Federal Reserve Simulator

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• Patch Notes·16 Aug 2026Official

  Steam Deck + Controller Support And Game Balancing Enhancements

  Steam Deck SupportFull controller navigation across every screen — menus, policy dashboard, historic mode, the Fedcyclopedia, all of itLegibility pass for the Deck's 7" screen: minimum font sizes raised so every number and news blurb is readableDevice-aware button prompts — the game shows the right glyphs for your input device and switches instantly when you change devicesBigger touch targets for rate and QE/QT controls, with a coarse $50B step so you're not tapping tiny arrowsFull Controller Support (Desktop Too)Controller support isn't Deck-only — plug in a gamepad on desktop and the whole game is playable from the couch. Switch between keyboard/mouse and controller at any time; the game should follow seamlessly.Desktop ImprovementsThe game now launches in borderless fullscreen instead of a maximized windowUltrawide (21:9) fixes: the historic portrait gallery, briefing screens, and data modals now align correctly at every aspect ratioFixed a UI-scale trap where scales above 100% could push the top bar (and the settings menu!) off-screen with no way backBalancePeople noted the grading on the Warsh mode was too harsh. This should be better now.Closed exploits around QE pumping and capitulation.Bug Fixes & PolishTwo full audit passes fixing 20+ defects across save integrity, Steam stat syncing, game state, and UIGame Over screen no longer gets covered by a late-arriving tweet popupChinese localization fixes, including a proper CJK font and re-localized news itemsSound polish: consistent click feedback on menu navigationThanks to everyone who provided feedback for our game. We are really happy with how this game turned out and continue to make it better with the help of our players!
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• Patch Notes·18 Jul 2026Official

  Update 1.1.0 — The Briefing Room

  Chair — welcome to Update 1.1.0This one is about two things: making it easier to step behind the desk for the first time, and making it far clearer why the economy reacts the way it does. New: Guided First Run — A ~10-minute guided walkthrough takes new Chairs through their first meetings step by step: the levers, your first rate decision, and how to read the results. Learn the job by doing it.New: The Quarterly Briefing — After every quarter, a briefing breaks down what actually happened: which mandates moved (inflation, unemployment, growth), how much your policy drove it vs. outside shocks, and what to watch next. Scroll back through past briefings any time.Autosave — never lose a run — Autosaves after each quarter, on quit-to-menu, and on window close. A crash or Alt+F4 no longer costs you hours.Ultrawide support — 21:9 / 3440×1440 now fills the screen — no more black side bars. New sound design — Curated audio: shuffling documents, committing policy, UI toggles, outcome cues.Localization — More complete DE / ES / PT-BR / ZH translations, including the new tutorial and live in-game text.Polish & reliability — Clearer economic feedback, restyled dialogs, hardened Steam stats/achievements sync.
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• Patch Notes·18 Jun 2026Official

  Federal Reserve Localization update And Scoring Optimization

  Hi Chairs,A new update just went live. We’ve improved scoring, stability, and localization based on your feedback.We’ve also migrated more in-game text into our translation system, improving the localization experience across most areas of the game. We’re still working on improving the Simplified Chinese translation for the Kevin Warsh content, and we’ll continue refining that in a future update.Main FixesFairer End-Game ScoringPlayers noted that ending your term with mild, slightly-below-target inflation — around a 0.5% to 1.0% undershoot — was being graded too harshly, sometimes similarly to runaway inflation.That’s now fixed. A small inflation undershoot now earns partial credit instead of a zero, so steering the economy to just under 2% will no longer tank your final grade.Better Localization ExperienceA lot of rendered in-game text that was previously hard coded has now been migrated into our in-game translation system.There is still some English text in the Kevin Warsh update, but we’re actively working to translate and improve that section as well.Stability ImprovementsRestart stability — Fixed an issue where restarting through “Try Again” or “Main Menu” could cause duplicate news headlines to stack up over repeated restarts.Save system — Optimized the save system to be more efficient and fixed an edge-case bug related to lingering signals after restarting or reloading.Keep It ComingEvery one of these changes came from a player — whether through a review, bug report, discussion post, or suggestion.If the game is missing something, or if something feels off, please tell us in the Discussions or leave a review. Your feedback genuinely shapes what we work on next.Thanks for playing, and good luck out there.The economy won’t run itself.— The Federal Reserve Simulator Team
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• Announcements·24 May 2026Official

  Kevin Warsh Mode — Now Available!

  The newest scenario in Federal Reserve Simulator puts you in charge of the Fed during its most turbulent era yet. Kevin Warsh, former Fed Governor and long-time inflation hawk, takes the chair in Q2 2026 amid dual pressure from his own board and the president that appointed him.The SetupYou inherit 4.3% inflation from the previous era. The White House wants 100 basis points of cuts immediately and isn't keeping that preference private. Jerome Powell — the man you replaced — is still in the building. He's now a Governor, he's hawkish, and he's watching every move you make.You have eight years. Three forces will define them.Fed Independence Under FireA new independence mechanic tracks the political pressure bearing down on your chairmanship every quarter. Hold rates too high and presidential fury builds — public attacks, then a DOJ investigation, then a formal removal threat. Cave to get relief and the FOMC's hawk bloc, led by Powell and Waller, turns on you instead. Board dissent fills as loose policy feeds inflation. Stay independent and you survive. Capitulate either way and you don't.The First Jobless Boom of the AI AgeMid-term, a wave of AI deployment supercharges GDP and corporate profits while displacing workers at scale. The stock market rips. Unemployment climbs. Your dual mandate cracks in two — the tool that fixes one side of the K-shaped economy makes the other side worse. Ease into the boom to chase the jobs number and you inflate the bubble. Hold rates and answer for workers the market left behind.The Bubble — and the CrashBy 2032, AI valuations have detached from earnings entirely. Greenspan faced this exact choice in 1996 with dot-com stocks. You know how his story ended. 2033 arrives, and the correction comes regardless. The question is whether you cushioned it or let it spread into the real economy.New Achievement: Warsh's ResolveEarn an A grade as Kevin Warsh. That means: tame the inherited inflation without caving to political pressure, land the AI...
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• Patch Notes·7 May 2026Official

  Balance Patch — Crises End, Booms Last, and the 1970s Feels More Like the 1970s

  Hey everyone,This update is a balance and realism pass driven by the last few weeks of player writeups and a fresh historical audit. No new mechanics, just a lot of careful tuning. Here's what to expect.Recoveries feel more responsiveCrisis severity now decays in proportion to how deep the crisis was, so recovery from major recessions tracks the historical record more closely.Sandbox wage-price spiral threshold raised to 7% inflation / 7% unemployment, giving recession recovery more breathing room.Booms carry forwardDuring sustained good conditions in sandbox (growth above 3%, inflation under 5%), unemployment now drifts down quarter by quarter. Sub-4% unemployment can persist when you've earned it.Tech booms and manufacturing booms now generate a multi-quarter unemployment tail on top of the immediate effect, reflecting how real structural booms play out over years rather than a single quarter.QE feedback$100B of QE in sandbox now produces a more visible market and confidence response on the quarter it's deployed. Underlying macro effects on growth and unemployment are unchanged.Reserve ratio refinementsPost-1994 effectiveness adjusted to better reflect how the tool faded as sweep accounts spread, so older reserve-policy choices don't carry undue weight in modern eras.GDP, inflation, and unemployment responses to reserve-ratio changes recalibrated against the 1936-37 reserve doubling, a key historical episode where the real outcome was a roughly 10% GDP fall and 5pp unemployment rise.Volcker era and the 1970sInflation response to extreme interest rates (above 12%, 14%, and 16%) refined and gated by current inflation levels, so historical Volcker policy produces the historical Volcker outcome of roughly 3pp/year of disinflation.The 1973 OPEC oil shock and its aftermath now produce period-specific inflation drift, matching the real CPI climb from 3% to 11% across 1973-74.Free mode inflation anchorInflation mean reversion toward the 2% target strengthened in free mode...
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