At a glance
| Product | Made by | Built for | Price on its website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Markstrat | StratX Simulations | Business schools and MBA programmes, executive education and corporate training, for registered instructors and learning providers. | No price on the page we checked. It offers online purchase and a free demo. |
| Capsim | Capsim | Business schools and higher education, and corporate learning and development teams. | No price shown. The product catalogue says pricing depends on the product, volume and format, and offers a demo. |
| Cesim | Cesim | Educational institutions and corporations. | No price shown. It offers a demo version and a live demo with a trial account. |
| Marketplace | Innovative Learning Solutions, Inc. | Instructors and students from introductory marketing courses to MBA programmes. | No price shown. It offers a demo, a sales contact and free instructor training. |
| Countermove | Countermove | Students, classes, teams and anyone curious about marketing strategy. | Free, no account. |
The established simulations
All four are established products aimed at universities and companies. If you need a semester-long simulation with full product decisions, graded assessments and a support team, start with them.
Markstrat, by StratX Simulations
In its own words: “The world's leading strategic marketing simulation”, “built on sophisticated mathematical market models”.
What it covers: Teams of three to six run the marketing division of a large company against other teams: pricing, product development, communication, segmentation and positioning, R&D, advertising and sales force, and a product portfolio. The page gives 12 to 20 hours of decision-making. StratX also lists Digital Markstrat and Circular Markstrat.
Price: No price on the page we checked. It offers online purchase and a free demo.
Source: stratxsim.com: Markstrat, checked 26 October 2026.
Capsim, by Capsim
In its own words: Business simulations and assessments that “create the conditions where judgment is built under pressure”.
What it covers: Cross-functional business simulations (CapsimCore, CapsimGlobal, CapsimOps and Capstone, which it calls its “comprehensive flagship”), inbox simulations for introductory courses, and assessments such as Comp-XM. Marketing is one of the functions teams manage; we found no stand-alone marketing simulation in its catalogue.
Price: No price shown. The product catalogue says pricing depends on the product, volume and format, and offers a demo.
Source: capsim.com: product catalogue, checked 26 October 2026.
Cesim, by Cesim
In its own words: “Cesim Marketing simulation develops participants' strategic marketing capabilities.”
What it covers: Teams match products to target segments and decide pricing, promotion, channels, after-sales and R&D. Its marketing range also includes retail store management, an automotive dealership simulation and short marketing microsimulations.
Price: No price shown. It offers a demo version and a live demo with a trial account.
Source: cesim.com: Marketing Management, checked 26 October 2026.
Marketplace, by Innovative Learning Solutions, Inc.
In its own words: Marketing simulations that “challenge your students to test their skills in a fun and lifelike environment”.
What it covers: Students experiment with marketing strategy, product design, promotion and pricing. It offers versions for introductory, strategic and advanced strategic marketing, and short marketing microsimulations.
Price: No price shown. It offers a demo, a sales contact and free instructor training.
Source: marketplace-simulation.com: marketing simulations, checked 26 October 2026.
Countermove
| What it is | A business strategy game: you run a challenger consumer-goods brand for a year of four quarters against two AI rivals that answer back, with an AI leadership team, a board that votes on your plan and a live news desk. |
|---|---|
| Decisions | Price, the media budget, the split between brand building and activation, and trade terms and deals, from the CEO, CMO, CFO or Chief Customer Officer seat. |
| Markets | Seven consumer categories in Europe, the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, the US and India, all with fictional companies. |
| Groups | A class with one code and a leaderboard, or a head-to-head match for two to five teams. A facilitator kit has a 90-minute run of show. |
| Learning | Short Academy lessons, each with a lab on the game's engine, and a page that checks the engine against published research. |
| Price | Free. No account needed; games save in the browser. |
See how it works, how the engine matches the research, or run it with a group.
What Countermove does not do
- No product design, R&D or segmentation and positioning decisions. Markstrat, Cesim and Marketplace all list these.
- No operations, HR or full finance functions. Capsim's simulations are cross-functional; Countermove is about the commercial calls.
- Consumer goods only: no services, B2B, retail store or automotive markets.
- A game is short: one year of four quarters, about an hour or less, rather than a course-long simulation with many rounds.
- No learning management system integration, no graded assessments for accreditation, and no dedicated support or instructor training team.
- It is new: in public beta since 26 October 2026, without the published research and long track record the established simulations have.
Which to choose
- A full course with product decisions and assessment: one of the established simulations, through your school.
- A single session, a taster before a course, or practice on your own: Countermove is free and takes about an hour or less.
- Both: a short free game can introduce the ideas before a longer simulation starts.
Markstrat, Capsim, Cesim and Marketplace are trademarks of their owners. Countermove is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Spotted something out of date? Write to hello@playcountermove.ai and we will correct it.