Choosing an industry: difficulty stickers and success rates

Picking your first industry is the biggest choice you face when the game starts. If you can read the difficulty sticker on each industry card, you will get lost a lot less.

The difficulty sticker is a success rate

Each industry card carries a sticker like "Difficulty · Easy". There are five levels, and each one is tuned to aim for roughly this success rate.

• Easy: about 90% (80% or more)
• Normal: about 70% (60 to 80%)
• Hard: about 50% (40 to 60%)
• Very hard: about 30% (20 to 40%)
• Extreme: about 10% (under 20%)

These numbers come from the computer playing many runs on your behalf. Each run was a careful ex-corporate quitter in Seoul's Gangnam district, playing for 6 years (72 months). A run counted as a success if it reached a good business ending, went public or sold at a profit, or survived to year 6 with 12 profitable months in a row. Your own runs will vary with your city, your background and your judgment, so treat the numbers as a guide.

When you tap an industry, the opening setup shows "Simulated · N% succeed". If you have turned stats on and enough records from other CEOs have piled up for that industry, it changes to "Player records: N% succeeded out of N".

Even the hardest ones stay above 9%

An industry that is nearly impossible would not be much fun. So no industry is tuned to a success rate below 9%. Even an Extreme industry is a challenge worth trying.

How industries differ

• Startup capital: The base amount is ₩5M for a YouTube channel and ₩300M for biotech drug development. Amounts vary by city, and any shortfall becomes credit-card debt.
• Detailed settings: The options you choose in the opening setup are split into common, category and industry-specific groups. If you do not touch them, they stay at the industry average.
• Sign-off requests and endings: Each industry has sign-off requests and endings that you only meet there.
• Stories: Each industry has stories that run in four parts: Setup, Rising, Twist and Finale. In the cafe business, for example, a story follows a big chain cafe opening across the street, and what you choose decides how the next part goes.

Industry-specific actions unlock after you settle about 10 sign-off requests. In industries that bet big, such as launches and defense, some sign-off requests, like a launch or a bid, list their success odds.

How to pick if you are new

At the top of the Business Registration Application you will see "Recommended for: (your background)", with up to three industries. They are chosen by a few rules.

• Does the industry have a good average record?
• Do your background and skills fit it?
• Can you open it with the cash you have now?
• Does it suit the city you are in?

The picks are mixed so you never get three from the same category, and the one with the best survival record gets a "safest bet" tag.

If you choose for yourself, an Easy industry with light startup capital is the comfortable way to go. A YouTube channel, a Maru Store seller, B2B SaaS, a cafe and trend-dessert shop and a neighborhood bakery all fit. A Normal industry such as a consumer app is also worth a try.

Some industries are hard going. Biotech drug development, quantum computing and autonomous driving are all Extreme. Studio apartment rentals and parking lot operators sound stable, but they are Extreme too. A neighborhood clinic, a self-service photo studio and a homegrown streaming service are Very hard. It is better to take these on after you have gotten used to the game.

On the full industry list, you can narrow things down with the difficulty, category and legality buttons and the search box.

The Dex keeps your record

Open "📖 Dex" on the first screen to see the sign-off requests and endings you have met, and how many industries you have opened. An industry you have never opened is marked with 🔒. Tap an industry to see its difficulty sticker along with its list of sign-off requests and endings. Only the ones you have seen show their names, and the rest are hidden as ???. The record is kept on this device. Filling in the industries you have not tried yet is half the fun.

Quick recap

• The difficulty sticker is a success rate measured by simulation. Easy is about 90%, and Extreme is about 10%.
• No industry's success rate drops below 9%.
• To start, pick a recommended industry, or an Easy one with light startup capital.
• Use the Dex to fill in the industries you have opened and the stories you have met.