Astonishing Basketball Manager

Most basketball management games ask you to love spreadsheets. Astonishing Basketball Manager asks you to love a franchise. Your star sends you a message after a bad loss, fans post about the new rookie in the bleachers feed, the team cook gets sick, and a rival executive called Regina Dargor spends her seasons trying to crush you. Underneath, there is a real GM game: a draft with scouts, universities and a high school pipeline, a minor-league team, contracts, trades, rotations and team strategies. It all runs offline, with no ads, on a phone.

It is also a free-to-play mobile game whose store sells legendary players, training points, a God Mode and two subscriptions. That combination of a warm, story-driven management game and a monetization layer that pushes at the edges is the whole review in one sentence. The rest of this page is the detail behind it.

The hub tells you how the game wants to be played: one big “Play the game” button, a fan feed on the right, and a calendar prompt (the draft class reveal) that turns the season into a series of events rather than a sim-to-end button. Image: Studio Zero / Steam store page.

The short version

• Play it if you want an offline basketball GM on your phone with real personality: inbox drama, a stadium to build, college scouting and a recurring rival.
• Play it if you like having a player-career mode (My Franchise Player) and a GM mode in the same app.
• Skip it if you judge a sim by its cap rules, numeric ratings and transparent engine: Basketball GM or Draft Day Sports will serve you better.
• Skip it if stores that sell legendary players and progression points ruin a management game for you. You can ignore them offline, but they are everywhere.

How we researched this review

We did not play the game itself for this review, and we won’t pretend we did. Astonishing Basketball is a mobile game first, and capturing it would have required installing apps or creating accounts, which our rules exclude. What we could experience directly, we did: we used the developer’s public web roster editor and draft editor at astonishing-sports.app (no account needed), generated a test roster, opened the player editor and read the scenario options in the page, and browsed the public web shop to record its prices. Those captures are labelled as ours.

Everything else comes from public sources read on 14 November 2026:

• Stores: the App Store listing (version 7.0.2, released 13 November 2026) with its full version history, plus the US, UK, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Italian, Indian, Philippine, French, Nigerian, South African, Mongolian, Sri Lankan and Belarusian storefronts, whose in-app purchase lists differ; the Google Play listing in six country versions; the Steam store page, all 14 Steam user reviews and the Steam forums.
• Official: every Steam news post since November 2022, the developer’s Medium changelogs for ABK24 to ABK27, the official website and its ABK21 press kit.
• Community and press: dated player reviews from the App Store, Google Play and Steam, the GM Games user page, the r/AstonishingSports subreddit and Basketball-Reference for real-world comparison.

All in-game images are official screenshots from the Steam and App Store pages or the ABK21 press kit, credited in each caption. Where we could not verify something, such as how the engine resolves possessions, we say so.

Who makes it, and what it is today

Astonishing Basketball is the work of Studio Zero, a Canadian company based in Montréal, and of a developer who signs his posts “Aerilys” (on Steam, the developer account posting in the forums is called Mortigern). The website describes the studio as “Aerilys – Studio Zero / Zero One Games – 2017-present”, says the games are “made with love in Canada and France”, and lists sister titles in baseball, American football, soccer (Astonishing Eleven), hockey and medieval strategy (Clovis). The publisher on Steam is the French company Zero One SAS.

Basketball is the oldest of the line: the September 2026 changelog opens with “ABK turns 12 this year”. Today it is a yearly series that lives inside one app per platform:

• Android: the Google Play listing (package com.aerilys.basketball.twentyone, a name inherited from ABK21) went live on 13 December 2020. The ABK21 press kit gives 15 December 2020 for Android and iOS.
• iOS: the current App Store app dates from 18 October 2021 and has been updated in place ever since; ABK21 had its own separate iOS app.
• Steam: early access on 6 January 2023, full release on 28 August 2023, free-to-play since 20 December 2024. Windows only.
• Spin-offs: Astonishing Basketball Career (a player-career game with 3D gameplay, the first in the series) and Astonishing College Basketball are separate apps from the same studio.

	App Store (iOS/iPadOS/Apple silicon Macs)	Google Play (Android)	Steam (Windows)
Rating	4.7 from 4,666 (US); 4.65–4.81 in UK, Canada, Australia, Philippines, France	4.5 from 12.2K reviews (US); 4.3–4.6 by country	Mixed, 57% of 14 reviews
Price	Free with in-app purchases	Free, purchases $0.49–$29.99 per item	Free to play since 20 Dec 2024
Installs	n/a	1M+ (1,059,423 in the page data)	n/a
Latest update	7.0.2, 13 Nov 2026	12 Nov 2026	Last Steam news post: Dec 2024
Notes	13+ on the US page; “Contains loot boxes”; English only	Rated Everyone; “In-game purchases”	Developer discloses AI-generated portraits

Store data as read on 14 November 2026.

A season, step by step

The game never documents its loop in a manual, but the official screenshots, store copy and six years of patch notes describe it in enough detail.

1. Setup. You create or pick a team and name your coach. The default league has 30 franchises, 15 per conference, in real cities with invented names: the Washington Bulls, Socal Shooters, Memphis Veterans, Los Angeles Superstars. The web roster editor confirms the 30 cities, including Oakland and “Socal”, and a 16-team league option. From the same screen you can switch to My Franchise Player, the career mode. Scenario mods can change the rules: the public roster editor exposes a starting year, Hard, Extreme and Hardcore modes, a 41-game short season, skills on or off, a limit on seasons (1 to 12, or unlimited), hardcore limits on defeats and win rate, and victory conditions such as winning a number of Cups or producing an MVP.

Team setup asks for a team name and a coach name, and offers a jump into My Franchise Player. Two games share one entry screen, which is why so much of the update history is about the career mode. Image: Studio Zero / Steam store page.

2. The regular season. The season advances day by day from the hub. Each game is played individually; you can enter it to make decisions or let it resolve. The calendar is punctuated by events: the screenshots show the “draft class reveal”, when “you’ll be able to send your scouts on day 20”. The inbox fills with player messages, trade reactions, contract requests and storyline events; the news feed and bleachers carry fan posts and trade rumours.

Day 50 of an 82-game season. Read the spread: the Washington Bulls are 39-10 and the Memphis Veterans 4-45, a wider gap than the real NBA usually produces this early. The scores run from 77-83 to 113-107, and the team-rankings box puts this side 3rd in blocks but 25th in shooting. Image: Studio Zero / Steam store page.

3. Managing the team. Between games you set strategies and rotations in the front office, hire assistant coaches, spend training points, talk to players, manage the minor team, and run the stadium (shops, food menu, events, monuments). You can also join the board of a university to vote its budget, policies and new buildings (added February 2023).

4. Playoffs and the Basketball Cup. The postseason ends with the Basketball Cup final. Winners get collectable championship rings and a parade (May 2023), and since March 2026 also training points. Awards include MVP, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, Coach of the Year, scoring titles and, since January 2026, steals and blocks titles, as well as in-world honours such as the Branda and Griffin awards and stadium prizes for best food or best tourist attraction.

5. Offseason. Retirements, Hall of Fame elections, re-signings and extensions, the draft (with the scouts’ post-draft accuracy reports), free agency and training. Retired players may ask you to retire their number, which costs $5 million in-game.

6. Every five years: a new Era. Since May 2026, offline saves “see their meta evolve every five years”, forcing you to “adapt your strategies and rebuild your roster for a new world”. This is the series’ answer to the dynasty that stops being challenged, and on paper it is a clever one.

The match engine

This is the area we know least about, and the developer has published little. What is documented:

• What you see. Results are shown as scoreboards, box scores and season leaderboards. There is no 2D court view in the manager game (players keep asking for “player dots moving around”, as one App Store review put it in December 2025). In November 2024 an App Store reviewer asked to “bring back 3D gameplay”, in which you could control your own player in the career mode. The separate Astonishing Basketball Career app is where 3D play now lives.
• What you can influence live. Store copy promises timeouts, substitutions and instructions such as defending the paint more tightly. The concrete mechanism is Timeshift, “our in-game decision component”: the game stops on specific situations and lets you choose, for example, who takes a shot or how to defend a player. Timeshift V2 arrived in May 2023, a defensive Timeshift with ABK24, and a “Time Master” DLC with ABK25.
• What feeds it. Player grades, energy, morale and level; team strategies, rotations and (since 2026) tactical mindsets; staff; and an arena bonus that adds energy at home.

What is not documented is how a possession is resolved. We found no developer post explaining it, and the post-game analysis added in July 2026 suggests the developer knows players struggle to read results.

Realism evidence. We can only measure what the official screenshots show, so treat this as a sample, not a study:

Per game	Astonishing (Steam screenshots)	NBA 2024-25	NBA 2025-26 so far
Points per team, 12 team scores shown	98.1 average (77 to 113)	113.8	115.6
Team rebounds (one team, 8-2)	43.3, 14th in league	44.1	43.8
Team assists (same team)	22.3, 4th	26.5	26.7
Team steals (same team)	4.5, 3rd	8.2	8.4
Team blocks (same team)	4.0, 7th	4.9	4.8
Offensive rating (same team)	111.2	114.5	115.7

Astonishing figures from the official Steam screenshots (season and roster screens); NBA figures from Basketball-Reference.

The shape is believable: rebounds and blocks sit near NBA levels and an offensive rating of 111 is plausible. Two things stand out. Scoring is lower than today’s NBA, and steals are about half of real levels, so a team with 4.5 a game ranks third. The ABK21 press-kit screenshots (2020) show even lower scores, from 67 to 94, which matches a 2022 Canadian App Store complaint that “the best scorer only scored 22 point”.

Known engine complaints, consistent over six years:

• Ratings that don’t produce. “Why do players shoot so inefficiently? Like even if they have an A+ shooting rating” (Google Play, December 2022). An Australian reviewer maxed defense to 99 and “averaged 1 block” (March 2024). In August 2025 a US player reported A+ shooting, an A 3-point grade and a .15 three-point percentage. In August 2026 a US reviewer with four All-Stars asked for a way to track “what exactly is going wrong”.
• Positional imbalance. In January 2021 the developer admitted on Google Play that “centers are a bit of a struggle to balance” and that power forwards needed a boost. Players still reported struggling centers in 2023 and 2024, and power-forward regression in April 2025.
• Difficulty cliffs. In December 2020 a Google Play reviewer won eight Cups in a row on Normal and then saw his whole team shoot below 28% for three seasons on Hard. The developer replied: “You asked for hard, so here it is”. The same theme returns in 2026: “No matter how well you assemble the roster or what strategy you use, your team completely underperforms”.
• Streaks and runs. A 2022 reviewer described a 35-0 opposing run while holding a full team of legends.

The developer has been changing the engine’s inputs rather than explaining them. ABK27 widened player generation (“smaller players will get more rebounds, everyone will get a bit more assists”) and added “a new AI difficulty profile, which is rarely triggered but can be quite powerful”. July 2026 brought the post-game analysis, September added nudge messages about it. That is the right direction. For now, the engine is the weakest part of the game.

Coaching and tactics

Astonishing Basketball gives you more coaching levers than most mobile GMs, and they are about identity rather than plays.

The front office is where coaching happens: a head coach with one offensive and one defensive strategy, a separate rotation editor and three empty assistant slots (backcourt, frontcourt, defense). The budget box on the left tells you money and tactics live on the same screen. Image: Studio Zero / Steam store page.

Every documented option:

• Offensive and defensive strategies for the head coach. Examples in official material include “Be aggressive on the rebound”, “Protect the rim” and “Big & Roll”, a strategy built around point guard and center (September 2023).
• Rotation strategies, edited from the front office.
• Assistant coaches: backcourt, frontcourt and defensive coach slots, plus a minor-team coach with his own skills. Since ABK25, front-office coaches give your players free training once a year.
• Tactical mindsets (April 2026): “a brand new way to customize your team’s strategy through mastery”. AI teams got them a week later. ABK25’s Masteries and Coaching Path were the groundwork.
• Timeshift decisions during games.
• Training: training points spent per player; “Super Advanced Training” arrived with ABK25, and a sixth training star existed in ABK24.
• Post-game analysis (July 2026) to explain strengths and weaknesses.

What is missing compared with the genre’s best: there is no playbook or set-play editor (Pro Basketball Manager has one), no minutes-per-player control (requested by App Store reviewers in April and August 2024), no individual player instructions or shot diets (in 2024 a reviewer said all you can do is “turning off 3’s”), no pace setting, no matchup assignments outside Timeshift moments, and no quantified fatigue curve. You choose an identity and the engine interprets it. For a mobile game that is a reasonable design. For anyone coming from Draft Day Sports or Pro Basketball Manager, it will feel like coaching with mittens on.

Players and ratings

Our hands-on test of the public roster editor is the clearest view of the attribute model we found. Each player has:

• A position: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward or center.
• A player level: Rookie, Regular, Elite or All-Star.
• Four letter grades: shooting, 3-point shooting, rebounds and passing, each from F to A+ on an eight-step scale (F, D, C, C+, B, B+, A, A+).
• A numeric defense rating, plus age and jersey number.

Our capture of the public roster editor after one click on “Fill team with random players”. Note how extreme the random grades are: a point guard with A+ rebounds and A passing, a shooting guard with an F in rebounds. Five columns are the entire attribute model. Image: our capture, astonishing-sports.app roster editor.

Editing a 21-year-old center: player level, four grades, a defense number and age. There is no potential, durability or personality field here. Those live inside the game. Image: our capture, astonishing-sports.app roster editor.

In the game, the player page adds morale and energy arrows, popularity, potential, rings, contract money and years, star ratings and a Talk button. ABK26 made player personalities and achievements more visible, and ABK27 lets inbox reactions change morale. Since December 2025, saves with skills enabled can hand out random super badges; ABK23 already had skills, and the Franchise Player mode has abilities “only for the most elite of players” (March 2026). An “Approximate Overall” rating is in A/B testing in ABK27; players in 2021 had praised the game for “not including overalls”.

A 37-year-old All-Star scoring 25.6 points on 58% shooting with a C+ 3-point grade and a 0.38 three-point percentage. The grades are a hint, not a promise: the stat panel and its Advanced tab carry the real information. Image: Studio Zero / Steam store page.

Progression and aging run on training points. Players complain it is hard to move: “it is pretty hard to get players better, even using training points” (Google Play, March 2021); “please allow ratings to change not just due to old age” (App Store, August 2024). Scouting fog is partial: grades are visible, but a Steam reviewer in 2023 warned they are “often quite misleading”, and draft scouting happens through scouts you hire and send, with post-draft accuracy reports. Injuries are where our research ran out. In May 2024 an App Store reviewer asked to add them, “because not everyone is healthy all 82 games”, and we found no changelog entry adding them. We did not count them as a feature.

A 12-man roster at 8-2. The bench is a wall of Fs and Ds, and five of the seven reserves are guards: depth here is mostly roster filler. The right column turns grades into numbers: 2nd in shooting, 19th in 3-point shooting, 3rd in steals. Image: Studio Zero / Steam store page.

The front office

Astonishing Basketball does not simulate a collective bargaining agreement, and it is better to know that before you start.

• Cap model: an owner-set payroll budget. The official screenshot shows a $163.5M total budget, $97.0M used, $139.5M available for extensions and $66.5M for free agents. ABK27 imports a new payroll system “including negotiations with the owner”, and the trade screen now shows payroll impact. God Mode and the Payroll Booster purchase raise the budget. We found no luxury tax, cap exceptions, rookie scale or maximum contract.
• Contracts: one to five seasons and $0 to $50 million in the roster editor. Offers have a “5M button” for faster offers (April 2023), and since ABK24 can include player options and no-trade clauses. Unhappy players no longer ask for extensions (April 2024), and you can congratulate players on new deals from the inbox. Fan level gives a contract-negotiation bonus.
• Negotiation quality is the recurring complaint. Rookies “demand way too much money” (Google Play, March 2021); “a rookie is asking for 18 million” (App Store, August 2024); rookies “will only take these 8-12 mil contracts even if they’re just ok” (February 2025); in career mode teams “are so stubborn” (December 2025).
• Trades: a trade finder plus AI offers, players who react when shopped (2023), a “Top 10 players to watch” list each preseason (March 2026), and AI trade offers “greatly improved” in March 2026. Before that, a December 2024 Steam reviewer called it a “Bad Trade Finder” that found only terrible deals while his own were better. A paid Magic Trader item exists in some storefronts; in October 2026 a Google Play reviewer wrote that it “doesn’t help at all”. Draft picks can be traded, and draft projections account for traded picks (2023). In April 2025 a Google Play reviewer said picks you traded for could not be traded again.
• Draft: draft classes are revealed during the season, scouts go out from day 20, and community draft classes (up to 75 players in the public draft editor, broken down by position) can be imported. ABK26 added an interactive fantasy draft. We found no documented lottery format.
• Free agency: a separate free-agent budget; players arrive with a level and grades.
• Finances: revenue from attendance, shops, food, events, jersey sales and tourists. One screenshot shows a home game with 11,550 spectators bringing in $1,000. An October 2025 Steam reviewer with “50,000 fans that attend” said his team “can barely make 50 million a year” and he had to play several seasons to afford one shop.
• Owner and job security: owner negotiations exist in ABK27. AI coaches can be fired (August 2023) and Coach Career mode lets you move between teams, but we found no documented owner goals or firing rules for the player.

The stadium is the second front office: an arena upgrade worth 1% energy per home game, tourists to keep happy, events that “cost a lot” but fill seats, and a $5M fee to retire a number. Note the last-game figure: 11,550 spectators, $1.00K in revenue. Image: Studio Zero / Steam store page.

On PC the arena is rendered in 3D in your colours and logo, compatible with custom online logos. It is decoration, not a match view, but it is the closest the manager game gets to a court. Image: Studio Zero / Steam store page.

World and longevity

This is the game’s best section, and the reason to play it.

• League structure: 30 teams in two conferences of 15, or 16 teams; 82 games, or 41 in a short season. A minor-league team for each club, universities and high schools below it. The franchise player can play in a FIBA Cup and a College Basketball Cup; players in the Philippines and France asked in 2026 for national teams and a World Cup in career mode.
• Licences: none. The game states it is “not affiliated with the NBA or the WNBA”. Teams have invented names; players resemble real ones. In December 2024 a Steam reviewer said the PC rosters of “fake players resembling real ones” dated from about 2021. Roster updates ship regularly on mobile (“The new rosters are here!” in December 2025, February, March and April 2026). Players have asked for real names for years.
• History and records: a Hall of Fame with a realistic election process (2023), league records with top-10 lists (April 2026), playoff records and all-time great performances (ABK27), retired numbers, championship rings, a coach awards cabinet and a celebration screen for retiring players (April 2026).
• Living world: player messages, a fan feed, trade rumours, storylines (some hidden “for now” in ABK27), the Rivalry with Regina Dargor (switchable off since April 2026), and life events off the court: in the ABK21 press kit you can take your team to a restaurant, help local associations or get married.
• Editor and modding: in-game renaming and customisation of teams, players and universities; community rosters and draft classes via mod.io, validated by the developer before going public; the public web roster and draft editors; “new contract options for mods creators” (March 2026); a custom logo URL as a Premium editor feature.
• Saves and length: “unlimited saves” offline. Scenario rules can cap a save at 1 to 12 seasons or leave it open, and Eras change the meta every five years. One official awards screenshot shows a coach record of 5,544 wins and 11,508 losses, which only a very long save can produce.

A coach’s trophy cabinet: 11 Basketball Cups and 12 conference titles, a best season of 75 wins and a worst of 81 losses, and stadium awards such as best shopping experience. The game treats a career as a story to collect, not just a win total. Image: Studio Zero / Steam store page.

The same game in 2020, from the official ABK21 press kit. The hub layout has barely changed in six years. The scenarios screen offers “Custom roster mods” and a “Historic roster – 2002”, and the scores are lower than today’s (67 to 94). Image: Studio Zero / ABK21 press kit.

My Franchise Player and the online modes

There is a second game inside the first. My Franchise Player lets you create a player and live his career, from college (with a College Basketball Cup) to the pros: changing teams, asking for trades, chasing All-Star selections, buying gear and shoes, and managing a life with friends and children. It gets much of the update attention: a new interface in December 2025, elite abilities in March 2026, better trades and a coach who asks your advice the same month, a “Road to Starter” feature in September, new gear in 7.0.2. Its weak point is the grind: “progressing through is way too grindy with both training points and skill points” (Google Play, December 2022), and the store sells My Player boosts.

The career mode as the App Store sells it: a player card with five ratings (shooting, 3FG, rebounds, passing, defense) and a career score. The same five-rating model as the manager game, seen from the inside. Image: Studio Zero / App Store listing.

Online, the modes are asynchronous: the Astonishing Contest, daily events such as Rookie Friday, ranked games, custom leagues, daily and weekly leaderboards and guilds with logos and rewards (February 2026). The entire solo game stays offline. The online side is where monetization bites hardest, as the next section shows.

The online hub: ranked games, custom leagues, solo paths (Path of Legends, Journey) and competitive events. Everything here is asynchronous: you compete with other players’ teams, not with them in real time. Image: Studio Zero / App Store listing.

Longevity risks. Two of them are real. First, late-game economics: the October 2025 Steam review above describes a save that stalls for lack of money and training points. Second, legend inflation: in February 2026 a Canadian App Store reviewer wrote that it is “free until you win three championships. Then legends start to appear on other teams”. Combined with the January 2026 complaint that Dargor signs legends “for ZERO salary”, the late game pushes towards the store.

Interface, platforms and performance

• Phone and tablet are the natural home. The UI is touch-first, card-based and readable; iPad support is native and the iOS app also runs on Apple silicon Macs (“Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS”). It needs iOS 15 and takes 216.8 MB.
• PC (Steam) is a port with a desktop sidebar. Reviews call it mobile-shaped: “Graphic Style and optimisation is tailored for smartphones” (September 2023); “a lot of features and links don’t work… Unituative, bad UI” (December 2024). In October 2024 a Steam reviewer said the PC version had fewer features than mobile.
• Speed: games are simulated one at a time. Requests for multi-game simulation go back to at least 2022 (“Too long too simulate… simulate half the season at once”, February 2023; “a way to sim multiple games at once”, December 2023; “fast forward your season”, July 2025). We found no changelog entry adding it.
• Languages: the App Store lists English only. A beta translation option existed in 2023, according to a French reviewer, and ABK27 is “99% translated in French, Portuguese and Spanish” on Android, except interviews.
• Offline, cloud, cross-save: the whole solo game is playable offline with unlimited saves. Online modes and the Legacy DLC need a connection; in May 2024 two players said the Legacy DLC kept asking for Wi-Fi. We found no documented cloud save or cross-platform save, so we leave those unmarked.
• Accessibility: Apple’s listing says the developer “has not yet indicated” any accessibility features. Music and sound volume have been separate settings since ABK27, after a 2024 Steam complaint that you could only turn music off.
• Help: a help section restructured in 2023, help for super badges (December 2025), and KATE, an AI assistant, in experimental form: added in 2023, removed in ABK25, back in June 2026.

Monetization, line by line

This is where the review gets uncomfortable. The game has no ads and no paywall for the solo mode, and that matters. But its store sells exactly what a manager game is supposed to make you earn: players, development and power.

Item	What it buys	Price (where we saw it)
Legendary Player	A random legendary player	$1.09 US App Store and web shop; £0.99 UK; €0.99 Italy
Duel of Legends	Two legendary players join your team	$1.79 US; £1.99 UK
Duel of Legends Max / Super Duel of Legends	Bigger legend bundles	£2.99 UK / $5.49 in USD storefronts
Amazing Player Pack	Not described on the listing	$2.49 in USD storefronts
Training Pack	3,000 training points	$1.99 US App Store; $1.49 web shop
Epic Training Points Pack	Training points	$2.99 US; $3.99 in USD storefronts
Astonishing Training Pack	Training points	$6.49 US App Store; $5.49 web shop
Training Max Pack	Training points	$2.69 web shop
Starter Pack / Rookie Pack / College Starter Bundle	Starter bundles, contents not listed	$1.99 / $3.49 / $4.99
Astonishing Epic Bundle	Bundle, contents not listed	£9.99 UK; $12.99 in USD storefronts
Payroll Booster	Bigger payroll budget	£3.99 UK; $4.99 in USD storefronts
God Mode	Force any trade, start with a big payroll; works “in any number of saves, forever”	£4.99 UK; $5.99 in USD storefronts; $4.99 in a 2023 US review
Magic Trader	Trade help, not described on the listing	$4.99 in USD storefronts
Immortal power-up	Not described on the listing	$4.99 in USD storefronts
Leadership Bundle	Not described on the listing	$2.99 in USD storefronts
ABK+ Subscription	God Mode “and other bonuses”, exclusive Franchise Player shoes	$1.49 in USD storefronts (billing period not stated)
Skills Training Subscription	Not described on the listing	$1.49 in USD storefronts
ABK Elite Pass	Not described on the listing	$1.49 in USD storefronts
All-Star Maker	Upgrade a player to All-Star; feature hidden in ABK27	₱129 in the Philippines
My Player – Training 20 / 50 / 80 / 90 / 95	Career-mode stat boosts	$5.49 (50), $9.99 (80), $11.99 (90) US; NZ$29.99 (95) in New Zealand
Skill Points 3K / 10K Pack	Career-mode skill points	CA$2.99 (3K) to A$7.99 (10K)
The Legacy – DLC	Career-mode content	$2.99 US
Beautiful Home DLC	Not described on the listing	$1.99 in USD storefronts
Time Master DLC	Timeshift-related DLC (ABK25)	Price not found
Steam God Mode DLC	Announced as a paid DLC after the free-to-play switch	Not listed on the Steam page we read

Apple shows only ten purchases per storefront, so we combined the US, UK, Italian, New Zealand, Canadian, Indian, Philippine, Nigerian, Mongolian, Sri Lankan and Belarusian pages; “USD storefronts” means stores that price in dollars outside the US. Google Play lists a $0.49–$29.99 range per item. Web shop prices are from store.astonishing-sports.app (Xsolla).

Our capture of the official web shop: the same Training Pack is $1.49 here against $1.99 on the US App Store, and the Astonishing Training Pack $5.49 against $6.49. Buying outside the app stores is cheaper; it also needs a login, which we did not create. Image: our capture, store.astonishing-sports.app.

History matters here. On Steam the game launched in early access as a paid game with microtransactions; on day one a reviewer wrote: “Microtransactions in a text-based basketball simulator? Holy bologna, no thanks” (January 2023). The developer promised a post explaining “why it’s not free, and why I’ve included micro-transactions”. The Steam version went free in December 2024, and God Mode became a paid DLC for new players. In 2023 a French player noted that multiplayer used an energy system, with only 5 energy points.

Our fairness verdict.

• Ads: none. That is rare and genuinely good.
• Loot boxes: yes. Apple flags the game, and “Legendary Player” is a random reward.
• Pay-to-win: offline, purchases are shortcuts you can ignore, and plenty of players say so (“no need to pay to win”, June 2026; “far away from pay2win”, Steam 2023). Online and in the late game it is pay-to-win in practice. Players report online opponents stacked with bought all-stars (January 2026), legends spreading to AI teams after three titles (February 2026) and “PAY TO WIN… Won’t let you win anything unless you upgrade through spending” (Philippines, April 2026).
• Value for money: the paid items are cheap one by one, which is part of the problem. The worst pattern in the reviews is paying to boost a player who then underperforms: “I bought the pack where it upgrades all your stats to a 90… just got robbed of 10 bucks” (June 2024); “What is the point in paying” (Canada, April 2023).

Update history

Date	Version	What changed
13–15 Dec 2020	ABK21	Google Play launch; press kit lists Android and iOS, free with in-app purchases, no ads
18 Oct 2021	ABK22	Current iOS app released
6 Jan 2023	Steam early access	Tactics, deep draft, staff, stadium customisation, 3D arena, Timeshift, mod.io rosters
12 Jan 2023	Steam	God Mode: force trades, big payroll
10 Feb 2023	Steam	My University board of directors; scouts’ post-draft reports
28 Feb 2023	Steam	KATE AI assistant (test)
1 Apr 2023	3.4.3	Offensive and defensive rebounds split; 5M contract button; help restructured
23–30 May 2023	Steam	Championship rings and parades; minor-team coach skills; transactions page; Timeshift V2
28 Aug 2023	Steam 1.0	Hall of Fame elections, draft projections with traded picks, 1,000 new names, AI coach firings
Sep 2023	Big & Roll	Big & Roll strategy; players react to trade talk; contract congratulations
2023–24	ABK24	Player options and no-trade clauses; defensive Timeshift
7 Oct 2024	ABK25	Coaching Path, Super Advanced Training, Masteries, Time Master DLC; KATE removed
20 Dec 2024	Steam	Free to play; God Mode to become paid DLC
2025	ABK26	Personalities and achievements, Franchise Player rework, interactive fantasy draft, new payroll system, ABK+
Dec 2025	6.1.x	New Franchise Player UI; super badges; roster update
Jan–Mar 2026	6.2.x–6.3.x	Steals and blocks titles; Amazing Legends; AI trade offers improved; Cup awards training points
Apr 2026	6.4.0–6.4.2	Rivalry can be turned off; tactical mindsets, also for AI teams
May 2026	6.4.21–6.4.3	Eras: the meta changes every five seasons
Jun–Jul 2026	6.4.32–6.4.5	KATE returns; post-game analysis
7 Sep 2026	ABK27 beta	Owner negotiations, wider player generation, new AI difficulty, playoff records, translations; several modes hidden
3 Oct–13 Nov 2026	7.0.1–7.0.2	ABK27 on iOS; fixed rosters; Franchise Player gear; Path of Champions back

Sources: Steam news, Medium changelogs, App Store version history. ABK24 and ABK26 dates are approximate; the posts did not load for us and we relied on their search excerpts.

Roadmap. The ABK27 post promises multiplayer changes “you will have to wait just a little longer to see”, a revamp of interviews “later this year”, and the return of some hidden features (All-Star maker, Path of Champions, coaching profile, storylines, Jam/Epic mode, Z-Show) “in a better format”. Path of Champions is already back in 7.0.2.

What players say

The aggregate is warm on mobile and cool on PC: 4.7 from 4,666 ratings on the US App Store, 4.65 to 4.81 in other English-speaking storefronts, 4.5 from 12.2K reviews on Google Play, 8.2 from 22 votes on GM Games, and Mixed (57% of 14) on Steam.

The positive cluster: depth for a phone, offline, no ads, a present developer.

• “I’ve had this app for well over 5 years and it continues to impress” (App Store US, February 2025).
• “Finally a game that doesn’t force you to watch an ad every second” (App Store PH, February 2024).
• “Helped by a great developer and the community on discord that he really engages with” (App Store UK, March 2022).
• “This game balances fun and realism perfectly” (GM Games, December 2020).
• “Easy to learn, not too easy to master” (Steam, September 2023).

The negative cluster: engine opacity, monetization, contracts, the PC port.

• “No matter how well you assemble the roster or what strategy you use, your team completely underperforms” (App Store US, August 2026).
• “Free until you win three championships. Then legends start to appear on other teams” (App Store CA, February 2026).
• “It’s pay to win. The rosters and budget don’t make since” (Google Play, October 2026).
• “Smartphone game turned into Steam, meaning a lot of features and links don’t work” (Steam, December 2024).
• “I wish the game was more than just playing season after season” (Steam, May 2025, from a player who logged 97 hours and loved it).

The developer’s replies are part of the experience: specific, frequent and often signed “Aerilys”, from clarifying God Mode to welcoming players back (“Thanks for coming back to check it!”, April 2025). One 2024 Steam reviewer described the opposite on Discord: a refund after the franchise mode he expected was missing from the PC version, and moderators who “threaten to ban me”. We could not verify that exchange.

Known issues and bugs

Sourced from store reviews and patch notes, newest first:

• Rings miscounted after retirement in Franchise Player (App Store PH, May 2026).
• Leadership screen crashes: freezes or crashes when opening trades or leadership (App Store US October 2025; FR April 2025; AU May 2025).
• Trade and draft-pick quirks: traded-for picks that cannot be re-traded (Google Play, April 2025).
• Random jump to the offseason on Steam, with records frozen (Steam, May 2025).
• Broken links and features in the Steam port, outdated PC rosters (Steam, December 2024).
• Day-advance freeze forcing a save deletion (App Store US, October 2024).
• Franchise Player age reset just before retirement (App Store US, June 2024).
• Legacy DLC demanding Wi-Fi while online (App Store US, May 2024, two reports).
• In-app purchases not working (App Store US, December 2023).
• Disappearing saves in Franchise Player (App Store CA, October 2022).
• An in-game survey that does not work (Google Play, October 2026).

Patch notes show steady fixes: “Many bug fixes for contract negotiations” (December 2025), playoff bugs (February 2026), crash fixes (April 2026), and “fixed rosters” in 7.0.1.

Tips for your first season

1. Start on Normal. On Hard and Extreme the game gets brutal; the developer calls those difficulties “a challenge for top players”. ABK27 adds a rare, powerful AI difficulty profile on top.
2. Trust the stats, not the letters. Several players say grades mislead; the roster screen’s league ranks and the player page’s Advanced tab are a better guide. Use the new post-game analysis after losses.
3. Fill the three assistant slots early. The front office keeps prompting you to hire backcourt, frontcourt and defensive coaches, and since ABK25 front-office coaches also give free training once a year.
4. Send your scouts when the draft class is revealed (from day 20 in the official screenshots), then read their post-draft accuracy report to learn whom to trust.
5. Spend training points slowly. They are scarce and the store sells them. Free sources: winning the Basketball Cup (since March 2026) and the Path of Champions solo rewards, back in 7.0.2.
6. Upgrade the arena before the shops. The arena gives energy at home games; fan levels improve contract negotiations. Steam players report late-game money is tight, so prioritise what helps on the court.
7. Keep players happy. Since ABK27 inbox reactions change morale, unhappy players stop asking for extensions, and players react when you shop them. Answer the inbox.
8. Use contract tools. The 5M button speeds up offers, the trade screen shows payroll impact, and player options and no-trade clauses can make a deal work.
9. If you buy God Mode, buy it once. The developer says it unlocks for “any number of saves, forever”; ABK+ also includes it.
10. Tune the world. The Rivalry can be switched off, and community scenarios (Hardcore, victory conditions, historic rosters) give a save a purpose.

Against the alternatives

	Astonishing Basketball Manager	Hoop Land	Basketball GM	Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 27
Engine and match view	Hidden sim; scoreboards, box scores, Timeshift decisions	Playable 2D pixel games, or coach/sim	Possession text sim, box score	2D and text sim
Platforms	iOS, Android, Windows	iOS, Android, Windows, macOS	Browser, Android	Windows
Price model	Free; IAP, loot boxes, subscriptions	Free franchise mode; $4.99 premium on mobile; $14.99 Steam	Free with ads; $5/month removes ads	Paid annual edition
Data and licences	Fictional teams in real cities; community rosters	Fictional; custom leagues	Random or real-player leagues since 1947, unlicensed	Fictional league
Player model	4 letter grades and a defense number	15 attributes	15 ratings	18 attributes
Cap model	Owner budget; options, no-trade clauses	Adjustable salary cap	Soft cap, luxury tax, rookie scale	Soft cap with aprons
Online	Async contests, events, guilds	None	None	None
Story and world	Strongest of the four	Light	Generated history	Light

• Hoop Land is the other big mobile basketball game. It lets you play the games you manage, and costs a one-off $4.99 on mobile with no microtransactions. Its front office is thinner than Astonishing’s, its world much less talkative.
• Basketball GM is the free, browser-based front-office sim, with real cap rules, scouting fog and history back to 1947, but no story layer and no coaching.
• Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball and Pro Basketball Manager are paid PC sims for players who want numbers and tactics first.
• BuzzerBeater and Swish & Dunk (disclosure: developed by our founder) are persistent online leagues against real managers, if Astonishing’s async contests leave you wanting real rivals.

On mobile, offline, with a story and a stadium, Astonishing Basketball has few direct rivals. As a simulation it is behind all four.

Our take

Astonishing Basketball Manager is a game made with obvious affection by a developer who has listened to his players for more than a decade, and you can feel it in every corner: a franchise that talks back, an arena you build, a rival who hates you, a Hall of Fame that remembers, a public roster editor anyone can use. No other mobile basketball manager builds a world like this. Eras, tactical mindsets and post-game analysis show that in 2026 the game is still getting smarter, not just bigger.

What holds it back is depth and trust. Four letter grades and a defense number cannot carry the analysis a GM game needs, an owner-set budget is not a salary cap, and the engine has spent six years producing results its own players cannot explain. The store makes all of that worse: when a bought legend misses wide-open shots, it feels like a broken promise, not variance. And because the store sells exactly what the game is about — players, development, payroll, trades — every disappointment can be read as a nudge.

Our wish list is concrete:

1. Numeric ratings as an option, with potential and progression visible.
2. A transparent engine: a play-by-play log or shot chart, and a post-game analysis that names causes.
3. Real cap rules as a setting: soft cap, tax, rookie scale, maximum contracts.
4. Multi-game and season simulation.
5. Minutes control and player roles to go with the strategies.
6. A store that sells convenience and cosmetics, not legends, training points and trade help, and a clear ABK+ page with its price and billing period.
7. Cloud saves and full translations on iOS.

Who should skip it: GMs who play for the cap sheet, players who can’t stand loot boxes, and anyone who wants to play on PC first. Everyone else, especially if you ride a train every day, should try it. Keep the wallet closed for the first few seasons and judge it as the warmest basketball manager you can carry in your pocket — not the deepest.

Sources

Official

• Astonishing Sports website
• Astonishing Basketball roster editor (public) and draft editor (public)
• Official web shop (Xsolla)
• ABK21 press kit
• Astonishing Basketball 27 — The Big Changelog (Medium, 7 Sep. 2026)
• ABK26 — The Big Changelog (Medium) (read via search excerpts)
• Astonishing Basketball 25 — We’ve launched! (Medium, Oct. 2024) and ABM 25 changelog (search excerpts)
• Astonishing Basketball 24 — The Almost complete changelog (Medium) (search excerpts)
• Steam news hub: early access (6 Jan. 2023), God Mode (12 Jan. 2023), All about basketball (1 Feb. 2023), Back to school (10 Feb. 2023), new assistant (28 Feb. 2023), V3.4.3 (1 Apr. 2023), You’re the MVP (24 Apr. 2023), Rings update (23 May 2023), It’s a deal (30 May 2023), launch (28 Aug. 2023), Big and roll (25 Sep. 2023), ABK24 upgrade (22 Apr. 2024), free-to-play (29 Nov. and 20 Dec. 2024)

Stores

• App Store US: listing, version history, in-app purchases, reviews
• App Store storefronts: UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, India, Philippines, France, Nigeria, South Africa, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Belarus
• Google Play listing (US, UK, Canada, Australia, India and Philippines versions)
• Steam store page and Steam user reviews
• Astonishing Basketball Career on the App Store

Press and specialist sites

• GM Games: Astonishing Basketball Manager page (user average 8.2)
• GM Games user review “So much depth” (Dec. 2020)
• Android Police, new Android games roundup (20 Dec. 2020), linked from the official site (we could not load the game’s entry)

Community

• r/AstonishingSports, the official subreddit
• Steam forum: ABK23 Modding (May 2025)
• Steam forum: Discounts for older titles, with developer replies (Jan. 2023)
• Official Discord invite

Data

• Basketball-Reference: NBA league averages per game