14 best tycoon games for Android

Tycoon games have a long and storied history. Some of the most popular include SimCity, RollerCoaster Tycoon, and Transport Tycoon. There are modern gems in this space too. Game Dev Tycoon is fairly successful. The SimCity-inspired Pocket City is also quite good. Tycoon games are basically business management games. Your goal is to build the best possible business. These all count as simulation games. However, they definitely feel different from your usual simulators. Here are the best Tycoon games for Android.

The best tycoon games for Android

Battle of Polytopia

Price: Free /In-app purchases ($0.99 – $4.49 per item)

Battle of Polytopia is a strategy game with a heavy kingdom-building element. You build your kingdom, take over other kingdoms, manage your resources, manage your troops, and unlock new technologies. The game focuses heavily on your ability to generate resources to further your technological needs, so it technically falls under the scope of a tycoon game. The game also has online multiplayer, offline support, play-and-pass local multiplayer, and leaderboards. There’s a lot to like about this one. It’s also free with Google Play Pass.

Kairosoft tycoon games

Price: $6.49

Kairosoft is a developer on Google Play with some excellent tycoon games. One of its most popular is Game Dev Story, which is a direct competitor to Game Dev Tycoon. Other options include Mega Mall Story 2, Silver Screen Story, The Ramen Sensei, Grand Prix Story 2, Cafeteria Nipponica, and several others. Each game has its own set of mechanics but a similar overall premise. You grind for resources and upgrades in order to pay for better resources and upgrades. Many of Kairosoft’s games are free with Google Play Pass, and there are a healthy number of both free-to-play and premium options.

Mini Metro

Price: $0.99

Mini Metro is a subway simulator where you build a subway for a growing city. It’s a lot more minimal than most tycoon games, but honestly, that only adds to its charm. That’s especially true when you consider how complex this game can get. You draw lines between the various stations, redraw those lines as needed when new stations come out, and keep things as simple as possible. The game also includes real-city subway systems, so you can practice your skills. This game is simultaneously less and more complicated than most tycoon games, and it’s an easy entrant on this list. The game is also pretty cheap, at only $0.99 or free with Google Play Pass if you have it.

Motorsport Manager Mobile 3

Price: $1.99

Motorsport Manager Mobile 3 is a tycoon sim crossed with a racing game. Players build up a whole motorsport business. It’s actually fairly involved. You can hire personnel for everything, down to the driver of your car. There are various upgrades to get, and better employees generate better results. You can also get even deeper by creating pitstop strategies and dealing with weather changes. Plus, you can actually race the car yourself if you want to. It does just about everything a Tycoon fan would typically want. It is priced at $1.99, and it’s honestly pretty worth it.

My Colony

Price: Free / $4.99

My Colony is a city-builder sim with some strategy game elements. You start the game by building a colony on Mars. As you build, your city generates revenue that you then use to expand your city more. The game offers four civilizations to play in, nearly 400 buildings, single and multiple player capabilities, achievements, Android TV support, and you can even mod the game. It’s shockingly deep but satisfying to play if you’re a fan of the genre.

OpenTTD

Price: Free

OpenTTD is an open-source mobile port of the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe. It’s a transport tycoon game where you build highways, railways, and other transportation infrastructure to transport goods. This is a classic tycoon game. Thus, it is a lot deeper and more granular than modern games. It also takes a bit to learn since it is a port of an existing game. We recommend reading the Google Play description for some tips and tricks, along with helpful links. The official Transport Tycoon is on mobile (Google Play), but the developers for it are struggling to make it work right on mobile.

Pocket City

Price: $2.99

Pocket City is about as close to SimCity as you can get on mobile. It’s a town simulator where you build a whole town. You’re responsible for making sure there is a proper balance between residential and industrial buildings. Plus, you can add entertainment and all of that. The game gets very deep when you get into things like how much tax to charge citizens. It’s truly one of the outstanding mobile city-builders and much better than the official SimCity BuildIt mobile game (Google Play). There is a free version and a premium version for $2.99. It’s also free on Google Play Pass. You can also try the sequel to the game, Pocket City 2 (Google Play).

RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch

Price: Free

Rollercoaster Tycoon Touch is a Rollercoaster Tycoon game made for mobile. It has all of the typical elements. You build a theme park with various rides, attractions, food, and entertainment. The goal is to make your park as successful as possible. The game lets you build your own rollercoasters, design your park, and do the usual stuff. However, it has better mobile controls than the classic version. This version of the game is pretty good. There are some issues, like aggressive microtransactions and some game bugs, that sully the enjoyment a bit, but it’s still pretty decent overall.

Tiny Tower

Price: Free /In-app purchases ($0.99 – $99.99 per item)

Tiny Tower is a little building management sim. You’re tasked with managing the businesses inside a tower. Each floor can be its own thing that generates more revenue for you. From there, you simply use the revenue to build more businesses inside the tower. This is one of the few decent free-to-play tycoon games on mobile. It doesn’t lean heavily on its microtransactions, which we really like. The game mechanics are pretty simple. You can hire and trade people, customize the look of the place, and even check out what the people in your world are saying with the BitBook feature. This one is a good time killer for Tycoon fans who may not want hour-long play sessions.

Tropico

Price: $11.99

Tropico puts the player in the role of El Presidente. Your job is to build a nation from scratch. That includes building roads, buildings, and a military. Your goal is to create a successful nation with good foreign and trade policies. It’s a surprisingly deep game with plenty of things to do. However, that does sometimes result in a clunky experience. For example, the UI is quite cluttered, and doing basic things like laying a road can be a little obnoxious on occasion. These issues are fairly mild, though, and this game is otherwise excellent.

TheoTown

TheoTown is a tycoon simulator paired with city-building elements. In this game, you’ll build your own city and even manage it. Not only will you be building skyscrapers, you’ll even get to manage the transportation system, build amazing sports facilities and landmarks, and even manage the city’s power supply. For added immersiveness, the game will even have natural disasters that will hinder your progression; this will also affect the safety of your citizens. All in all, it’s a great game with fun mechanics.

Game Dev Tycoon

Game Dev Tycoon is one of the more famous games in this genre. The game does as the name suggests. You’re a small-time game developer; you need to create new best-selling games, make innovations in your field, become the leader of the market, and gain worldwide popularity. While progressing through the game, the more your game sells, the more you’ll be able to afford a new office, hire staff, train them, and unlock more gimmicks. A fun mechanic is that the choices you make during game development will affect the final results and user ratings.

RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic

RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic is a beloved old-school classic game that has been ported to Android. You need to develop your own theme park, create fun roller coaster rides, manage your park, and attract customers. Yes, the graphics are old, but it has several clear advantages over newer games. There are no aggressive microtransactions, no annoying pop-up ads, and no forced freemium options. The game is priced at $5.99. There are three additional expansion packs to the base game; these can be acquired via in-app purchases.

Tiny Space Program

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to manage SpaceX? Well, now you have to think no more. The Tiny Space Program is a game that lets you manage your own space program. You need to research new technology, build new spaceships, shoot rockets, and discover the galaxy. You can stimulate bringing tourists to Mars, launch a program to the Moon, or stimulate inter-planetary colonization; the choice is yours. The game has a lot of potential; however, right now there’s a lot of bugs, UI problems, and occasional crashes. We’re hoping the developers will fix these issues.

If we missed any great tycoon games for Android, tell us about them in the comments. You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists.
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