The insurance sector’s answer to the job-sim gaming trend is here, with the game free to play
Perhaps the strangest trend to come out of the gaming industry in recent years is the proliferation of job-sims, through which interested players can simulate the experience of working in a range of professions or industries.
As a young man, I myself whiled away long school holidays on Football Manager, which allows the player to take control of the management of a club.
And while this title’s appeal lay in a non-professional interest, its execution and gameplay managed to pull of a sneaky stunt – while taking sleeping Greek giants Panathinakos to their first Champions League title, I realised that what I was really doing was spending hours replying to fake emails, crafting phony training regimens and, ultimately, celebrating completely fictitious European glory.
Games of this nature have a strange hold on the world’s gamers, with titles such as Farming Simulator, Power Washing Simulator and even Lawn Mowing Simulator accruing millions of downloads worldwide.
So where is our sector’s job-sim? Well, insurance software provider Genasys has answered that question with today’s (20 July) launch of Insurance Simulator 2026 – with Insurance Times getting exclusive early access to playtest the game.
Back in 2024, Insurance Times and Genasys teamed up for an April Fools’ Day prank and announced that the software provider had launched this title in a bid to attract new talent to the sector.
And, following comments that such a game could actually be a positive, Genasys has created it.
The challenge
The game is free to play, runs in the browser and tasks the player with building and running an insurer. This, as in real life, is challenging, with most of the Genasys team that built the game not taking their insurers past three years of operation.
After naming your company and creating you avatar, you are dropped into Bishopgate, London, on 6 Jauary 2027, where you are handed your FCA Part 4A Permission and £10m of investor money.
You begin with zero policies on the books and an investor expectation that you turn a profit by year three.
After a welcome tutorial from the avatar of Genasys group chief executive Andre Symes, rendered lovingly in 8-bit pixels, the emails start flooding into your inbox, which is where much of the gameplay takes place.
Hercules Insurance – my firm’s name in the playthrough – was notified of market dynamics, regulatory approval and then received its first agency application from a broker.
After checking the broker’s specialism, GWP and market position and agreeing commission levels I signed my first terms of business agreement (toba) and Hercules was off to the races.
In the market tab, I was able to view how aggressively my competitors were pricing to adjust my own underwriting – which became crucial after ending my first month, when broker submissions started landing in my inbox and I had to compete for business with other insurers based on market behaviour and listed risk indicators.
As a journalist rather than an underwriter, this part of the game was particularly challenging, although I did allow myself a quick fist pump when I declined to offer buildings cover for an expanding data centre housed in a timber-framed building with no fire risk reduction certification.
A surprising Easter Egg came one month into my playthrough when who else should pop up in my inbox but Insurance Times content director Katie Scott, who asked for an interview.
I had hoped to make myself the classic nightmare interviewee, but the multiple choice answers to her questions gave me no chance. Next time Katie.
Talent and technology impact
Back in 2024, our April Fools’ Day prank was focused in on the potential talent attraction pull that a game like this could have – and any exposure to what roles in the insurance industry actually involve can only be positive.
Gamifying education around what the industry does and the work involved is a useful way to expand our reach to potential new insurance professionals too.
Hiring staff and building out your insurer’s team actually forms one of the most detailed aspect of Insurance Simulator, with the need to view CVs and pass candidates through an interview process to delegate tasks as you grow.
The costs of creating an industry talent attraction tool like this used to be prohibitive, but with the proliferation of AI tools it became possible for one member of staff at Genasys to create a remarkably detailed game over the span of a few months.
Gavin Peters, the firm’s chief growth officer, explained: “The game is fun, but th epoint underneath it is serious. A thing that was impossible to build in 2024 took one person a few months in 2026.
“And look at what the game covers to make you feel like you are running a real business – underwriting, claims, distribution, marketing, all of it now running on software.
“Modern insurance is a software business, the cost of building that software has collapsed, and that is the shift everyone should be planning around. The game is just the most enjoyable way we found to show it.”
But, outside of this wider impact, the game is a fun way to spend a couple of hours – and an interesting test of your underwriting chops.
Personally, my run ended when cash reserves ran out following some poor decisions and one or two catastrophic claims.
Perhaps you can do better.
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