20 Jul 2026Developer post

SimFest & "Setting The Record Straight" Update

DEAR NEWSBEARERS! Today, we’re happy to share three major announcements for News Tower! First of all, News Tower is joining SimFest 2026 ! For the occasion the game will be at a -30% discount ! Great timing to grab it for yourself, or maybe the perfect gift to enjoy a summer of g

DEAR NEWSBEARERS!

Today, we’re happy to share three major announcements for News Tower!

First of all, News Tower is joining SimFest 2026! For the occasion the game will be at a -30% discount! Great timing to grab it for yourself, or maybe the perfect gift to enjoy a summer of gaming?

View game page

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly for all of our existing players, we are bringing you the "Setting The Record Straight" major update!

Check out what it includes in the post below.

Finally, as some of you might know, News Tower's very own Creative Director had worked on another masterpiece before this one: Turmoil! And today we're happy to announce a bundle between those 2 games.

What does the "Setting The Record Straight" update bring?

Quality of life & Improvements

Additional rerolls for the hiring board can now be rewarded. The initial amount of rerolls depends on difficulty (Easy 4, Default 3, Hard 2) and these rewards can be found in the calendar (1932, 1935 and 1938).

Shops on the area map now show a checkmark when players obtained everything there is to buy in the shop.
Reworked the visual when removing a sub item from the right printer drawer. Red crosses now appear over the tags that will be removed when you remove the sub item.
The globe filter buttons now display a tooltip telling you how many reporters you still have available in your tower to send away.
The red dot on the ads menu re-appears on Thursday if there are still ads to be done as a reminder.
Added an option to disable the Sunday Alarm Bell in the Setting Menu
Overall improvement of the popup menu
Added 6 new traits:
- Breezy - Works 25% faster while it rains.
- Old-Timer - Reduces xp gain by 50% but increases task speed by 25% for tasks involving highest unbuffed skill(s).
- Chameleon - Unlocks any trait lock in news.
- Loner - Works 25% faster if there is no other workstation in the room.
- Brand Strategist - Adds a Quality Star to any ad.
- Poo Patrol - Walks 25% faster to dirty toilets.
Added 5 new achievements:
- One Million Sales - Reach at least one million sales with a single edition.
- Advertorial - Print at least 50 ads.
- Early Bird - Print before 8AM on Sundays at least 12 times
- Paper Trail - Get sued at least 30 times.
- Mobster Madness - Have the Mafia rough up your business at least 30 times.

Added 3 new Europe news items that yield 3 different decoration objects:
- Matryoshka Doll
- Wooden Clogs
- Croissant Platter
  - These items can appear at random throughout the entire playthrough.

Bug Fixes

The district Oyster Bay on the NYC map wasn't selectable because a printer label was in front of it. It has been slightly shifted to the left.

Fixed the "No Light" status icon appearing on a desk where somebody with the Nocturnal trait was assigned to it.

Finally, if you're interesting in Turmoil, grab the game through our bundle for a cheaper price here:

View game page

Thank you all for playing News Tower! We can't wait to show you what we have in store for the future!

And so the press rolls on!

Original post

23 Apr 2026Developer post

Roadmap Post-1.0 & Leaderboard Contest Wrap-up

DEAR NEWSBEARERS! In the last few weeks, we addressed the current state of the game by releasing updates and fixes, but we’ve also been looking toward the future of News Tower. Today, we'd like to show you a more concrete plan for 2026 & 2027. Roadmap 2026-27 As you can see,

DEAR NEWSBEARERS!

In the last few weeks, we addressed the current state of the game by releasing updates and fixes, but we’ve also been looking toward the future of News Tower. Today, we'd like to show you a more concrete plan for 2026 & 2027.

Roadmap 2026-27

As you can see, "The Press Rolls On" was only the first of multiple major updates planned for 2026. Some features are already being worked on, while others are still on the drawing board, but we are already very excited about the future of the game.

Summer 2026:

Some new objects specific to Europe
Supplementary desk balancing
New traits
A few new Achievements
Minor QoL

Autumn 2026:

New continent (Middle & South america) with its own new telegrapher desk.
- With new spawn points on the globe. News from 1931 to 1939.
6 New objects: Middle & South-America themed and found via news items
New quests
Some QoL

Winter 2026:

Adding some Canada and Alaska Spawn spots on the map and generating some items for them.
Weather effect in winter
New traits
New Achievements

And yes, a major DLC is planned for next year! No spoiler though, even the best reporters won't find out!

Leaderboard Launch Contest Wrap-up

If you remember, in December of last year, we ran a Leaderboard Contest, rewarding the best players in each category and game mode. It took a lot of time to narrow down the winners; some would not reply to our messages or simply weren't interested in the rewards (crazy, right?). But we did it!

A few weeks ago, we managed to finalize our list of 12 confirmed winners. As promised, we invited them all to draft their very own stories to bring into the game, which is exactly what we included in our last update.

Congratulations to all of our winners for reaching the best score within December in their own category!

Skipples
Miss E
Cometbright
Oliverlucien
Calcu
Arda
Fallenglory
Bees?
latjos.levente
PonjiNinja
Luke
Our final one asked to not be mentioned

We are grateful for all of you sticking around, enjoying the game and looking forward, with us, to its future. Thank you for being an amazing community!

Original post

21 Apr 2026Developer post

The Press Rolls On Update Goes Live!

DEAR NEWSBEARERS! Today, we’re happy to share The Press Rolls On Update with you all. The test period has come to an end, we want to thank everyone who took part. Your feedback, player data and bug reports gave us a lot of valuable insight and helped us fine-tune several parts of

DEAR NEWSBEARERS!

Today, we’re happy to share The Press Rolls On Update with you all.

The test period has come to an end, we want to thank everyone who took part. Your feedback, player data and bug reports gave us a lot of valuable insight and helped us fine-tune several parts of the update before today's release. But please, stay critical, and community input will always be monitored.

In order to communicate clearly about the present, but also the future of the game. A new roadmap post-1.0 will be part of an upcoming blogpost.

What does this update bring?

A More Tailored Challenge

Our new difficulty settings for every game mode have now been battle tested.

Come in for a more relaxed experience, with more room to decorate and build at your own pace. Or choose the hard mode for a steeper challenge. These modes don’t only change the starting money but affect: Tag sales amount, risks, loaning, wages and more. With this update, we hope to give players the freedom to choose the experience that suits them best.

When starting a new game, players can now select a difficulty after choosing a game mode:

Easy
Normal
Hard

Each difficulty is available in every game mode, with one exception: first-time players in Introduction mode will only be able to choose Easy or Normal. After completing that first run, Hard mode will also become available for Introduction too.

Specific leaderboards

There are new game modes, difficulty and ending specific leaderboards.

A new achievement called: All Press No Brakes has been added to award those who complete the decade in hardmode!

10 Extra News, created by our community

Following the Leaderboad contest we ran in December last year, the winners got the opportunity to create their very own in-game stories. After some curating and translation, we finally managed to bring them into the game! (Most are located in Europe, so focus your efforts there if you want to find them)

A more detailed wrap-up of the contest will be part of the upcoming blogpost in a few days.

Balance Changes and Improvements

Alongside the new difficulty settings, this update also includes a range of balance adjustments and additions based on both internal work and community test feedback.

Trait changes

Anointed Pen now gives a 25% XP boost and adds one quality star to obituaries
Nocturnal now gives a 25% XP boost when the employee is working in the dark
Skillful now only counts unassigned skills toward extra quality stars, instead of all skills

Known issue: the description for Anointed Pen does not yet reflect its new effect. This text will be updated in the next build and included in the next localization batch.

Perception Rules changes

Across all difficulties, several rules have been adjusted to make more playstyles feel competitive:

Risk Buzz now gives 10K sales per taken risk instead of 7,500
Illustrative now gives 20K per illustration tag instead of 15K
Hot Topic now gives 5K sales per flame tag instead of 2K

Early Edition now reaches a maximum of 48K if you print within the first hour of Sunday, double its previous maximum
Category Balance now yields 30K per set instead of 25K

These changes were made because Informational strategies often stood out as the strongest option. We wanted to strengthen other approaches so they feel more rewarding and viable.

New Deco Objects + a new Shop

Upgraded typesetting desk

Just like the linotype boost the typesetting desk, this desk does for your reporting desk. Increase task speed! And it comes with a neat typewriter.

Standing lamp

Because after the ceiling, wall, and desks surface, the floor wanted one too, and it looks great.

Extra anti-noise objects

Prison door - An extra thick door that blocks all noise. (Unlocked via the Mayor chain in the prison hub)

Folding screen - Decorative room divider that looks good and blocks even more. (Blocks more than noise)

Small Sound Panel - That fits between the page modules like the air-vents!

Acorn Hall (Map hub)

Acorn Hall offers decoration objects that players may have missed on the calendar. These items come at a high price, but they provide a way to complete collections and achievements without needing to restart a tower.

Christmas objects adjusted

The wreath and snowflake wallpaper have been adjusted to be more inline with the other objects.

Bug fixes and small improvements:

Sweeping and trash prioritization fix
Old news exploit patched
- Now, everything that sits in your tower for more than 2 weeks will get the old news tag. One week later the item will disappear.
The Flower Vase layer issue fixed
Breaking news wrong hot topic tag fix
Trait modified perception not visible on completed story files fixed
Polish line break issues fixed
Priest truck quest - Meal and Food crate prioritization fixed
Infinite money exploit with stairs and printer belt fixed
Bribe quest strip requirements not showing text in Chinese fixed

For Community Test Players

For those who joined the Community Test: thank you again for helping us shape this update.

And good news, even though we will close the Community Test once this update rolls out, you will be able to keep building without needing to leave your progress behind because your saves just keep on working in this live version.

We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who joined the Community Test and shared their thoughts with us. Your feedback helped us tweak and improve this update in meaningful ways, and it continues to help guide the future of News Tower.

And so the press rolls on!

We hope you all enjoy this new update.

Original post

07 Apr 2026Developer post

Difficulty Setting: Community Test

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS! Dear Newsbearers, With News Tower now officially in 1.0 for some months now, we wanted to take a moment to talk about what comes next. A full release is a huge milestone, but for us it was never meant to be the final stop. Since launch, we’ve kept working

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

Dear Newsbearers,

With News Tower now officially in 1.0 for some months now, we wanted to take a moment to talk about what comes next.

A full release is a huge milestone, but for us it was never meant to be the final stop. Since launch, we’ve kept working on updates, improvements, and extra content, and we want to be clear about something: we are still very much here, and we still want to build News Tower together with you.

Throughout Early Access, your feedback played a huge role in shaping the game. It helped us improve systems, rebalance mechanics, fix issues, and make better decisions along the way. We might not always react right away but the connection with the community has always been important to us, and being post 1.0 does not change that.

That is exactly why we’re opening up this upcoming Community Test.

This test will give you an early look at the next update and help us make sure its new features feel right before we release.

The main feature of this test: Difficulty Settings

The biggest addition in the upcoming update is the implementation of difficulty settings for every game mode. On the forums, in the reviews and Discord we really saw some players struggle and search for a more relaxing (More time to decorate) Experience and players who really would like it all to be a lot more challenging.

So, with this new update we wanted to give players that option. When starting a new game, players will now be able to choose their preferred difficulty after selecting a game mode. The available difficulty options are:

Easy
Normal
Hard

Every difficulty is available for every game mode, with one exception: for first-time players, Introduction will only allow Easy or Normal, similar to the current availability checks for Classic mode. After that first playthrough, Hard will also become available for Introduction.

This is the feature we would especially like you to try during the Community Test. We want to know how these difficulty options feel in practice, whether the balance feels fair, and whether each setting offers a satisfying experience for different kinds of players.

So join the Community Test and help us refine the experience!

Changes included in this build

Alongside the new difficulty selection, this build also includes a number of active balance changes.

Overall game balance adjustments:

Anointed Pen now gives a 25% XP boost and adds one quality star to obituaries
- Known issue: the description does not yet reflect this change. This will be updated in the next build and included in the localization batch.
Nocturnal now gives a 25% XP boost if the employee is working in the dark
Skillful now only counts unassigned skills toward extra quality stars, instead of all skills

Perception Rules changes (all difficulties):

Risk Buzz is now more profitable: 10K sales per taken risk instead of 7,500
Illustrative is now more profitable: 20K per illustration tag instead of 15K
Hot Topic is now more profitable: 5K sales per tag flame instead of 2K
Early Edition now maxes out at 48K if you print within the first hour of Sunday, which is double the previous maximum
Category Balance now yields 30K per set instead of 25K

These adjustments were made because many players would almost always opt for Informational, since those rules tended to generate the most sales. With these changes, we are aiming to make other approaches feel more competitive and worthwhile.

A New Deco Object Shop on the map.

Acorn Hall - Holds all objects a player might have missed on the calendar. They come at high prices but prevent players from needing to restart to get a missing object for their achievement.

To access the "Community Test Build" branch, simply follow these steps:

Open the Steam client.
Click on the "Library" tab.
Right-click on "News Tower" and select "Properties".
Click on the "Betas" tab.
In the "Beta participation" field, select "community_test".
Click on the "Close" button.
The game will now be updated to the "community_test" branch.

Community Test Feedback

As always, your feedback is at the heart of this process. We’d love for you to join us on Discord (If you didn’t already) and tell us how the Community Test feels to play. If you spot issues, or just want to share your thoughts on the new difficulty settings and balance changes, please post them in https://discord.gg/e9UfsWx3Ju

Of course we will also keep an eye on the Steam forums during the community test.
It’s just a bit harder for us to keep track.

We'd love to hear how the new difficulty settings feel, whether the balance changes feel the way they should, and anything else that stands out to you while playing.

Please keep in mind that saves created during the Community Test will not be compatible with the default branch until the update is officially released. So our story is far from over!

Thank you again for continuing to support News Tower after 1.0. It means a great deal to us that this community has stayed so engaged, thoughtful, and passionate. We’re excited to show you what’s next and even more excited to hear what you think.

The press rolls on and there’s more news coming once this tested build will go live later in April!

See you in the Community Test!

Thank you all so much for the love and care for the game. We are committed to make it one of the best tycoon-management game ever.

Join us on discord and X to follow all the news about News Tower!

Original post

24 Feb 2026Developer post

More print! More sales! More fixes!

GREETINGS NEWSBEARERS! The smell of spring is in the air, trees are gathering their strength, preparing for a coming bloom... But we do not care much about that! What we want is more print! More sales! We come today with a new round of bug fixes and quality of life improvements,

GREETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

The smell of spring is in the air, trees are gathering their strength, preparing for a coming bloom... But we do not care much about that! What we want is more print! More sales!

We come today with a new round of bug fixes and quality of life improvements, but we can already tell you, something bigger is in the print! Stay tuned!

Bug Fixes

A competitor stealing your sales node on the calendar will now properly impact your sales when overlapping your perception.
Reporters on the Hiring Board will once again have proper skill balance until new skills like Photography are unlocked.
Resupply Desk has been renamed to Transporter Desk.
Blue tutorial boxes that point to an object or employee in your tower would previously appear in front of the Settings menu when open. This has been fixed.
The French translation for "Print an informational newspaper" has been adjusted to prevent confusion. People could interpret it as a "neutral" newspaper.
A bug where sometimes the lighting (too dark) situation would not update correctly after moving a wall has been fixed.
Fixed some first week Introduction text still referring to an old reporter name that was changed.
Fixed Take A Loan tutorial triggering even when the player has a lot of money.
Fixed affiliation quests (where one Faction makes an appearance in a quest of another Faction) being able to spawn even if the player never tried a quest for the Faction it spawns at.
Fixed final Distrusted quest for High Society requiring ads to be printed spawning even though the player may not have ads unlocked. It will now fall back to a mutable quest in this case.
Fixed Eleventh Hour trait ("If an item is at least 50% done on the last hour of Sunday, it will be complete before the end of Sunday.") not working due to using an incorrect value for measuring production progress, thus never triggering the effect.
Fixed resources in Dumbwaiters not counted towards supply count or low resource monitoring. This also affects automatic resource ordering, which should kick in less often if you still have a lot of resources going around in Dumbwaiters.
Fixed Chairman Kingsland not having a standing variant for quests.
The deformation of character bodies in the game is now fixed to be disabled outside of the camera view.
Fixed window lights not being rendered for players using D3D11 on Windows machines. Also fixed an issue where they were rendered for the wrong floor.
Food and Meal sprites are no longer rendered over the fridge door when put in the fridge.
Fixed an issue where circular lights were infinite in range, meaning you could place one to light up an entire floor..
Fixed the Continental Connector trait using the icon of the Ad On trait.
Some postcard texts in various languages overflowed the postcard boundaries. This has been fixed.
The icon for the General on the score screen was the same as the Mafia. This has been fixed as well.

Quality of Life improvements

Item Control for Dumbwaiters and Storage Cabinets. This feature is similar to what was already available for Transporters. It allows you to select the types of items that are allowed to be transported (or stored). This allows for greater control of the flow of resources and chain items in your tower.
Blue hints for Classic, Lowrise and Highrise. A new feature is now available to help players better understand new and existing mechanics without needing them to go through a new Introduction game. This can be fully toggled off using the new “Show Hints” setting. Note that turning it on again will delay them until after the next print!
The missing news of 1938 has been translated and added in this update!
The "Editor Enabled" checkbox beneath a Story File in the newsbook now remembers the last used value (per game)
The cook now stops cooking meals at the Canteen Kitchen when there are 10 or more items in its output.
Implemented a Disable Risk Cinematics setting. When the setting is turned on, players no longer experience the cinematics where the camera follows a car/truck associated with the triggered risk
Some time estimations have been slightly corrected visually to better match how long tasks feel to complete when monitoring them. The actual durations have not been changed.

Thank you all so much for the love and care for the game. We are committed to make it one of the best tycoon-management game ever.

Join us on discord and X to follow all the news about News Tower!

Original post

13 Feb 2026Developer post

The Human Side of News Tower

The Early Days and the "First Spark" Interviewer: To start, how long have you been working on News Tower ? When did it go from just "doodling" to a real project? Jan-Maarten: It’s difficult to put an exact date on it because the first spark of the idea was quite a long time ago.

The Early Days and the "First Spark"

Interviewer: To start, how long have you been working on News Tower? When did it go from just "doodling" to a real project?

Jan-Maarten: It’s difficult to put an exact date on it because the first spark of the idea was quite a long time ago. Around 2017, I was working alone from home and put together a rough pitch deck and some art to communicate the concept. By the end of 2018, the studio was founded, and we really started in 2019.

At first, I only worked on it one day a week while focusing on another game for Gamious, Turmoil, but it quickly became clear that if we wanted this to work, it had to be my full-time focus. In total, it’s been about six or seven years of development, though not all of it was full-time.

Interviewer: It’s a big "baby" now; it has grown quite a bit, wouldn’t you say?

JM: It’s funny because my daughter was born in August 2018. She doesn’t know a life where I’m not working on News Tower—she’s seven now. It’s a reminder that you can only do so many projects like this in a lifetime when they take seven years. The goal was always to create an "evergreen" tycoon game that we could keep updating for multiple years.

Early concept of the building and layout system

The Anxiety of Early Access

Interviewer: Moving on to the first launch day, the Early Access launch. How did you experience it? Were you confident, or was it a process of trial and error?

JM: I’m an anxious person by nature, so it was scary. We had some confidence because we won the Indigo Prize, but reaching Early Access meant we finally had to deliver a functional game, not just an exciting idea.

We were not sure what to expect, but the numbers were actually quite nice, we hit over 1,150 concurrent users on Steam. People joined the Discord and gave great feedback, which helped a lot. We really wanted, together with the community, to create the best experience. However, we also made mistakes. For example, our Steam Next Fest demo was way too janky, I think we even had a last-minute bug that prevented half the players from getting past the intro. Partnering with Twin Sails Interactive gave us the professional framework to better manage last-minute risks. Now that the game is live, we feel a duty to do right by our players. We’ve shifted our focus toward long-term stability, ensuring things like save compatibility remain seamless, even as the game evolves beyond its more forgiving Early Access time.

Early concept of the building and layout system

Highs and Lows of Development

Interviewer: Instinctively, what were the best and worst parts of the Early Access phase for you?

JM: The high was definitely the launch, the influx of players, both in game and on Discord was amazing.

The low point came about three-quarters of the way through Early Access. We realized that creating news and quest content required so much manual labor that we couldn't provide everything we promised. I spent two or three months doing nothing but intense work in Excel putting news items together, and because of that I couldn’t help with assets programmers needed. That was really difficult, it felt like it would never end.

We eventually decided to change the roadmap and postpone some features from the 1.0 release. I felt like I was betraying the community, but the workload was just not feasible. On a personal level, it was also tough because my wife was pregnant and I was working nights and weekends out of a sense of ownership.

Complete Roadmap from EA launch until 1.0

Lessons Learned and Growth

Interviewer: People usually don’t realize how long game development needs, especially if you are not a triple A studio. On a human level, how has News Tower changed you?

JM: It taught me to let go. I’m a perfectionist and a control freak, but you can’t maintain that and ever finish a project. I had to learn the mantra: "Make it exist first, and perfect it later".

I also learned that you can't please everyone. Especially in Early Access, it’s often better to show a rough sketch and let people play with it rather than waiting for a "perfect" version. I feel like a much better designer and illustrator now because of the mistakes we made.

Interviewer: And it is important to accept your own limitations, I would rather be great at a couple of things rather than being Ok at all of them. Someone else will balance it out.

JM: Exactly, and that is what I am the proudest of, News Tower really is a team effort. Some of us are better coders, some better illustrators, and we integrated their vision of design too.

Interviewer: Would you say they are your work-family in a sense?

JM: Definitely, most of us don’t have a gaming background. So we had to learn to know each other in order to work better together. Accept each other's skills and annoyances, no-body is perfect, but we grew from this and are a tight team now.

The 1.0 Launch and the Future

Interviewer: What was the difference between the Early Access launch and the 1.0 launch?

JM: 1.0 was even more scary. As the date approached, that voice in the back of my head started saying, "Maybe everyone who wanted News Tower already bought it in Early Access. It’s going to fail". Even after the launch went well and we saw high player counts, I would hyper-focus on negative comments in the Steam forums.

Interviewer: It’s often hard to maintain perspective because most people enjoying the game are simply playing it, not posting about it. Reading through negative threads can be discouraging, but you have to remember that those voices don't always reflect the experience of the silent majority.

JM: Exactly! My nature is to focus on that and worry that "people are going to find out the game isn't as good as we think it is". But now, that anxiety is being replaced by pride. It feels like our "baby," and we want to make sure it has a long and happy life.
We have a small but awesome team to do just that!

As it is a project dear to us, we really want to keep on updating the game in the months to come with one update here in February, and a really cool announcement later in spring!

Livestream of the dev team for the 1.0 launch

Bonus picture: Part of the team did a small trip to New York to receive the Best Hidden Gem New York Game Awards!

Original post

18 Dec 2025Developer post

It's time for our very own Christmas Update! (And some fixes)

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS! As we're hitting the holiday seasons, we too wanted to bring gifts to you all! First of all, a little reminder that, beside our ongoing Leaderboard contest , we also launched a giveaway . Running until January 1st, all you have to do is take part and boost

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

As we're hitting the holiday seasons, we too wanted to bring gifts to you all!

First of all, a little reminder that, beside our ongoing Leaderboard contest, we also launched a giveaway. Running until January 1st, all you have to do is take part and boost your chances to win one of those sweet vinyl of the soundtrack of the game.

We also wanted to take a moment and thank you all as we reach 3,000 reviews! This is a huge achievement and helps the game get the visibility it deserves!

Let it print, let it print, let it print! ❄❄❄

We came bearing in-game gifts! More items to customize your tower with some Christmas Spirit! Find those items and more in our detailed patch-note below:

Bug Fixes

Fixed “Print x the most” requirement still considering European and Quest tags. They will now only consider the 6 base categories
“Print x the most” will now result in more items being added in the news pool with the requested tag
Fixed Boycott risks not working correctly when triggered from calendars
Fixed Boycott risk popup sometimes showing an ad deal was lost even though the boycott was dodged
Fixed the calendar view on the prognosis board sometimes not showing the tooltip for events on the far right side
Fixed top Perception rules displaying incorrect count and bonus sales
Fixed an issue that could prevent the “Brain Drain” achievement from unlocking
Fixed a couple desks having sitting idle animations when the desk has no chair
Fixed a bug where telegraphers would be unable to go to the bathroom or grab a snack during the weekend (Saturday/Sunday), causing them to all go when Monday rolls around, when you actually need them to work
The "Place above the fold" quest requirement could sometimes ask for a tag that wasn't present in the pool. The algorithm has been adjusted to handle this and this should never occur anymore
Fixed a bug where the automatic ordering of resources like paper, food and coal did not cost anything

Transport AI Changes

Employees that support floor assignments, such as Transporters, now will only idle on floors that are included in their assignments
In previous versions, once you had at least one transporter that could handle articles, your production staff would not, or rarely, transport articles themselves. This hard lockout is no longer the case, but transporters are preferred to handle the work if they can
A bug which could sometimes lead to pneumatic tubes not being used has been fixed

Quality of Life improvements

Addition of a “Disable Screen Shake” setting
Addition of new keybindings to navigate your tower more easily:
- Page up: Navigate up floors (zoom sensitive)
- Page down: Navigate down floors (zoom sensitive)
- Home: Navigate to street level
- End: Navigate to top floor

Other improvements

Dragging and dropping employees now resets a small timer which prevented them from relieving themselves or eating
Individual stories of a news item can now be prioritized ahead of time on the story files
Addition of European news in 1935

New content / Christmas update

Added 5 new wallpapers:
- Blue Tile Wallpaper
- Checkered Wallpaper
- Green Panel Wallpaper
- Reindeer Wallpaper
- Snowflake Wallpaper
Added 3 new objects:
- Christmas Tree
- Christmas Wreath
- Christmas Lights

The new objects, the Reindeer and Snowflake wallpapers may be obtained in Christmas themed news during in-game December months. The Blue Tile, Checkered and Green Panel wallpapers may be obtained from random object rewards from news and/or the calendar.

The Christmas Tree is moody and will only show itself in full Christmas glory during in-game December months!

One last mention, as the Steam Winter Sales are about to begin, News Tower will once again be 20% off until January 5th. It's the perfect gift I am telling you! As a reminder the Sales will start today December 18th on 10AM PT and run until January 5th.

View game pageThank you all so much for the love and care for the game. We are committed to make it one of the best tycoon-management game ever.

Join us on discord and X to follow all the news about News Tower!

Original post

04 Dec 2025Developer post

News Tower 1.0 - Second Patch is live! Fixes and AI improvements

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS! Just like our printers, we never stop working to improve the game and bring you the freshest updates. Today we're coming down with a new list of multiple fixes along with some improvements to the AI/pathfinding system. But before giving you all the juicy n

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

Just like our printers, we never stop working to improve the game and bring you the freshest updates.

Today we're coming down with a new list of multiple fixes along with some improvements to the AI/pathfinding system.

But before giving you all the juicy news, a quick update on the Leaderboard contest that is running until January.

Considering the fact that for each leaderboard, scores can vary depending on if you play in Introduction/Classic, Highrise or Lowrise mode, we decided to bump the number of winners from 4 (1 per leaderboard category) to 12 winners! (3 per leaderboard category, 1 per gamemode Intro/Classic, Highrise and Lowrise)

Major Fixes:

The chances of two scoops appearing behind a Choose a Path branch have been reduced to almost zero
Fixed Art Collector achievement being impossible to obtain due to 2 paintings being in the same calendar row and too far apart
Fixed some calendar events rewarding objects never being generated on Endless calendars.
Now truly fixed Turkish capital letter i not being rendered for people with Turkish system settings.

Minor Fixes/Tweaking:

Fixed a bug where if your perception was completely left or right, you might not get the reward that is on the calendar.
The automatic ordering of paper at the start of the week has been improved. It is immediately tuned to what your projected sales are instead of growing along during the week.
Quality stars were maxed at 3 per reportable. This is fixed.
Utility employees now have a slightly slower decrease of nutrition and toilet stats.
Fixed High Society lady becoming a nurse in "The Price Of Privacy" story.
In certain cases, it was possible that the ordering of coal wasn't unlocked yet, while you already got a tutorial about the power. This is now fixed.
Fixed wrong ad categories at 16 ads. For example, some of them were marked as a Politics category but actually contained a Society tag and so on. Now all tags match the category.
Fixed a possible error when trying to click through the recap
Fixed tolerant employees complaining about stuff they're tolerant of.
Fixed Darkroom not supporting drop targets directly on the desk for its items (e.g. you can drag an item directly onto the desk now instead of the popup UI)
Patch for typesetting machines not having audio attenuation

Pathfinding/AI:

The transportation AI has gotten some significant improvements. Decision making has been tweaked using community feedback and by thorough analysis of towers that were made by the community. Many small tweaks to prioritization, pathfinding and other decision making have been made. Some key points are:

In some cases if you had specific assignments for employees, they wouldn't do anything. This has been fixed.
Production employees are smarter about taking care of their own items, even when there's a pile of work at their desk.
Smarter production employees relieve some stress from regular transporters, which benefits the rest of your tower.
Regular transporters are smarter about helping production employees out with their items. They will attempt to but only if it's necessary for a higher throughput.
Task "predictions" have been improved, since they are used in making transport assignments, this will benefit the entire system.
You will see less "waiting" next to dumbwaiters and tubes because of better predictions.
Bugs that could lead to hangs have been fixed

Due to the system's complexity and the huge variety of possible tower layouts, it's nearly impossible to find a best size fits all solution. However, we do feel like this is a big step up from previous versions and would love to get your feedback, which we will monitor and use to keep improving on this part of the game. Thanks!

To summarize:

The transportation AI has been improved, based on thorough analysis of a lot of towers you (the community) has provided.

Thank you all so much for the love and care for the game. We are committed to make it one of the best tycoon-management game ever.

Join us on discord and X to follow all the news about News Tower!

Original post

25 Nov 2025Developer post

Our very first patch post 1.0 is live!

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS! News Tower 1.0 has been out for 7 days already , and we have been actively monitoring and listening to your feedback and concerns. Below is a detailed version of our first patch note, addressing multiple feedback you shared on Steam or on discord . The mos

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

News Tower 1.0 has been out for 7 days already, and we have been actively monitoring and listening to your feedback and concerns.

Below is a detailed version of our first patch note, addressing multiple feedback you shared on Steam or on discord. The most requested ones are marked with this icon in the list: 🐻

We thank you for all your report, keep them coming! And if you haven't yet, we'd like to invite you to vote for News Tower as the Steam Awards just started and leave a review if you can as it really helps us out.

Quality of life improvements

Various performance optimizations have been done. This includes optimizations to the lighting system, employee rendering, UI, AI and much more. These changes will be noticeable in big and crowded towers. This area is still under active development and more optimizations will be made in the near future.
🐻 The printer paper prioritization has been tweaked. Employees fill up the printer a bit earlier and better. The required amount of paper that is necessary to print has also been slightly lowered, making it a little easier to reach the goal. (The automatic ordering of paper required for printing is not completely fixed yet in this patch. Enough paper will be ordered automatically by the end of the week, but not immediately at the start. In most cases the automatically ordered paper will be sufficient to keep up with the demand however. This will be improved upon in the next patch.)
🐻 The chances of multiple scoop tags appearing behind a Choose one path branch are now very close to zero. If you still encounter this, please send us a bug report.
🐻 The algorithm that decides on next week’s news pool has been improved to lower the chances of tags not appearing. This could be the case when you were doing a quest that required you to print more than one of the same tag. If you still encounter this issue, please send us a bug report.
🐻 We’ve added a “Disable Taxi Honk” setting in the audio section. Turning this on disables the taxi honk sound that is played when a reporter arrives back from a news item. The overall volume of the taxi honk has also been slightly lowered.
Production items in your tower will be spread out more evenly over multiple work stations. There was a slight miscalculation that would sometimes pile up too many items at a single desk.
Employees are a little bit less likely to wait for a long time at a tube or dumbwaiter. This is still an active area of development and if you encounter severe issues, please send us a bug report.
The article drawer and the build menu drawer now also respond to the scroll wheel when the pointer is over the gaps between the cards.
Durability and Cleanness desk icons now named as such respectively, instead of Info, which was shared by another button.
The leaderboard window used to close when clicking on the column headers or when scrolling and releasing the mouse when out of the window. With this version it will only close when you actually click outside of the window.
Reporter’s speech bubble comments in the newsbook hang around for a little longer. Making them easier to read. You can still click them away manually.
The sales, illustrator and cartographer employees will now also transport their finished items to the next desk or tube if it is on the same floor. Similar to other production employees.
The editing desk spawns a bit less trash.

Spoiler change

There was a part of the story missing which is that your uncle takes over the Empire Observer. You will now notice that at some point your uncle attempts to and eventually succeeds in taking over the Empire Observer. This will not happen in games where the Empire Observer was already beaten. This change is only “cosmetic” and does not affect gameplay at all.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a critical bug where the game would enter an invalid state and your save game would become corrupted if you have the Item Allowance popup open via a resupply desk, but then stash or sell that desk with that popup still open.
🐻 The sales desk is now buffable by items that can be placed on the floor. For example, the Ledger Cabinet.
Fixed an internal error that could occur if an old score file was present in the file system. This could possibly cause your score screen to keep appearing and other unforeseen side effects.
Fixed a critical bug that could lock the game during the recap sequence when you previously had an Ad Boycott active.
In some rare cases it was possible for trash to appear in your tower which wasn’t cleanable until you restarted the game. This is fixed.
Fixed a bug where the "Print completely left or right" requirements would not complete successfully in some cases.
On some systems, for example if your system locale is Turkish, some letters would disappear in news article titles.
Fixed mobsters arriving in a car having the wrong animation. They weren’t meant to be waving at you.
Fixed the white squares appearing when making page combos with certain purple tags.
Fixed competitor scoop tutorial never triggering on competitive districts.
The newsbook introduction addressed your reporter with he but should be she. For now this is only fixed in English.
Fixed Staff board unassigned toggle text not reflecting in tower employees properly.
When you’ve beaten one of the competitors, the new tower unlocks immediately instead of needing a game restart.

Thank you all so much for the love and care for the game. We are committed to make it one of the best tycoon-management game ever.

Join us on discord and X to follow all the news about News Tower!

Original post

18 Nov 2025Developer post

EXTRA! EXTRA! News Tower Full Release Now Available

After almost 2 years of early access, News Tower launches today, November 18!! Step into 1930s New York and build a newspaper empire from the ground floor up: shape your editorial line, lead a bustling newsroom, and chase the scoops that make tomorrow’s front page. 🎬 Launch Trai

After almost 2 years of early access, News Tower launches today, November 18!!

Step into 1930s New York and build a newspaper empire from the ground floor up: shape your editorial line, lead a bustling newsroom, and chase the scoops that make tomorrow’s front page.

🎬 Launch Trailer

Watch on YouTube

It's time to print!

Build a Paper, Build a Tower

This is a proper tycoon: develop your newspaper and become New York’s new media mogul. Construct and manage your Tower from printer to toilet, keep your operation humming, and make the calls that turn raw leads into banner headlines.

Create Your News Room

Recruit, assign, and mentor a full staff reporters, editors, photographers, typesetters and more. With over twenty staff roles to fill and unique traits to juggle, every layout and deadline becomes a strategic puzzle only a cool-headed editor-in-chief can solve.

Decide What Tomorrow’s Scoop Will Be

Sift a news feed with 1,000+ news items, send journalists to investigate, then lay out your pages with photos, charts, illustrations and ads to match your readership. Your editorial “perception” informational, moderate, or sensational shapes who you reach and how they react.

Conquer the Competition

Don't get it wrong, you are the underdog here. 2 other newspaper are already established, with their faithful readers. It will take strategy and care for their interest to get them to switch their subscriptions to you. But this will be the way to unlock better customization tool for your news room and boost your staff's expertise.

Work the City’s Factions

Power players from the ruling elite to back alley dealers, offer quests that bring influence, valuable rewards and complicated choices. Pick allies wisely; a helping hand today can become tomorrow’s scandal. This city never sleeps.

What You Can Do Today

Build your Tower (printer to toilet): design departments, balance comfort, productivity, and costs.
Hire and manage your newsroom: assign tasks, juggle traits and stress, hit print day on schedule.
Overcome competitors: race to claim stories and expand your readership across districts.
Set your editorial line: tune perception, page design, and ads to your audience.
Decide the headline: choose what leads the edition, and watch the city react.
All of this from 1930 until the end of 1939 across the US & Europe

We are running a Launch contest from today until January 1st. Climb to the top and stay there to earn both glory and real rewards!

Finally, if you liked the game, we would like to invite you to leave Steam reviews. As News Tower has been in development for the past 6 years, it would be a tremendous help to share the word around.

The game is on discount (-20%) until December 2nd, so grab it now and start printing!

View game page

P.S: A special shout-out to everyone who followed us on the road to 1.0, your feedback sharpened every system and screen, and paved the way of the last year and a half.

As a quick reminder, your old save will not be compatible with this final 1.0 build, due to all the polish and extra features added, you will need to start fresh.

– The News Tower Team

Original post

13 Nov 2025Developer post

Leaderboard Showdown: Make Headlines, Get Immortalised, Win a Prize

Hello Newsbearers! From Launch day to January 1st 2026 , we’re running a community-wide challenge across News Tower’s four leaderboards. Climb to the top, hold your place, and finish in 1st place at 15:00 CET on January 1st to claim glory (and some sweet rewards) —for everyone to

Hello Newsbearers!

From Launch day to January 1st 2026, we’re running a community-wide challenge across News Tower’s four leaderboards. Climb to the top, hold your place, and finish in 1st place at 15:00 CET on January 1st to claim glory (and some sweet rewards) —for everyone to see.

The Leaderboards

The Decade
Half-Decade
Beat The Jersey Beacon
Beat The Empire Observer

Pick your newsfront—or go for all four. Your task is simple: achieve the highest possible score on the leaderboard(s) in your game mode, and still be sitting at #1 on January 1st.

What Winners Get

For each leaderboard, the players in first place for each game mode (Intro/Classic, Highrise and Lowrise) on January 1st will receive:
An in-game article about your victory, visible to all players—immortalizing your achievement.
A custom-made vinyl of the News Tower soundtrack signed by the developers.

Yes, that’s up to ~~four~~ twelve winners and ~~four~~ twelve immortalized headlines.

How to Take Part

Play News Tower in any game mode and push your scores on any (or all) of the four leaderboards. Keep improving—leaderboards are competitive and will change throughout the contest.

Be at #1 on January 1st at 15:00 CET to win for that leaderboard.

Pro tip: name your Tower cleanly (see rules below), play fair, and protect those saves—nothing stings like losing top spot the week before the finish line.

RULES (READ ME)

No cheat codes in your save. Any use of in-game cheat codes excludes that save file from the leaderboards.
No cheating of any kind. Any detected cheating or tampering results in exclusion from the contest and leaderboards.
Name guidelines apply. Your News Tower name must not include profanity or obscenity. Keep it clean.

We’ll enforce these rules strictly to keep the competition fair and the headlines earned.

FAQ

When does it run? From November 18 through January 1st 2026 (inclusive).
How are winners chosen? The player ranked #1 on each leaderboard in each game mode on January 1st at 15:00 CET.
Can I win more than one leaderboard? No. If you are #1 on more than one leaderboard, the board with the closest percentage difference will pass to the next winner. Only the board you have the largest winning lead on will stick.
How will you reach out to winners? Winners will be contacted through Steam after being announced on Discord. If you are a winner, we will reach out to you through your Steam profile - adding you as friend to get all required details to send your prizes.

Sharpen your pencils, rally your newsroom, and chase those front pages. We can’t wait to write about you.

– The News Tower Team

Original post

12 Nov 2025Developer post

News Tower – Everything You Need to Know Release FAQ

Hey Newsbearers! Before we hit 1.0, we wanted to gather everything in one enormous blog. This FAQ brings together your most‑asked questions, feature summaries, and a look back at our journey to launch so far. Thank you for playing the demos, sending feedback, reporting bugs, and

Hey Newsbearers!

Before we hit 1.0, we wanted to gather everything in one enormous blog. This FAQ brings together your most‑asked questions, feature summaries, and a look back at our journey to launch so far. Thank you for playing the demos, sending feedback, reporting bugs, and cheering us on. Your support has shaped News Tower every step of the way. ❤️

18 months of Early Access — the recap

What a ride for the game already... Since the EA release in February last year we released four major updates and countless updates/patch/improvements shaped by your feedback and support. We couldn't be more grateful for this amazing journey, and hope you will be thrilled to discover what lies ahead.

We streamlined the pre-1.0 path and shipped four major updates shaped by your feedback:

Starting in February 2024 we launched the game in Early Access
Endless Mode update March 13, 2024
Age of Photography update June 12, 2024
Employee of the Month update Sept 17, 2024
Going International update Feb 17, 2025
We're excited for Nov 18th,2025 when News Tower will hit 1.0 and be fully released on Steam for PC and Mac, localized in 7 different languages.

Read the roadmap post for the full journey: Latest Roadmap

What’s coming at 1.0

We have a lot of content planned for 1.0, we did some deep dive throughout the summer to present the main aspects:

Timeline extension — Keep printing until end of 1939 across the US & Europe, which will mark the official end of the game. (But you will have the option to switch to Endless mode and keep playing)
Competitors + Perception — The Jersey Beacon and The Empire Observer fight you for districts; trigger time-sensitive District Conflicts and defend your reputation week to week. Deep dive: Competitor System Spotlight
Factions, revamped (+ new Military) — Mayor, Mafia, High Society, and the new Military faction; 8 unique NPCs per faction with meaningful trade-offs. More reads: Faction Deep Dive · Mafia vs. Mayor · Military vs. High Society
Leaderboards — Compare runs and climb the charts.
Two new unlockable towers — Fresh layouts, new strategic possibilities.
Plus — Loads of discoverable objects, decorations, achievements, and a broad polish across different systems.

1.0 Release FAQ

When does 1.0 launch?

A: Get the presses ready, the game launches on November 18, 2025, in the late afternoon (Central European Time, CET).

What changed since the Summer Community Test?

A: Thanks to testers, a large number of changes and implementations were made, including:

Some Feature improvements

Clearer Competitors: better introduction/readability of the system, tighter District Conflicts, stronger mid-game challenge.
We've re-worked main & side quests for the Mafia and the Mayor (pacing, clarity, payoffs).
All factions have almost completely new questlines

Content additions

The news coverage has been extended to the end of 1939.
New Military faction
2 Unlockable towers.
New objects, new decorations, achievements, and more.

What’s the price? Do EA players pay again?

A: The price, once the game has hit 1.0, will be $24.99. The increase reflects the added systems, content, and polish at launch. If you already own Early Access, 1.0 is a free update. No extra purchase is required.

Which platforms?

A: The game will be available on PC & Mac on Steam. It will also be localised into seven different languages. (French, Spanish, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Russian and Chinese)

Are EA saves compatible?

A: Unfortunately, No. With the faction revamp and the new competitor systems, old saves aren’t compatible—even if you played the Summer Community Test in July. A fresh start ensures stability and access to all new content.

Do you cover continents beyond North America & Europe?

A: While some major events in history took place outside of the western countries in the 1930s, like the sino-japanese or the ethiopian-italian wars, however it didn't fit well in the structure and balancing of the game. This is why we are focusing only on the North America and Europe news which is already a lot to cover in an indie game..

Any plans for post-launch?

A: Our focus right now is set on making sure 1.0 launches well and to be ready for new feedback, new improvements and suggestions we can quickly add to the game in the weeks/months after 1.0

Join the Community

Discord: Join our server for developer Q&As, patch notes, feedback channels, and playtest announcements.
X: https://x.com/NewsTowerGame — Follow for bite-sized updates, polls, and trailer drops.

Wishlist on Steam

Wishlisting helps more than you might think—it tells Steam (and us!) that you want to see this project succeed and ensures you’ll be notified on release day and major updates.

View game page

Final Word

From our very first blog in 2021 to today, you’ve helped us build something we love. Your ideas, bug reports, and kind words made News Tower stronger at every step. We hope you feel that care in every system, story, and song.

If you’re new here: welcome to the newsroom. If you’ve been with us since the early drafts, thank you for keeping the presses running.

See you on November 18.

– The Sparrow Night (Studio Nul) & Twin Sails Interactive team

Original post

15 Oct 2025Developer post

News Tower Dev Blog: Behind the Music and Updated Release Date

Hey newsbearers! We've got a big drop of news this week—our newest feature video, Behind the Music of News Tower, is on YouTube now , and there have been a few changes to our release planning! A Change to the Release While the new 1.0 game content is finished, stable, and ready,

Hey newsbearers!

We've got a big drop of news this week—our newest feature video, Behind the Music of News Tower, is on YouTube now, and there have been a few changes to our release planning!

A Change to the Release

While the new 1.0 game content is finished, stable, and ready, the new launch date ensures News Tower gets the spotlight it deserves in a busy season for strategy and tycoon fans. News Tower will now launch on November 18 with loads of new and interesting content for you to explore. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this causes, and we appreciate your understanding as we take the extra time to polish.

Behind the Music of News Tower

This in-depth look explores the journey of creating the game’s unique soundtrack and how it came to embody the vibrant spirit of 1930s New York.

🎥 Watch the full Behind the Music of News Tower video now!

Watch on YouTube

The video features our lead developer, Bart van de Sande, who worked together with music producer Jack van de Ven to compose a soundtrack that elevates every moment of gameplay. To bring their vision to life, they collaborated with members of the renowned New Cool Collective, resulting in a tailor-made 14-track album built exclusively for News Tower.

The result is a soundtrack filled with energy, atmosphere, and authenticity designed to immerse you in the golden age of newspapers.

In this feature, you’ll hear answers to questions like:

Why live jazz over digital sounds?
What was your vision for each track?
How did you approach composing each score?
Who played the soundtrack and how were they chosen?
Did the music evolve during studio sessions?

If you want to support the work of the developers, check out the soundtrack on Spotify and YouTube. You can also pick up the supporter pack on Steam!

As always, thank you for supporting News Tower. We’re thrilled to share not just the game, but also the artistry and creativity that bring it to life.

A Quick Note on Pricing

As we approach 1.0, we’re aligning the price to reflect the scope of the game. The price will move from $19.99 to $24.99 ahead of release.

– The News Tower Team

Original post

02 Oct 2025Developer post

Factions Spotlight – High Society vs. Military

Hey Newsbearers! The faction spotlight continues, and today we’re diving into two very different powerhouses in New York City: High Society and the Military. These factions represent opposite ends of the city’s social and political spectrum, and just like with the Mafia and the M

Hey Newsbearers!

The faction spotlight continues, and today we’re diving into two very different powerhouses in New York City: High Society and the Military. These factions represent opposite ends of the city’s social and political spectrum, and just like with the Mafia and the Mayor, helping one will hurt your reputation with the other.

That’s right: supporting the refined and wealthy elite of High Society will sour your standing with the Military, and siding with the Military’s strict order will cut you off from the luxuries and influence of High Society. Once again, the choice is yours, but choose carefully, because both factions come with hidden agendas and powerful rewards.

Agendas of Influence

Every faction in News Tower carries its own hidden agendas. These missions, delivered by unique NPCs, are how you’ll climb the ranks and unlock new opportunities. The catch? Every agenda you complete draws you closer to one faction and further from the other. Balance your allegiances wisely, or commit fully and reap the rewards.

High Society’s Bonuses

High Society thrives on culture, wealth, and prestige. Support them, and they’ll help elevate your newsroom to elegant new heights:

Neutral: Opens up the Art Gallery in Essex, supporting the High Society's hidden agenda.
Trusted: Opens up the Steinbeck Residence in Union, offering a way to passively write fiction pieces over time for a random category.
Respected: Constructs the Public Library Garage at the Construction Yard in The Bronx, offering buff objects for reporter skills and potential risk reductions.
Esteemed: Opens up the International press Agency in Somerset. The agency offers the I.P.A machine, allowing you to sell any news article to the agency at half the price.

Military’s Bonuses

The Military offers structure, discipline, and efficiency. Align with them, and you’ll build a newsroom that runs like clockwork:

Neutral: Opens up the Veteran Camp in Nassau, supporting the general's hidden agenda.
Trusted: Opens up the Hospital in Nassau, offering ways to mitigate injuries.
Respected: Constructs the Military Base at the Construction Yard in The Bronx, offering ways to improve the task speed of your employees.
Esteemed: opens up the Steel Mill in Nassau, offering discounts for floor prices.

Order or Elegance?

With High Society offering culture and wealth, and the Military providing strength and structure, the decision comes down to what kind of empire you want to run. But remember, you can’t have it both ways. Every choice you make shifts the city’s perception of your paper and can potentially end up closing doors to the opposing side for good.

Will you chase prestige and elegance, or discipline and order? The fate of your newsroom is in your hands.

– The News Tower Team

Original post

23 Sep 2025Developer post

Factions Spotlight – The Mayor vs. The Mafia

Hey newsbearers! It’s time for another deep dive into the faction system coming in 1.0. Today, we’re focusing on two of New York’s most powerful forces: The Mayor and The Mafia. Both are fighting for influence over the city, and both are eager for your help. But be careful! Suppo

Hey newsbearers!

It’s time for another deep dive into the faction system coming in 1.0. Today, we’re focusing on two of New York’s most powerful forces: The Mayor and The Mafia. Both are fighting for influence over the city, and both are eager for your help. But be careful! Supporting one will put you at odds with the other.

That’s right: siding with the Mayor means turning your back on the Mafia, and helping the Mafia will drag down your reputation with the Mayor. It’s dangerous to know who to trust in the Big Apple, so don't take this decision lightly! Whose side will you choose?

Agendas in the Shadows

Every faction in News Tower comes with its own set of hidden agendas. These are unique missions given to you by their network of NPCs — a way for you to prove loyalty, gain influence, and unlock powerful benefits. But remember: every agenda you complete pushes you deeper into one camp and further away from the other.

The Mayor’s Bonuses

The Mayor wants law, order, and good press, and will reward you for supporting his cause:

Neutral: opens up the Chief of Police in The Bronx, supporting the Mayor's hidden Agenda.
Trusted: Opens up the Wall Street Banker in Manhattan, offering deals to raise the maximum loan or to get a discount on loan interest.
Respected: Constructs the Prison at the Construction Yard in Queens, offering ways to mitigate risks involving the police
Esteemed: Opens up the Republican Committee in Bergen, providing you with offers to convert your money into Influence once a week.

The Mafia’s Bonuses

The Mafia plays by a very different rulebook — money, power, and control. Their favors don’t come cheap, but the rewards are tempting:

Neutral: opens up the Cathedral in Brooklyn, supporting the Mafia's hidden agenda
Trusted: opens up Bobby's Shop in Queens, providing you with offers to convert your Influence into Money once a week
Respected: Constructs the Casino at the Construction Yard in Queens, offering unique entertainment machines to place in your tower. Idle employees may occasionally decide to play them and pay money for it, which will land in your pockets.
Esteemed: opens up the Union Office in Brooklyn owned by the mafia's corrupt Union Boss. Pay him a visit and he will represent your worker's union organization, manipulating your staff and lower their wages. For a small price, of course.

The Choice is Yours

Both factions offer powerful tools that can help shape your newsroom empire, but their goals are completely opposed. You can’t stay in everyone’s good graces forever. Whether you side with the Mayor’s order or the Mafia’s shadows, your choice will define the future of your paper — and maybe the city itself.

This choice now lies with you!

– The News Tower Team

Original post

03 Sep 2025Developer post

Road to 1.0 - Factions and Favor in the City That Never Sleeps

Hey publishers! With 1.0 on the way for November 04, let's keep going with the Road to 1.0 series. It’s time to talk about power, politics, and the people pulling strings behind the scenes. Today, we’re shining a spotlight on one of the cornerstone systems coming to News Tower in

Hey publishers!

With 1.0 on the way for November 04, let's keep going with the Road to 1.0 series. It’s time to talk about power, politics, and the people pulling strings behind the scenes. Today, we’re shining a spotlight on one of the cornerstone systems coming to News Tower in 1.0 — the Faction System.

You’ve battled deadlines, juggled staff, and soon you'll fight off rival newspapers... but here we'll talk about how you will deal with the big players. Welcome to the back rooms and smoky lounges of New York City — where favors go further than facts, and the right connections can make or break your empire.

The Four Factions

When 1.0 hits, you’ll be able to build friendly relationships (or make enemies) with four powerful factions vying for influence:

High Society – A true patron to the city's culture and people, they desire a free press.
Military – Order, discipline, and the iron fist behind the city’s protection.
The Mayor – Civic power with a sharp eye on public image and policy.
The Mafia – Operating in the shadows, but always in control of something.

These groups hold serious sway in New York — and they’re watching your paper closely.

Earn Their Favor... or Their Wrath

Each faction offers four unique bonuses that can help power up your newsroom. Want to speed up your operations? Need extra resources? Looking for protection or exclusives? There's something for everyone — but you’ll have to earn it.

To climb the ranks with a faction, you’ll take on agenda—specific tasks handed out by the people in power. Each faction has two unique NPCs, each with their own tone, flavor, and missions to offer. Align your weekly goals with a faction’s needs, and you’ll see your reputation rise. But beware:

Support one group too much, and you might make enemies elsewhere. Helping the Mafia too often? Don’t expect the Mayor to send flowers. Cozying up to the Military? High Society might not invite you to their next gala.

It’s all about balancing relationships, managing risk, and deciding who you’re willing to anger in pursuit of progress.

Pick a Side (But Choose Carefully)

This isn’t just about making friends — it’s about strategic alliances. Do you want a clean, public-facing paper with support from the Mayor and Military? Or are you willing to deal in whispers and favors for the raw power of the Mafia or High Society?

Every decision matters, because once a faction's opinion of you drops below even “Hated” status... that door slams shut for good. No more agendas. No more bonuses. No more second chances. So think ahead. Plan smart. And maybe keep one eye on the exit.

More to Come

We’ll be diving into each faction in future blogs, with a closer look at their personalities, bonuses. But for now — start thinking about who you’ll want in your corner.

In the city that never sleeps, everyone wants something. The question is: who will you choose to ally yourself with?

– The News Tower Team

Original post

14 Aug 2025Developer post

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! News Tower's 1.0 Release Date Announced!

New York Prepares for Towering Takeover as Independent Publisher Rises to Power November 04, 2025 – New York City As the ink dries on the final editions of test print runs, all eyes are on an up-and-coming publication preparing to shake the very foundations of the newspaper world

New York Prepares for Towering Takeover as Independent Publisher Rises to Power

November 04, 2025 – New York City

As the ink dries on the final editions of test print runs, all eyes are on an up-and-coming publication preparing to shake the very foundations of the newspaper world. News Tower, a newspaper tycoon management game set in the hustle and grit of 1930s New York, will officially launch on November 04, 2025, bringing players into the chaotic, colorful, and competitive heart of the city’s golden age of news.

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According to sources close to the press floor, the 1.0 version of News Tower will include a full suite of features designed to challenge, delight, and immerse aspiring tycoons in the fine art of publishing.

FEATURES HEADLINED FOR RELEASE:

🗞️ Live the Life of a 1930s Publisher

Step into the polished shoes of a fresh-faced editor in 1930s NYC — build your paper, break the news, and rise through the ranks as you try to dominate the city’s information economy.

🏙️ Compete for Control of the City

Outmaneuver rival newspapers like The Jersey Beacon and Empire Observer in a strategic battle for district dominance. Watch your control over New York grow as you push your competitors out of strategic positions on the map to claim your newfound readership!

🤝 Align with Powerful Factions

Will you cozy up to the Mayor’s office, follow military orders, dine with High Society, or deal under the table with the Mafia? Each faction offers quests, bonuses, and political weight — but choose carefully. Favor with one may sour your relationship with another.

🏢 Manage Your Tower from Top to Bottom

From layout to logistics, manage every floor of your growing empire. Upgrade rooms, assign departments, and fine-tune your workflow from the first word to the final print.

🧠 Master the Newspaper Business

Curate your stories, choose your editorial tone, and decide how sensational or serious your paper will be. Balance reputation, perception, and revenue as you chase the perfect front page.

😊 Take Care of Your Employees

A happy employee makes for productive staff. From late-night deadlines to a clean workplace, your team’s well-being matters. Keep them motivated, rested, and ready to roll those presses.

🌍 Uncover stories from across the globe

New York isn’t the only place making headlines. As your newsroom grows, so does your reach. Send reporters out into the world to chase leads, uncover hidden scandals, and bring back stories that will captivate your readers and define your legacy.

What’s Next?

Between now and launch, we’ll be releasing more deep dives into 1.0’s biggest features, like the ones already done for competitors — such as a closer look at factions, and more. There’s still time to wishlist the game, jump into our community discussions, and prepare yourself to make your big debut onto the news scene.

Mark your calendars: November 04, 2025 — the battle for New York’s readership begins.

Thanks for being part of the journey. We wouldn’t be here without your support.

We've also got a sale on now, ending August 28. This is the last chance to take advantage of it before 1.0 launches in November. Additionally, due to us leaving Early Access in November with all of the new content and features coming with 1.0 we will be increasing the price from $19.99 to $24.99 with launch. Don't miss out on becoming the best news publisher of 1930s New York for the lowest price!

Don't forget to join us on Discord to talk with the community and devs about everything News Tower. We can't wait to see you there!

– The News Tower Team

Original post

Updates & announcements

DEAR NEWSBEARERS!

What does the "Setting The Record Straight" update bring?

Quality of life & Improvements

Bug Fixes

DEAR NEWSBEARERS!

Roadmap 2026-27

Leaderboard Launch Contest Wrap-up

DEAR NEWSBEARERS!

What does this update bring?

A More Tailored Challenge

Specific leaderboards

10 Extra News, created by our community

Balance Changes and Improvements

Trait changes

Perception Rules changes

New Deco Objects + a new Shop

Acorn Hall (Map hub)

Bug fixes and small improvements:

For Community Test Players

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

Dear Newsbearers,

The main feature of this test: Difficulty Settings

Changes included in this build

Community Test Feedback

GREETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

Bug Fixes

Quality of Life improvements

The Early Days and the "First Spark"

The Anxiety of Early Access

Highs and Lows of Development

Lessons Learned and Growth

The 1.0 Launch and the Future

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

Let it print, let it print, let it print! ❄❄❄

Bug Fixes

Transport AI Changes

Quality of Life improvements

Other improvements

New content / Christmas update

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

Major Fixes:

Minor Fixes/Tweaking:

Pathfinding/AI:

To summarize:

GREEETINGS NEWSBEARERS!

Quality of life improvements

Spoiler change

Bug Fixes

Nominate Us!

Launch Sale

Thanks for your continued support!

Join the Community!

🎬 Launch Trailer

It's time to print!

Build a Paper, Build a Tower

Create Your News Room

Decide What Tomorrow’s Scoop Will Be

Conquer the Competition

Work the City’s Factions

What You Can Do Today

The Leaderboards

What Winners Get

How to Take Part

RULES (READ ME)

FAQ

18 months of Early Access — the recap

What’s coming at 1.0

1.0 Release FAQ

When does 1.0 launch?

What changed since the Summer Community Test?

What’s the price? Do EA players pay again?

Which platforms?

Are EA saves compatible?

Do you cover continents beyond North America & Europe?

Any plans for post-launch?

Join the Community

Wishlist on Steam

Final Word

A Change to the Release