Star Wars: Tiny Death Star

NimbleBit, the small studio behind Tiny Tower, joined Disney Mobile and LucasArts in 2013 to give the Empire the same pixel management treatment. Star Wars: Tiny Death Star first appeared on Android in Australia and New Zealand on October 12, 2013 and launched worldwide on November 7, 2013 as a free game. It was the first Star Wars game released after Disney bought Lucasfilm.

What Is Star Wars: Tiny Death Star

You build the Death Star one floor at a time. The Emperor wants a battle station, but construction needs money, so the station also fills with shops, cantinas and apartments run by Bitizens from across the galaxy. Residential floors house them, and commercial floors sell products automatically, even while the app is closed. Sales bring in Imperial Credits, which pay for more floors. A rarer currency, Imperial Bux, speeds up waiting times and is earned slowly or bought.

Floors, Bitizens And The Turbolift

Commercial floors come in five categories, each with three products that need stocking:

• Food
• Retail
• Service
• Recreational
• Imperial

Every Bitizen has a skill level out of 9 for each category and a dream job. Put them in that job and they earn you Bux, which is the most important early habit in the game. Visitors arrive by turbolift, and you ride them up to the floor they want, which pays a small tip. VIPs sometimes appear in the lift and can be stored in the lobby for later, helping by filling apartments, speeding up deliveries or moving floors around.

Missions And Star Wars Humor In Tiny Death Star

Occasional missions ask you to find a specific object or Bitizen hidden somewhere in your station, and Rebel infiltrators sneak in for you to catch. Much of Tiny Death Star’s charm comes from small jokes, with familiar Star Wars faces turning up as Bitizens, customers and VIPs in a station full of ordinary shops and apartments. Darth Vader gives orders in the tutorial, and later updates added special events and Facebook features.

How Fans And Critics Reacted

Many mobile outlets, including TouchArcade, Pocket Gamer and Gamezebo, gave it 4 out of 5, praising how well the Tiny Tower formula fit Star Wars. Others were harsher, with Edge and Metro scoring it 3 out of 10 for being a reskin built around timers. Its Metacritic average landed at 70. Players who loved it formed a loyal community, and a fan petition to bring it back still circulates years later.

Disney Pulled Star Wars: Tiny Death Star In 2014

In October 2014, about 11 months after launch, Disney removed the game from Google Play and the App Store without warning NimbleBit. Founder Ian Marsh said the move caught the studio off guard and that the game had been a significant source of revenue. Reports at the time said Disney wanted to focus on Star Wars: Commander, its newer base-building game. The title also appeared on Disney Interactive’s list of retired mobile games in October 2015, and it has never returned to Google Play. A version remained playable for a while through Amazon’s kids’ subscription service.

Is There Anything Similar To Play Today?

NimbleBit’s original Tiny Tower is still on Google Play and plays almost the same way, just without Star Wars. For players who mainly want the building and stocking loop, it is the closest official substitute. The Star Wars theme is the part that cannot be replaced, since no official version of Tiny Death Star can be downloaded today.