Classic mobile tycoons have come a long way and continue to evolve in response to market demands. The tried-and-true indoor format, room-based tycoons with characters and upgradeable stations, still works great for casual sessions on a subway ride. But for a long-term project with growth potential, it’s rarely enough on its own. Yes, there are outliers like Cat Office or Carnival Tycoon, but those are the exception, not the rule. Today, the bar for a successful room-based tycoon is just as high as for more innovative titles, if not even higher.

Player expectations are constantly rising, and that forces development to adapt. Even just three years ago, the rules were different — five years ago, they were radically different. Meanwhile, some of the projects that come to us for publishing are still stuck in the past. They haven’t rethought the genre or attempted anything new that might stand out. At the same time, many independent teams are having trouble answering this question: how do we make our tycoon profitable in the long run, given how competitive the market has become? The short answer: recognize that the market has changed. If you want to make a hit, you have to evolve with it. AppQuantum founder covered the fundamentals of this in this article.

The core issue with traditional tycoons is monotony. Players quickly get tired of repeating the same actions day after day. So, to boost long-term retention, developers are working harder: adding more goal variety, events, new game layers, mechanics, even atmosphere and Easter eggs, as seen in Idle Outpost, which the Rockbite team talked about in their article.

Narrative is becoming just as important. Projects now introduce characters, storylines, and emotional hooks to build stronger player engagement.

Idle Outpost

In today’s market, we recommend looking for interesting fusions. What relevant and profitable mechanics can you adapt and integrate into your tycoon loop? Take Idle Outpost again. At its core, it’s a familiar Eatventure-style loop, but layered with mechanics borrowed from titles like Bonehead. And that’s what makes it stand out.

Of course, this raises another challenge: depth is great, but you can’t overwhelm the player. Know your audience. Newcomers should ease into the mechanics, not get dropped into a dozen gameplay layers with no idea where to start and having to master a new UI for each layer. The size of your addressable audience depends directly on this. (We’ll cover that separately soon.)

One more often-overlooked element: the look & feel. Today’s tycoon players expect much more from visuals, animation, audio, and tactile feedback. And it’s not just about polish for polish’s sake, it’s about variety for retention. When gold clinks satisfyingly, zombie heads bounce just right, and characters carry items with believable physics, players want to come back.

And if we’re talking about long-term success, of course, there’s LiveOps. It’s simple: no events, no game. We’ve said it before. But it bears repeating.

The reality is this: the more variables there are (and there are a lot), the harder it is to build a successful tycoon with just a team of juniors or solo devs. Not because they’re not talented, but because the genre now demands high-level hard skills and serious tycoon-specific experience. You need clear role separation. One person can’t be your entire design/dev team anymore, at least not if you're aiming for the top.

And let’s be honest: small teams take way more time to do what bigger studios knock out in a few days. That becomes a red flag if you're pitching to investors. As part of our new strategic fund, we’re looking at various scenarios, but we’re not just typical investors. We’re looking for long-term partners.

Which brings us to the budget. The kind of top-tier talent we’re talking about? They're usually busy, already working on other successful projects. To get them onboard, you’ll need more than just a promising game. You’ll need a solid offer and a competitive salary. And yes, salaries in game dev have gone up. A lot. Development budgets have exploded accordingly.

Most tycoons today don’t fail because they missed the right audience. They fail because they’re “fast food.” You download it, play a few fun sessions, and by Day 7, it falls apart. Nothing keeps you playing. Retention vanishes. There's no reason to stick around. If you want better odds of success, think ahead. Design for the long game. Plan retention systems early. Build monetization into the experience from day one, not as an afterthought.