I’ve been grinding in a day job since I left school, and I’ve never been unemployed for the last two and a half decades. Yet part of me always wonders whether I’d have the drive and motivation to start my own business. In this economic climate though it would be a huge risk and I’m best suited to doing a job and leaving it at the door when I’ve finished for the day. Startup Company Console Edition developed and published by Hovgaard Games is a business and management simulation where you’re at the reigns as CEO of your new company. After almost two years on Windows PC and an overwhelming response, it is finally the turn of console players to try and be at the helm of a successful enterprise.

Introduction

Business is all about numbers, whether that is the number of employees or the amount of revenue hitting the bank account, success is judged on growth and profit. Sadly in today’s economy, we are even seeing giant corporations such as Amazon and Microsoft shedding thousands of staff in an attempt to adapt to today’s climate. It is ultimately soul-destroying to see so many lose their livelihoods but unfortunately, businesses have to adjust to different financial environments to keep the boxes being ticked.

I don’t agree with it in most walks of life, especially when these companies are rinsing vast profits, it shows no loyalty to the staff that plough on to give them their wealth. But sadly that is life and in Startup Company Console Edition you’ll get to experience this first-hand as you craft your company through thick and thin and make the decisions yourself based on mostly analytical data and how your trade is moving. It is a deep, progressive and engaging sim that will give you an insight into what it’s like to be the big boss who everyone loves to hate.

Gameplay

Thankfully you’ll start Startup Company Console Edition with some pointers and a brief and basic tutorial to get things moving. You’ll be given the opportunity at the beginning to choose what kind of company you want to create and how you’d like to name it. You could choose a social media service, shopping platform, streaming or video-sharing service or you might want to drive engagement on the singletons out there with a dating website. You’ll be given specific tasks to work through as you’ll start with a blank canvas as you flesh out your office environment with staff members. Ticking off these tasks will give you some revenue grants to put towards expansion and funding your team. Be mindful of their needs such as stamina, fatigue and need for rest, keep them well trained and maybe choose to reward their work with pay rises to keep morale high.

Grow Your Empire!

What I liked about this was there is an accessible in-game guide which can be viewed any time if things get a bit much. The aspects of running a business can be complex, so I often had to refer to this to grasp an understanding of the features of the game. It is very much similar to games such as Rollercoaster Tycoon or Football Manager in the sense that you’ll need to have the fundamentals in certain places for the operations to function efficiently.

There is the opportunity to research additional features, job positions and gain more inventory as you progress, but pick these wisely. You won’t always get your decisions right and you may have to hire or fire to balance the books but I enjoyed keeping an eye on everything and not always being successful, it made the small wins far more memorable. Note though that you will be competing against other companies for a slice of the pie! I did find competition such as Friendbook, Readit, Dapchat and Jitter rather amusing.

Choose Your Growth Path

You’ll be able to make decisions on how you drive revenue and expand your company. You could choose to implement a subscription-based service and potentially be rolling in the money if you land it right. Failing this you could go down the ad-based stream and embed them within your business whether that be text or banner-based or even video advertisements.

Graphics & Audio

Visually Startup Company Console Edition brings a Two Point Hospital vibe immediately. If you have played these kinds of games before you’ll probably know where I am coming from. It brings a top-down view of your surroundings with the flexibility to design and place your office layout exactly as you want it to be. Aesthetically everything looks fantastic and clean, performance is outstanding on console and whilst I found navigating the various menus and bit mind-boggling and clunky occasionally, you do get used to the layout the more you play. When it comes to sound, besides some calm and wonderfully relaxing music along with subtle sound effects such as the tapping of keyboards, there isn’t much more than this to speak of, but it does the job.

In Conclusion

Startup Company Console Edition can be a little daunting at first and I think that is because it is a unique game that I have never really experienced on consoles. With the complexity of number crunching and always keeping observations on the running and operations of your business, it may put some off from a gameplay perspective. The development team however have created an incredibly moreish and interesting title that offers a lot of replayability and longevity. If you give it your time and have the patience to learn and absorb all the features and functionality of this one, it becomes quickly addictive and something you can pump several hours into casually with the time flying by. For an extremely reasonable price point of £12.99 on Xbox, it is well worth checking out if you fancy a casual title where you can really be the boss.