Empire War, Tuxxin's free browser tycoon game, shipped five updates this week, versions 1.20 to 1.24, between October 22 and 26, 2026. Two new side games lead the list: Office Tower, where you build and staff your company's headquarters, and Trade Route, a 30-day commodity trading run. Around them, every division, deal and collectible got new artwork, the IPO Center was rebuilt, player profiles were redesigned, a Temp Agency now speeds up deal cooldowns, and the menus got easier to find your way around.
Empire War is an idle business game played in the browser. You close deals for cash and XP, run divisions across six industries for passive income, hire and manage employees, launch hostile takeovers against real players, keep your SEC Heat under control, and take the company public through an IPO for permanent prestige bonuses. There is no download, no app store and no pay-to-win.
New side game: Office Tower
Office Tower, launched October 24 in v1.23, is an office builder inside the game. Your headquarters has six rooms, and each one powers up a different part of your empire:
- Server Room: more division income.
- Sales Floor: higher deal success.
- Legal Dept: less SEC Heat.
- Gym: faster AP recharge.
- Security Office: stronger PvP attack and defense.
- Cafeteria: lower salaries.
Rooms level up as high as your CEO level. Early levels build in minutes, while big upgrades take days or even weeks, and you have two builders, so there is always something under construction. Perks grow with every level. At full morale they approach +30% income, +15% deal success, 60% less Heat, 30% faster AP, +40% PvP power and 30% lower salaries.
Your staff need desks. The office seats 5 to start, and every room level adds 2 more. Your staff cap is the lower of your desks and your CEO-level cap. The office unlocks when you reach 5 employees, with a "Your business is growing, time to get office space" moment. Existing players received free room levels, so nobody lost staff capacity.
Team morale runs from 0 to 100. It drops a little every hour and scales every room perk between 50% and 100%. Pizza Parties, Team Lunches and Year-End Bonuses raise it, and a Late-Night Push spends morale for a burst of cash and XP. Prices scale with your own income, so building is worth it at any level, and your office survives an IPO.
New side game: Trade Route
Trade Route, launched October 26 in v1.24, is a trading game inspired by classics like Drug Wars. Each run lasts 30 days. You start with $2,000 and a $5,500 loan from a venture capitalist, and the loan grows 10% a day.
You trade 7 commodities, from coffee at around $10 to gold at around $30,000, across 6 world markets: New York, London, Dubai, Tokyo, Shanghai and Sao Paulo. Each market sells some goods cheap and pays well for others:
- Dubai: oil
- Tokyo: microchips
- Sao Paulo: coffee
- London: gold
- Shanghai: steel and lithium
- New York: pharmaceuticals
Prices change every day, and some goods sell out. Sailing between markets takes a day, and trouble finds you on the way: customs stops where you pay up or risk losing half your cargo, pirates, storms, offers of extra cargo space, abandoned containers, and sudden crashes and shortages.
You can repay the loan by wire from any port, and borrow more in person in New York. A run costs 20 AP, and you can cash out at any time. Your score is your cash minus the loan.
Beat your starting cash and you earn real cash and XP for your main company, worth up to 4 hours of your division income, on your first 3 runs each day. Every run counts toward the weekly and all-time Trade Route leaderboards.
A full visual overhaul
Versions 1.20 to 1.22 redrew the game. Each of the 90 divisions, all 31 deals and all 40 collectible loot items has its own icon. Employee titles and specialties, deal tiers and achievement categories have icons too.
Color now carries meaning. Each of the six industries has its own color: Technology blue, Energy yellow, Media purple, Finance green, Real Estate orange and Retail pink. Collectibles are framed in their rarity color, from gray Common to gold Legendary.
Illustrated banners now open the HQ, Deals, Divisions, Staff, PvP, Collections, Achievements, IPO Center, Power 500 and Missions pages, with the page title laid over the art, and each industry in the division shop has its own banner.
Closing a deal feels like a payday. A payout card shows the deal's icon while your cash and XP count up, loot drops appear as a card in their rarity color, and level-ups get their own banner.
Progress is visible everywhere. Bars fill as deal cooldowns and division upgrades run, each division shows a 10-step level meter, and the top bar shows your XP progress and your SEC Heat shifting from green to red.
A redesigned IPO Center
The IPO Center, rebuilt in v1.22, lays out a clear four-step road to going public: reach Level 25, complete 3 IPO Preparations, wait out a 24-hour Quiet Period, then Go Public.
The IPO Preparation deal shows its cost, reward and progress, with a live cooldown countdown. A new "If you went public now" panel estimates your exit valuation, your starting cash and your weekly dividends.
Redesigned player profiles
Every player profile has been rebuilt. It opens with an industry-art banner carrying the company crest, the CEO level and achievement rings, and the player's PvP win rate.
Below that are lifetime career stats:
- login streak;
- deals closed and deal success rate;
- missions completed;
- Guess the Bigger Company win rate;
- Office Tower levels;
- Trade Route runs and best score.
The profile also breaks down the empire by industry and shows recent achievements, collection badges and an IPO timeline. You can open any player's profile from the Power 500.
New: the Temp Agency
The Temp Agency, launched October 26, sits on the Deals page. Once a day you can hire temps who instantly cut time off every deal on cooldown:
- Intern Pool: 15 minutes.
- Contract Closers: 1 hour.
- Consulting Team: 3 hours.
- Executive Temps: 8 hours.
Prices scale with your income. It is a handy shortcut for squeezing in the last deals before a level-up.
Easier to find, plus smaller fixes
- Both side games live under Missions in the menu and in a new "Side games" panel on your HQ.
- The Deals page remembers which tier you were on.
- Collections show how many spare copies you can scrap.
The full details are in the patch notes, and the How to Play guide has complete sections on Office Tower and Trade Route. Questions are answered in the FAQ, and the Power 500 leaderboard shows who is on top right now.
Play free at empirewar.co
Empire War is free to play in your browser, with no download and no pay-to-win. Build your first office, run your first trade route and start climbing the Power 500. Play free at empirewar.co.