Startup Company

About

Startup Company is a single player casual strategy game with a business theme. It was developed by Hovgaard Games and was released on April 10, 2020. It received positive reviews from players.

Startup Company is a business simulation game where you run a small startup with the goal of growing it into a successful company. You must manage and improve your website, hire and keep employees happy, and expand your office space, all while competing against major tech giants. Success depends on effective management, development, and marketing strategies.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,799 reviews

gameplay62 positive mentions

grinding83 negative mentions

Engaging gameplay that allows players to simulate running a tech startup, with a variety of employee roles and tasks.
The game is addictive and can easily lead to long play sessions, providing a satisfying sense of progression.
The developer is responsive to community feedback and regularly updates the game, adding new features and fixing bugs.

The game can become repetitive and grindy, especially in the late game where players may find themselves waiting for resources.
Lack of depth in gameplay mechanics, with many features feeling similar regardless of the type of website being created.
The user interface can be clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult to manage employees and resources effectively.

gameplay
259 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
66%
10%
The gameplay of "Startup Company" has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its initial fun and engaging mechanics that quickly become repetitive and shallow. While the game offers a straightforward learning curve and enjoyable management elements, it often lacks depth and complexity, leading to a monotonous experience as players progress. Overall, while some appreciate the addictive nature and potential for future updates, others find the gameplay ultimately unfulfilling and overly simplistic.
- “The game is very engaging and has fun mechanics; I recommend it to anyone who is interested in role-playing as a CEO or entrepreneur.”
- “I enjoy the sound design and the deep interconnectivity of all the mechanics.”
- “The gameplay is cool, and the system is easy to grasp, making it fun while keeping the mechanics relatively simple.”
- “The gameplay is as shallow as any clicker game.”
- “The game lacks complexity and advanced mechanics; it's really simple, the most important part is to balance between demand and supply of your company.”
- “Unfortunately, startup company doesn't seem to deliver in the gameplay department as it does on graphics - just the opposite of both games I've mentioned.”
graphics
95 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
56%
6%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players noting that while they are simple and basic, they are also charming and fit the game's style. Some appreciate the clean and minimalist art direction, while others criticize the lack of detail and animation, describing the visuals as mediocre or average. Overall, the graphics are deemed adequate for a simulation game, with a few standout elements, but they do not significantly enhance the gameplay experience.
- “The graphics are good for a simulation game and are up to 2019 standards.”
- “The minimalist, simplified way they took with the graphics serves the viewer really well.”
- “The graphics are elegant, and better than similar games of its type.”
- “The graphics, art style, and music are all mediocre at best and really don't do the game any favors.”
- “Some downsides of this game are that the graphics aren't that good.”
- “Very boring game, awful graphics.”
grinding
87 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
4%
95%
The reviews indicate that the game features significant grinding, particularly in the late game, which many players find tedious and repetitive. While the early stages are engaging, the need for extensive micromanagement and the lack of quality-of-life improvements contribute to a frustrating experience as players progress. Overall, the game may appeal to those who enjoy grind-heavy gameplay, but it risks losing the interest of others due to its monotonous nature.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The amount of tedious work to reach that disappointing 'end game' makes the startup company less of a fun management game and more of an unrewarding grind.”
- “It's incredibly tedious and slow to play; you spend more time looking at nighttime in the office, even with the 'time travel' feature than you actually do playing anything.”
- “The main game loop is extremely boring because there are limited options, and the options are locked behind super grindy research barriers.”
monetization
79 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
5%
91%
The monetization aspect of the game primarily revolves around advertising, which is the sole source of income, leading to a repetitive gameplay loop focused on managing ad contracts and user growth. While players initially find the concept engaging, many express frustration with the limited monetization options and the eventual monotony of gameplay as they progress. Overall, the game is seen as a reflection of real-world digital advertising dynamics, but players desire more diverse revenue streams beyond just ads.
- “The haggle between features and monetization is a nice concept.”
- “Decent variety of website features, enhancements, and monetization methods.”
- “Your employees build out components and modules that are used to add features to your site, develop monetization, or used in other components and modules.”
- “In startup company, you run a website company but the only source of income possible is advertisement.”
- “But later down the line it just consists of juggling between advertisement contracts.”
- “Worse, after I built a pretty successful website, I realize it's time for monetization.”
story
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
82%
9%
The game's story is minimal and primarily serves as a backdrop for gameplay, with players taking on the role of a CEO trying to build a tech company. While there are some narrative elements, such as a retirement goal, the overall experience lacks depth and engaging missions, leading to a sense of monotony. Many players feel that the game would benefit from a more developed storyline and character interactions to enhance the experience.
- “One recent addition I liked is that they recently added a retirement part, like in the old Sid Meier game 'Pirates' that tells the story of how your life would be when you retired. Just text, but still an endgame goal to work towards.”
- “In 'Startup Company' you have the role of entrepreneur and CEO and a mission to start your very own tech company from scratch.”
- “A startup starts with innovation and convincing co-founders, employees, customers, investors, and the rest of the world that your company, its team, and its mission has a future.”
- “There's no story, you're just a guy who wanted to open his own business, and you have about 60 years to develop it, until you grow old.”
- “There is no action or story, or anything else to do once you have enough employees.”
- “The employees that you have have no interactions and no backstory on what's going on; as a CEO, you should have a connection with your employees.”
music
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
53%
18%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its calming and relaxing qualities, while others find it repetitive and bland. Although a few users enjoy the soundtrack, many express frustration over the limited variety, leading to irritation during extended play sessions. Overall, the music is described as decent but not particularly memorable, serving more as background ambiance than a standout feature.
- “The music is really nice, very calm and relaxing.”
- “The visual aesthetic is beautiful, music is perfect, and gameplay is both addictive and realistic, this could be a trainer game for how to handle yourself as a new startup!”
- “Nice background music, and you don't have to spend hours before you can see any profit, this would be a great game to get people into this genre of game.”
- “The graphics, art style, and music are all mediocre at best and really don't do the game any favors.”
- “The game does offer soundtracks, but in the end, it's a game that repeats the same soundtrack over and over again and I must say, it irritated me.”
- “Just like there's only about 2 or 3 pieces of background music, which gets annoying quite quickly.”
optimization
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
70%
10%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant performance issues, particularly in the late game when managing a large number of workers. While the game runs smoothly on lower-end devices and offers engaging optimization mechanics, many users noted sluggish performance and a lack of comprehensive optimization options, especially for high-resolution displays. Overall, while the game has potential, it currently suffers from unoptimized performance that can detract from the experience.
- “If you enjoy optimization and the idea of making numbers go big, then this does those things really well.”
- “Who you hire and how many truly affects your performance, which in the beginning you have to figure out and it's fun.”
- “You're able to rent a server room/old warehouse and may configure your own servers with a very fitting system of database, web, and cache whereby you'll need to find the right balance between all of them in order to gain the best possible performance.”
- “Therefore you will suffer performance issues when you are in the late game, and still not the top company yet.”
- “Extreme lag with an extremely unoptimized game.”
- “Performance problems.”
replayability
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
59%
22%
The reviews indicate a mixed perception of replayability in the game, with many users noting a lack of diversity in gameplay that leads to repetitive experiences. While some players find enjoyment in starting over and exploring different strategies, others criticize the game for having minimal replay value after mastering its mechanics. Overall, the consensus suggests that while there are hours of initial playability, the long-term replayability is limited, particularly in its current state.
- “Learning new features as you progress is a fun way to go about playing the game, and there is a bit of replayability to this game as well that should at the very least entertain you for a solid 20-30 hours.”
- “A great game and fantastic value considering the sheer amount of replayability.”
- “I highly recommend this game if you want a replayable business game that has plenty of depth for hours of fun gameplay.”
- “Replay value is where this game hits a major problem.”
- “Once you understand the mechanics of getting to a profit, the replayability of the game tanked for me as I realized there literally is one (or maybe two) paths of getting there.”
- “I cannot recommend this game for its current state as there is nearly no replayability.”
stability
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
8%
69%
Overall, the game's stability is a mixed bag; while many players report a generally enjoyable experience with minimal crashes and good performance, several also highlight persistent bugs, glitches, and freezing issues that can detract from gameplay. Some users appreciate the developer's responsiveness to updates, but others express frustration with micromanagement and tutorial challenges that can lead to instability. Despite these concerns, many find the game to be one of the more polished early releases they've encountered.
- “Great game for passing time, the creator is on top of keeping the game up-to-date and bug-free.”
- “No glitches or crashes.”
- “This has to be one of the most polished, bug-free games I've ever played, being it just released.”
- “The game freezes a lot so it needs to be fixed.”
- “Game glitches 3 hours in and your employee emails you over and over and over and over and over draining your bank account for some reason?!”
- “Laggy, freezes every 5 seconds.”
humor
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as lighthearted and often crude, featuring clever parodies and social commentary that resonate with players. Many reviewers appreciate the amusing company names and quirky in-game scenarios, which add a layer of fun to the gameplay, although some note that the humor can become repetitive. Overall, the game successfully blends comedy with its simulation elements, making it an entertaining experience for players.
- “Lighthearted sense of humor, parody, social commentary.”
- “And boy do I love the hilarious company names XD.”
- “Having worked for a number of startups myself, I found my sociopathic tendencies towards my employees both hilarious and profoundly disturbing.”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The reviews present a mixed perspective on the game's atmosphere; while some praise its polish and engaging environment, others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking depth. Players express a desire for a more dynamic and immersive atmosphere, both in the game's design and within the context of managing a startup. Overall, the atmosphere is seen as a key element that could benefit from further development and creativity.
- “Amazing that this is a one-man product; it is so well polished and has a great atmosphere.”
- “Great game with a nice atmosphere.”
- “A startup company is a good idea for a game; micromanage the atmosphere of your company, build your team, and live for the next contract.”
- “Repetitive, simple design without the atmosphere, not fun overall.”
- “In Startup Company, I don't like the passive atmosphere.”
- “Atmosphere shouldn't be as simple as that.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players report a strong emotional connection to the game, with some expressing that it evoked tears and a sense of attachment to their creations. While the game's limited features may detract from its depth, many find it provides a relaxing and enjoyable experience.
- “It made me cry when the bank wanted the money back.”
- “You develop an emotional attachment to the software you create.”
- “The simplicity of the game made me feel relaxed and at ease while playing.”