TV Studio Story

Genre: Management Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

Without a doubt the most prolific developer and publisher of Management Simulation games on Nintendo Switch is Kairosoft, who specializes in games with a retro-style isometric pixel art style, often with the word “Story” in the title. As of this writing, Kairosoft has released 57 games on Nintendo Switch, most of them Management Simulations.

After their earlier games, Kairosoft had established a few templates for their Simulation games that later games would largely follow. Game Dev Story established a Simulation-style game more focused on managing employee time and focus, Hot Springs Story established a Simulation style in line with Theme Park Simulators where you try to cater to guests’ tastes to maximize attendance and income, and Epic Astro Story established a Simulation style akin to games like Sim City, where you’re building out a town or settlement.

TV Studio Story originally released on mobile devices in 2023, then saw a port to PC and Nintendo Switch in 2024. And despite being one of Kairosoft’s more recent games as of this writing, it is also one of their more traditional games, following very closely to the format established in Game Dev Story, with players combining different thematic elements, sets, producer, star, and editors to hopefully create a show that becomes a big hit with viewers and brings in plenty of revenue to put toward your next TV project.

As I mentioned above, this game makes use of Kairosoft’s signature presentation style using simple retro-styled pixel art visuals presented in an isometric view, paired with catchy but repetitive chiptune music and simple sound effects. Everything about this presentation is really endearing, though by this point we’ve seen more or less the same thing in numerous other Kairosoft games.

Overall, I think TV Studio Story mostly gets right all the things that Game Dev Studio gets right, with players trying to find the best combination of elements to make a hit while improving their resources and growing their team. I do think some of this game’s elements are a bit more confusing than what we saw in Game Dev Studio though, such as the fact that apparently not only can you not sell programs in the same general time of day to multiple TV stations, but you can’t seem to change it after you’ve already put it in place? And the way you unlock new settings seems a bit unclear too, as location scouting would seem to be the way you do this, yet you don’t actually seem to unlock the locations you’re sending employees out to scout.

Still, I suppose for those who enjoyed Game Dev Story and want more like that, or who just like the idea of combining elements to make a hit TV show, TV Studio Story is a decent take on the idea, if not quite as successful as Game Dev Story was.

tl;dr – TV Studio Story is a Management Simulation where players mix different elements in the creation of TV shows to try and produce a hit. Much of the formula this game uses was already established in, and done better by, Game Dev Studio, but what’s here still works well enough, and players enticed by this game’s theme will likely to find it a decent take on the idea, if a bit limited and confusing in parts.

Grade: C+

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