Ever wondered why billionaires like Jeff Bezos meddle with newspaper editorial decisions? News Tower, a new management sim on Steam, lets you experience the brutal economics of running a 1930s newspaper firsthand — and discover why ethical journalism is so expensive that most outlets can't afford it.
News Tower just dropped on Steam, and it's already making journalists question their career choices. The management sim throws you into Depression-era New York with a failing newspaper and one simple goal: don't go bankrupt while maintaining editorial integrity. Spoiler alert — it's harder than covering a tech earnings call at 4 AM. The game comes from indie developer Sparrow Night, who clearly spent time studying why local newspapers keep dying despite producing quality journalism. Players inherit The Star, a struggling publication that needs everything from functional printing presses to happy reporters. But here's where it gets real: every ethical choice costs money you don't have. Want to reject mob bribes? Hope you've got cash for those loan payments. Planning to hire experienced reporters instead of cheap rookies? Better factor in their higher salaries and slower story turnaround times. The game's core mechanic revolves around employee happiness, which directly impacts story quality and production speed. Reporters get cranky from office smells, loud noises, and existential dread about their purpose. You can fix the first two with walls and ventilation, but that third one? That requires decorative plants, office clocks, and basically turning your newsroom into a workspace people actually want to inhabit. Sound familiar? The financial pressure ramps up as your staff improves. Veteran reporters demand higher salaries but deliver stories faster. Your paper grows from single-page issues to multi-page editions that cost exponentially more to print. Revenue increases, but so do expenses — creating the exact profit squeeze that's killed hundreds of local papers over the past decade. Then there's the faction system. The mob offers cash to bury crime stories. The mayor provides favorable loan terms for positive coverage. The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos would recognize these dynamics instantly. One player discovered this firsthand after three consecutive bankruptcies trying to run an ethical operation. The breakthrough came when they decided to expand slowly and reject all outside influence, no matter the financial cost. But that required perfect resource management and probably more luck than most real publishers get. The game's visual design deserves credit too. Employees waddle across your screen like South Park puppets, fixing broken equipment and filing reports. When it's time to print, you throw a massive switch that makes a satisfying ka-thunk sound. The soundtrack features period-appropriate big band music that plays as papers roll off the presses. These details matter because they make the business feel tactile rather than spreadsheet-driven. Unlike most management sims that drown you in menus and statistics, News Tower feels like playing with dolls in a dollhouse. You're physically building spaces, watching employees react to their environment, and seeing immediate visual feedback from your decisions. The game also includes random events that mirror real journalism challenges. Rival newspapers poach your staff. Lawsuits drain your budget. Equipment breaks down at the worst possible moments. Fake news stories compete with your legitimate reporting. Each crisis forces you to choose between financial survival and editorial standards. What makes News Tower particularly brutal is how it exposes the math behind media consolidation. Running one newspaper ethically requires constant financial juggling. But owning multiple papers? That creates economies of scale that make ethical corners easier to cut. Share printing facilities across properties. Use cheaper syndicated content instead of original reporting. Fire expensive local reporters and replace them with wire service copy. The game doesn't explicitly model media chains, but the economic pressures point directly toward why companies like Gannett and McClatchy have gutted local newsrooms while maintaining profitability. Every cost-cutting measure that keeps your virtual newspaper alive mirrors real-world decisions that have hollowed out American journalism. Early player reviews on Steam praise the game's authenticity, with several working journalists confirming that the financial pressures feel uncomfortably realistic. One reviewer noted that the game successfully explains why their local paper switched to a paywall and started running more celebrity gossip. The economics simply don't support pure public service journalism anymore. For an indie game about newspapers in the 1930s, News Tower delivers surprisingly contemporary insights about why quality journalism costs more than the market wants to pay. Players who start with idealistic goals about serving the public interest quickly discover why so many news outlets end up compromising their editorial independence.
