MegaCorp is the latest expansion for Stellaris, and as you might have surmised from the title it brings a heaping helping of capitalism to the final frontier. The DLC will let you take command of a corporate empire and conquer the stars all in the name of pleasing shareholders. In addition to a new way to structure your galactic conquest, there’ll be plenty of new opportunities to showcase your wealth and industry across the universe.
As a MegaCorp CEO, you’ll have access to a host of new civics. If you’ve got a trade agreement with a rival empire, you can build a Branch Office on their planets, getting a portion of that world’s trade value for yourself.
Corporate authority will also let you build game publishers, as director Martin Anward showcases on Twitter. The ‘Virtual Entertainment Studios’ building describes a nightmare future for the game industry, where “using nano-transaction systems and neuro-chemical retention algorithms, these development houses bring the latest in virtual entertainment software into the homes and lives of billions of sapient consumers.”
You’ll also be able to build planet-spanning cities, make trade with the nomadic Caravaneer fleets, and build new megastructures like the Matter Decompressor or Strategic Coordination Center. Of course, it wouldn’t be capitalism without at least a little exploitation of labour, and the Galactic Slave Market will let you get heinous in abridging the rights of sentient beings – or free them, if moral needs outweigh economic ones. (You monster.)
MegaCorp comes to Stellaris, and in an appropriate but likely coincidental commentary on consumerism, it will be available for $19.99. While Tim Curry might be upset that space has at last been infected by capitalism, it looks like a big addition to one of the best space games on PC. Just try to avoid going too mad with economic power and keep those nano-transactions from any pay-to-win practices. I hear that’s bad for business.