New Update: Mid-Game Depth, Rival Intelligence & Major Fixes

Today's update adds several new systems designed to make the mid-game more strategic and competitive, while also addressing a number of important usability and balance issues.

You can now choose your difficulty, study rival stations, run PR campaigns, and test content with short-term trial licenses. We've also fixed the marketplace discount bug, improved mobile navigation, and rebalanced viewer fatigue.

Difficulty Modes

New stations can now choose between three difficulty presets:

Relaxed — $300K starting budget, weaker rivals, and five subsidized licenses.

Standard — $200K starting budget with balanced rivals and the intended default experience.

Cutthroat — $100K starting budget, aggressive rivals, no subsidies, and no starter bonus.

Your active difficulty is always visible in the top bar.

Rival Intelligence

The National Ratings board is now fully interactive.

Click any rival station to open an intelligence panel showing:

• Programming across all four time blocks

• Genre focus

• Budget

• Strength multiplier

• Strategic analysis

• Prime-time recommendations

Use this information to identify weaknesses in rival schedules and target audiences they are overlooking.

Dev Log PR Campaigns

The Dev Log now also works as a PR campaign system.

Choose a milestone template such as Day Report, Hit #1, Reach Upgrade, or Profit Milestone, then publish it to earn gameplay rewards including cash grants and viewer loyalty boosts.

PR campaigns have a 3-day cooldown and diminishing returns, reducing the reward by 25% with each post.

A live information bar shows the expected reward, effectiveness, and cooldown before publishing.

Trial Licensing

Not sure whether a title is worth the full license?

The marketplace now includes a Standard / Trial toggle.

Trial licenses last 3 days and cost just 10% of the standard price, with a minimum cost of $500.

Use trials to test how a movie or show performs with your actual audience before committing to a full license.

Critical Fix: Marketplace Discount Bug

The New Station subsidy was being applied correctly by the game, but the marketplace was incorrectly checking affordability against the original price.

This has been fixed.

The marketplace now displays the actual discounted price, uses the final cost for affordability checks, and shows "License −50%" while the subsidy is active.

Mobile Navigation & Top Bar Improvements

Mobile navigation now uses an icon + label layout with fade indicators showing that the navigation bar can be scrolled horizontally.

We've also fixed the top bar on narrow screens. On mobile, station information and controls now automatically reorganize into two rows instead of causing unwanted horizontal scrolling.

Viewer Fatigue Rebalance

Viewer fatigue has been significantly reduced for individual airings.

A popularity-50 movie that previously gained around 58% fatigue from a single airing now gains approximately 16%.

Normal rotation should remain viable, while repeatedly airing the same content will still build fatigue over time.

The 75% daily recovery rate remains unchanged, allowing rested content to recover within roughly 2–3 days.

Why These Changes?

The mid-game needs to offer more than simply finding good content and scheduling it.

Difficulty modes let you choose how demanding your station's environment will be. Rival Intelligence turns competing stations into readable opponents with strategies and weaknesses. PR campaigns reward active progression, while trial licensing reduces the risk of investing in content that may not perform.

At the same time, this update addresses several issues identified through our QA audit and player feedback, particularly around mobile usability, marketplace purchases, and content fatigue.

More strategy, more competition, and fewer frustrations — giving your station more ways to succeed.