Offworld Trading Company is a real-time strategy game in which money, not firepower, is the player's weapon. Players lead their developing companies in cutthroat economic warfare against other companies looking to become the dominant economic power on Mars. Loosely inspired by such classics as M.U.L.E., Offworld Trading Company forces players to make tough choices on what resources to acquire, what goods to build and sell, how to interact with the planet's thriving underworld, and when and what stocks to acquire. Players compete against up to seven other AI- or player-controlled companies. The game is won when one player ultimately acquires all the shares of their competitors, thereby wresting control of the entire planet’s economy.

After the Great Collapse, hope died for most of us on Earth. The asteroids were supposed to provide us with limitless resources, but their promise was stolen by a corrupt monopoly. The powerful enforce a status quo dedicated to protecting their interests, leaving the rest of us fighting over scraps. Mars is the last chance for anyone who still believes they can make something of themselves. It's time to stake your claim. Time to head Offworld. The year is 2063. The last generation experienced a series of disastrous setbacks, making even the most optimistic of us doubt our futures. Earth suffered the Great Collapse: a world-wide market meltdown fueled by human greed and achieved by an artificial intelligence gone rogue. There was also the Red Disaster, leaving behind failed and dying government-sponsored colonies on the Martian surface. In this environment of fear, a powerful Syndicate took over and claimed exclusive rights to the resource-rich asteroid belt. Fueled by enormous deposits of precious metal and other materials, the Syndicate became the exclusive lender to world governments. No one was safe from their controlling hand, and after the reestablishment of debtors prison, the remaining free countries of the world decided something drastic needed to be done. The spark needed to ignite the human spirit lay offworld. The governments of the world determined to re-establish colonies on Mars, hoping to wrestle back control of their futures from the usurious Syndicate lenders. In an attempt to do things differently this time and avoid a second Red Disaster, a free market based on competition and meritocracy seemed our best bet. Long-gone were the days of subsidies and automated electronic transactions. Each colony's business would be won on the economic battlefield, and only the most successful ventures would be allowed to continue. The New Martian Colonies would be supplied and fought over by a strange variety of people, all with one hopeful idea in common: "Let's do it better this time around."