Organized by some third party, but hosted on Steam.
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/upcoming_events/themed_sales/economy_2024
Games that are about capitalism, economy, or money grubbing are allowed in this event. It doesn't have to be real money—cookies count as a currency!—but the entire goal of the game should be to make money.
lmao at the not at all subtle beg for Cookie Clicker to be part of the fest. I hope it’s not.
Games that are mostly about trading or bartering are not eligible for this event. Sorry, this is an event for Capitalist titles only!
Trading and bartering is economy. And an economy isn’t necessarily about maximizing money earned. If they just wanted capitalist stuff they should have left the word economy out. It literally says capitalism or economy in the description.
I’m guessing it’s just brainworms who think economy = capitalism.
Anyway it would be hilarious if Workers and Resources applied to be in the fest.
Construct your own republic and transform a poor country into a rich industrial superpower!
Economic simulation. Prices of resources on the global market are changing over time as you play –one day you can sell or purchase steel for a $100 per ton, but in a few months the cost can rise to $200 or decrease to $50. The price of everything is connected to the cost of work and resources.
See, it’s about making money and economy. That’s what you were looking for, right?
Or what’s some game that critiques capitalism by having you take it to its logical end? The organizers could probably be tricked into accepting it.
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Would Victoria 3 count? Every game I have is trying to capitalism so hard that I "accidentally" transform my country into a dictatorship of the proletariat
When I did capitalist America run, I "accidentally" imperialised half of the world. Very realistic, 10/10.
Bro please just one more rubber plantation slot. Just one more. Bro please I need rubber. Bro.
Okay I'm not trying to sound like a CHUD or anything, but I can see that the value in an economy based game fest. There are lots of games where making numbers bigger, management of assets and resources, that sort of legitimate genre that is popular and fun for all sorts of players. It's an appealing and worthwhile space for play. Personally I don't dig it, but there are plenty of katz who do, and that's cool.
That said, why not just call it Economy Fest or something? Throwing in the C-Word just dilutes the scope and vision. There is more than one way to do economics, and saying Capitalism and Economy kinda says that Capitalism is the only form of economy.
An economy fest could be good.
But this is a capitalism fest. Really it’s “economy” that’s diluting the scope.
A frustratingly accurate point. It's really sad to that neoliberalism and capitalism have utterly captured the very idea of economy and economics as a whole. I think games like Roadwarden also Steam show a slightly different version of economy. Also NORCO I think shows the effects of economy in a really interesting way.
A frustratingly accurate point. It's really sad to that neoliberalism and capitalism have utterly captured the very idea of economy and economics as a whole.
Judging by TRIPLE AYYY video games that take place in space, it has also captured the very idea of space travel and space exploration. Fucking Starfield and Star Citizen especially.
Even with all its flaws I do like games like "No Man's Sky" and especially without its flaws "The Outer Worlds" that both at least challenge the narrative of what a space game can be.
The thing is, this is a weird liberal version that puts a direct and intrinsic emphasis on money, when an "economy" is a much broader category of systems focused on many different things. It may as well be purpose-built to project faux-liberal capitalism into both the past and future.
I actually like a lot of "economic simulator" type games, mostly transit ones like transport fever, but games like the capitalism series (lol) are also surprisingly fun. It's an evil economic system, but its logic kind of makes for a fun gameplay loop
. It's like how the logic of imperialism gives you 4X.I guess what I'm saying is I like when you can optimize stuff and number go up
I love transport fever and anno 1800 because I love bashing my head against the wall trying to get my supply chain to work so I can make an even bigger supply chain
I really enjoy Anno 1800 but I'm also uncomfortable about how it just looks at the inescapable topics of slavery and colonialism and goes "let's never talk about that".
Without the moral depravity of capitalism in a world with real humans, it can indeed be fun
You spend the whole first day trying to make enough money to pay for a room to sleep in.
I think it fits the stated definition
Those games can be fun but the "celebrate capitalism" motif feels like it's trying to be insincerely quirky during an especially "we're getting fucked by capitalism" acceleration phase.
Celebrating being horrible in an ironic way makes it cool, just like how Epic
back in the day congregated around the "Elitist Jerks" community! 
brb submitting New Super Mario Bros 2 and Noita because the theme is so uselessly vague
but the entire goal of the game should be to make money
the eventual goal of Noita is to literally make money (transmute gold)
Oh it is? I just knew it was a magic-based rougelike with pixel level physics simulation. Seems like kind of a weird goal for that kind of game.
yeah you're playing as an alchemist seeking knowledge and great works, so naturally infinite wealth is a big point
incidentally I love picking alchemy as the theme for a falling sand type game because it's the perfect match to the mechanics of a falling sand game
You're an alchemist looking for the "great work" (i.e transmuting ordinary elements into gold). When you win the game everything turns to gold. Including you.
Damn it now I gotta go beg Molleindustria to port Oiligarchy to Steam in time for the fest
[cookie clicker is sort of a critique of capitalism] (https://youtu.be/2Dx76lD8Scc)
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
