Idol Manager

Idol Manager combines talent-agency growth with staffing, training, and crisis management. At Steam, it costs $19.99; it may suit players seeking a single-player campaign built around changing management decisions. Singles, concerts, and tours offer ways to turn a group's popularity into business revenue. Idol Manager costs $19.99 at Steam; its single-player format suits players who want to manage an agency and idol group at their own pace.

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87%Steam Reviews3.8K reviews73Metacritic/10072OpenCritic/100

Released: Jul 26, 2021

Management · Economy · Visual Novel · Romance · Strategy

Steam·Platform:·United States Steam official price~ $19.99Buy now

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GAMIVOIdol Manager EN/JA/PT/RU/ZH EU·Platform:·Checked 2026-11-02~ $16.96View store

All-time low ~ $9.99across Steam & third-party stores

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Price History

Past 36 months · Updated daily

Historical Low~ $9.992024-09Current Low Across Stores~ $19.99Steamvs. Historical Low+100%

Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.

01About Idol Manager

Idol Manager is a management simulation about building a talent agency and developing a young pop group. Hire idols and staff, train talent, and decide how to handle internal conflicts, crises, and public image. Produce singles and organize concerts, television events, and tours to generate revenue, while expanding the agency with new facilities. The game has a 87% positive rating from 3,794 reviews on Steam. The Steam PC version supports single-player. Interface languages: Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, Russian, and Portuguese-Brazil. Release date: July 26, 2021.

Credits

Developer

Glitch Pitch

Publisher

PLAYISM

Steam player reviews

87%positiveVery Positive3,794 Steam reviews

Lowest recorded in 36 months

$9.992024-09-18 · SteamBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.

Language support

Language	Interface	Subtitles	Audio
Simplified Chinese	Yes	Yes	—
English	Yes	Yes	—
Japanese	Yes	Yes	—

Show 2 more languages

Language	Interface	Subtitles	Audio
Russian	Yes	Yes	—
Portuguese-Brazil	Yes	Yes	—

Steam PC edition data · 2026-11-03

02Before you buy

Play mode

The Steam PC version is listed as single-player. You manage a talent agency and guide the development of an idol group.

Languages

English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Thai are listed as interface languages for Steam PC; subtitles are available for these languages.

03Frequently asked questions

What do you do in the game?

Hire idols and staff, train talent, produce singles, and organize concerts, television events, and tours.

Are there conflicts and crises?

Yes. The description includes cliques, feuds, and bullying within the group, as well as crises such as gossip, vandalism, and stalking.

Do choices affect events?

Decisions affect event chains and visual-novel segments, which can play out in different ways and have consequences for a playthrough.

Popular Steam reviews

Native-language selection · 10 reviews

Selected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.

RecommendedSteam player

08/19/2021

- Starts a 3-member idol group with the ambition :repeat_from_here - Releases new singles at a relaxed pace - Sells live event tickets at a reasonable price - Accepts every job thinking it will automatically bring money - Stuff goes haywire immediately - Everything I do leads to a significant loss - Bank robs my entire revenue because of the >100M yen debt and threatens to murder my entire family - Idols lying on a hospital bed and crying in the break room - Yes there is Fujimoto but I don't want him to dictate how I do the business, so I stick with bank loans goto repeat_from_here - 5 days before going bankrupt - Loses 50M yen every week and it seems there's no way to escape this debt hell - Somehow finally realizes I'm not playing some generic visual novel - Starts thinking "strategically" but it looks like it's too late - Considers abandoning this round and starting a new game - Suddenly one idol, Saori, approaches me - I was already paying attention to her since she's always low on her physical stamina - She says "let's go to a local zoo" and sure, why the hell not while everything is falling apart - Went to the zoo with everyone and saw them smiling for the first time - What the hell was I thinking? Abandoning them is not an option - Establishes long term recovery plan and decides to play like FTL - Pauses every second and micromanages every small detail - Situation finally starts to improve and the doomsday(bankruptcy d-day) gets further and further - Now I am more interested in Saori but I hear all the gossips saying Saori has a secret bf, which made me indecisive - Meanwhile the agency finally got out of debt hell and started to make profits, enough to expand the business and do the global tour - Still hesitant to ask Saori out like an idiot and then realizes her graduation is next year - Forget gossips, the chance is 50-50 and it's better than any mobile gacha games I played this year - wtf she accepted I can't believe it - Some people around us did notice our relationship but miraculously they were supportive and no scandal ever happened - Everything went smooth until her graduation and I eventually married Saori Verdict: FTL/10 Fantastic experience and I have no regrets.Show moreShow less

16.7 hours at review349 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

05/24/2022

It's a complete shame to have to write a negative review for a game that is genuinely fun and highly addictive but there are several game breaking bugs that have been around for a long time and the devs response has been basically to ignore them. You can be hours into a play through just to have the timer get permanently stuck on pause and there is nothing you can do about it. you cant even make backup save files to avoid the issue because there can only be 1 save file at a time and even with that the game will sometimes just not save when you ask it to. As I said the game is really fun so if you don't mind likely having to abandon your save file due to bugs then you can still get value out of it but the bugs are incredibly frustrating.Show moreShow less

13.9 hours at review260 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

07/27/2021

Playing this makes me realize why YAGOO decided to shift his vision from an idol company to an entertainment company, cause damn am I always bankrupt! 10/10 need more superchats!Show moreShow less

0.1 hours at review319 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

11/30/2021

The game is actually really fun but theres a game breaking bug that breaks your save file. if you use ur scandal points to fire someone the game stops progressing forward and u cant load saves.Show moreShow less

7.4 hours at review92 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

07/27/2021

For other Anime related reviews, please follow us at Discover Anime! Idol Manager started off as a kickstarter campaign and reached it's goal within the first four hours! I was fortunate enough to get a review copy before launch and 8 hours in, you can tell that it has so much work and love put into it by the devs and theres so much things to do I haven't even scratched the surface! You play as a manager/owner of a company that trains groups of idols. There are two aspects of this game, sim/management and visual novel. Sim/Management Train your idol to improve her dance and vocal skills Styling your idol so she is more cute, sexy or cool Managing their stamina when they are required for a photoshoot/a role in a drama Taking the idols to a day spa to relax and recover stamina Choosing the lyrics, choreography, genre and marketing strategy when releasing a single Holding a concert or going on a world tour Creating a radio, internet or tv show There's so much things to do and I haven't even covered half of it. Visual Novel You would think the game is so focused on the sim/management aspect, it will just do a half baked job for the visual novel part. Well, you would be so wrong! The VN aspect is very engaging and most of your interactive choices matter and affect the sim/management part directly, both aspects feels like they rely on each other to give the player the full experience of being an idol manager. After an 8 hour playthrough, I did not encounter any bugs. You can tell that the developers have put in a lot of effort to make sure the game is polished before released. The only not so fun part I can think of is the stamina management, I just find it quite challenging to make money and keep my idols stamina at a healthy level at the same time despite having two physical doctors and a mental doctor. They have so much things to do and almost everything drains stamina! Maybe the dev can tweak that a little bit? Overall, Idol Manager is in my opinion a enjoyable, polished and well designed game and definitely one of my top five games I've played this year! Glitch Pitch and PLAYSIM has really done it this time. If you are a fan of sim/management and anime/visual novel games and you don't have Idol Manager in your Steam library then I seriously don't know what you are waiting for. BUY THIS GAME!Show moreShow less

8.6 hours at review217 people found this helpful

Received for free

RecommendedSteam player

04/23/2024

> Be me > Think you are going to play a cute management game > I've-always-thought-of-myself-as-a-good-person.png > Get introduced to the business world > Learn that you are in massive debt > Get to work right away > Hold auditions, hire staff, start doing idol things > Get to know your staff and hear their stories > I-will-do-my-best-for-them.jpg > Try your best to help whenever they have trouble > Work through some hard times together > See them work hard and grow > ... > Find out that you don't make enough money > Need-to-do-something.gif > Get most popular idols to work harder > Cut down on costs > Make sure everyone has work always > Try everything to maximize profits > Keep looking at the balance sheet > Nothing changes, everything in red > Be in constant stress > Age 40 years in 1 hour > React with frustration when idols complain about working conditions > I'M DOING MY BEST, OKAY?!?! NOW GO AWAY!! > Idols are tired, burnt out and one even gets injured and can't work > The injured one was the most popular, and thus made most of the money > Be ready to give up > Give up > Start a new game > Somehow end up in an even worse situation > Existential-crisis.tiff > ... > Go back to the old save > Hold more auditions, try to cover the lost revenue using new members > Company still in massive debt, but slowly recovering > Another injury occurs, but less of a financial impact this time > Continue to be stressed while idols continue to work hard > Have a tiny bit more time to think than before due to slightly better finances and a bit less stress > ... > ... > ... > Realize... > You're a black company* > Blacker than black > Working your staff so hard they get injured while trying their best to help > ... > "Do you feel like a hero yet?" > ... > Feel sad... > Feel guilty... > When did I become like this...? > ... > Try to change... > Finances still a big problem though > Work around this as best as you can > Restructure, hire more idols to take work off existing ones > Slowly start seeing improvements to idols' work balance > Still in massive debt, but care less now > I-need-to-do-my-best-for-them!.mkv > Be less stressed > Company slowly gets into better shape > Be glad at progress being made > ... > Disaster strikes > Most recently injured idol returns from her sick leave, but has finally had enough and wants to graduate! > Be sad - not about the money, but about the realization that the majority of my actions only made her life worse... and I can't make it up to her... > Try to convince her to stay, point out that the company has changed, that I have changed.. and we're improving.. > ... > She understandably says no > Reload I-will-do-my-best-for-them.jpg > Make her work as easy as possible while she waits for her contract to expire > Write a song just for her, to wish her well for her future outside the company > Song becomes a big hit > Put on a concert featuring the song, in the biggest venue we ever had > Venue is packed > Have her sing her old songs again in front of the massive crowd of fans, before having her friends sing the farewell song to her > Concert is a massive success > Everyone is happy about what we were able to do for her > ... > The day of her graduation comes > ... > Ask her again to stay > ... > She says yes > ... > Overjoyed.webm > ... > Find out that she's going to be a hairdresser now, but we already have one > Buy a second hair salon so she can continue to spend time with her friends while she does their hair > ... > ... > ... > Realize... > You're now a white company > You care about your staff and they care about you > Even manage to get out of debt, but don't even care as all you want is for your staff-friends to be happy > ... > I'm-not-crying.txt TL;DR: A cute management game taught me a life lesson about the evils which humans are capable of, and reminded me of the importance of continuously reflecting on my actions to ensure I don't join the dark side, whether temporarily or permanently... leaving me with an impact large enough to get me to write a review about my experience almost 2 years later, while accurately recalling everything that happened back then. 11/10 - Would have a moral crisis and become a better person again. Edit: The developers wrote a story for this game, but I was too busy questioning my own morality to pay attention to it all that much. Something about a rival idol agency, which after a brief introduction mostly went into the background for me. *"black company" is term used in Japan referring to businesses which overwork and disregard the needs of their employees, resulting in a significant impact on the affected people's personal lives.Show moreShow less

9.7 hours at review153 people found this helpful

Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.