Your games on other players' shelves. If you opt in, the games you publish can appear on the BoardGameFreak charts of other players in the same season, next to the simulated competition, complete with their names and covers. I review every name by hand before it shows up. This feature is not part of the demo.

Privacy

The game sends anonymous play statistics only with your consent, and the feature is off by default. The full notice is linked from this page.

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
    • Processor: Quad-core CPU, 2.5 GHz
    • Memory: 8192 MB RAM
    • Graphics: Vulkan 1.0 compatible GPU, 2GB VRAM (GeForce GTX 1050 / Radeon RX 560 / Intel Iris Xe)
    • Storage: 1024 MB available space
    • Additional Notes: Set Graphics quality to Low on integrated graphics or laptops.
    Recommended:
    • OS: Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)
    • Processor: Quad-core CPU, 3.0 GHz
    • Memory: 8192 MB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050, AMD Radeon RX 560, Intel Iris Xe or better
    • Storage: 1024 MB available space
    Minimum:
    • OS: macOS 11 Big Sur (Intel) / macOS 13 Ventura (Apple Silicon)
    • Processor: Intel Core i5 or Apple M1
    • Memory: 4096 MB RAM
    • Graphics: Metal-compatible GPU
    • Storage: 1536 MB available space
    • Additional Notes: Set Graphics quality to Low on MacBook Air for longer battery life.
    Recommended:
    • OS: macOS 13 Ventura or newer
    • Processor: Apple M1 or better
    • Memory: 8192 MB RAM
    • Graphics: Apple Silicon integrated GPU
    • Storage: 1536 MB available space
* Starting February 15, 2024, the Steam Client will no longer support 32-bit games or macOS 10.14 or lower.
Review Filters