SimCity BuildIt

At a glance

Build your dream metropolis in the ultimate city building simulation game. That is how ELECTRONIC ARTS pitches SimCity BuildIt on Google Play, where it sits in the Simulation category and carries a content rating of Everyone 10+.

Reading the star ratings

Look at the bars rather than just the average. SimCity BuildIt scores 4.07, but the spread is 60.3% five star, 15.7% four star, 7.3% three star, 4.3% two star and 12.4% one star, across 5,566,789 ratings. Most people give it full marks, though the one star group is far from tiny.

Put differently, there are about 5 five star ratings for every one star rating, 3,357,656 against 688,229. The middle of the scale, two and three stars together, holds 11.6% of ratings (644,388 people). The listing shows 100,000,000+ installs, so the 5,566,789 ratings come from a slice of the people who installed it.

What the Play page lists

The listing shows last updated Oct 8, 2026, version 1.83.3.15965422, Android 7.0 or newer, a content rating of Everyone 10+ and first released Dec 15, 2014. The Play page carries 18 screenshots and a promo video, and the written description runs to about 615 words. Google Play labels it as one that contains ads and offers in-app purchases. There is no upfront price.

From the Play description

It also states that “Includes optional in-game purchases of virtual currency that can be used to acquire virtual in-game items, including a random selection of virtual in-game items”. Another line from the listing: “Welcome, Mayor, to the city builder and simulator”. The listing goes on to say “Be the hero of your very own city metropolis”. One more point the description makes: “This is the city-building game to design and create a beautiful, bustling town or metropolis”.

The description says: “Every decision is yours as your city simulation grows larger and more intricate”. In the developer’s words, “You need to make smart building choices as a city builder to keep your citizens happy and your skyline growing”. It also states that “The city game that lets you build your city, your way”. That is everything we can say about the gameplay from the listing itself, since this page is built from the Play data and not from hands-on play.

Who it suits

Simulation fans first. It is also an easy one to test, since the Play listing is free to open and the install is one tap. Google Play gives it a content rating of Everyone 10+, which is worth a look if a child will be using it.

What to watch for

The listing says it contains ads and offers in-app purchases, so expect to be asked for attention or money at some point. Also, 12.4% of raters left one star, which is a visible group of unhappy players. This page is built from the Play listing, so check the screenshots and the latest reviews on the Play page before you commit time to it.