East India Company

2009 Nitro Games Strategy

Windows 11Runs

MacNot sold

LinuxSilver

Gamicality score

Metacritic 674

OpenCritic Not rated

Steam players 531

How it’s combined

Playability today

3.5

Runs today3.5/5

Design today3/5

Steam user reviews

Mixed

53%

190 reviews1

Get it on Steam Watch the trailer

Facts checked November 1, 2026

Does East India Company run on Windows 11, Apple Silicon Macs, Linux and Steam Deck?

Windows 11Runs

Sold for Windows today, no problem on record.1

Mac (Apple Silicon)Not sold

No Mac version is sold.

LinuxSilver

Through Proton. ProtonDB: Silver, runs with minor issues.3

Played East India Company lately?

One click, no account, so the next player knows. How we check where it runs

Synopsis

A historical trade and naval strategy game in which you run one of eight European trading companies in the 17th and 18th centuries. You ship goods between European and Asian ports, build up fleets, handle diplomacy, and fight real-time sea battles against pirates and rival nations.

Developer: Nitro Games
Released: 2009
Best version: Play the Designer's Cut, the updated version that every digital release now includes; the Complete and Collection bundles add all DLC.
Genre: Strategy
Where to get it: Steam

Reception

Critics gave it mixed reviews and a PC Metascore of 67, liking the mix of trade and naval combat but finding it shallow, repetitive and hampered by a cluttered interface. Reviewers singled out long tactical battles and tedious cargo handling as the main drags on its pace. Players today still enjoy the sea battles and the simple trade setup, but recent Steam reviews are dominated by crash reports, with some calling the Steam build unplayable and others reporting DLC that will not start.

Trailer from Steam

Playability today

The average of two parts, each from 1 to 5. Tap a check to see why. How it works

Runs today

3.5/5

Sold or given away today by an official source
Runs on Windows 11 without fan patches
?Not confirmed yetSingle-player works without an internet connection
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
Some content no longer works (servers, DLC, unlocks)
The game and its DLC are still sold, but many players report the DLC campaigns will not launch after a Steam update, and a recent review says the Trafalgar DLC still crashes (Steam Community).
Supports modern resolutions and widescreen
Widescreen resolutions are supported natively (PCGamingWiki).
No full controller support and no remappable controls
No controller support; the game is played with mouse and keyboard (PCGamingWiki).
?Not confirmed yetSteam Deck Verified or Playable
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
No intrusive DRM or required third-party launcher account
No pay-to-win or pushy microtransactions
Known game-breaking bugs in the current version
Players have reported crashes mid-campaign, after battles and when moving ships since 2012, and recent reviews still warn of frequent crashes, with no confirmed fix for the Steam build (Steam Community).

Design today

3/5

Controls feel natural on a modern controller or mouse and keyboard
Everything is mouse-driven: fleets are ordered and targets picked with right clicks, and any ship can be taken under direct command to steer it and change shot type. Source: worthplaying.com, steamcommunity.com.
Menus, text or interface are hard to read on today's screens
Screens are packed with static windows, tiny icons and meters, and unsortable tables, and it is often unclear which elements are buttons; stats screens cannot jump to the ports they list. Source: worthplaying.com, metacritic.com.
Saving is fair: free saves or frequent checkpoints, little lost progress
Progress lives in save files the player makes, and players advise saving often because of crashes; one recent review reports a save error that forced a return to an older file. Source: pcgamingwiki.com, steamcommunity.com.
Hard to make progress without a guide
A three-part tutorial introduces trade, campaign and battle modes, but the opaque economy screens and inconsistent tooltips leave players to work out much of the system alone. Source: shelfabuse.com, worthplaying.com, metacritic.com.
Pacing drags: grind, filler or forced backtracking
Tactical battles run twenty minutes or longer and slow large campaigns to a crawl, cargo has to be dragged between ships in small portions, and objectives repeat across all eight nations. Source: shelfabuse.com, worthplaying.com.
Camera and movement never fight the player
The strategic map and the 3D battle view move freely, and the battle camera can follow ships up close, though dynamic weather sometimes hides the action. Source: shelfabuse.com.