The Walking Trade, a store management game set in a zombie apocalypse, launched on Xbox Series X|S on October 26, 2026. It was made by solo developer Adam Carmichael of Microwave Games and is published by PlayWay S.A. The game reached PC earlier, with Steam listing a March 5, 2026 release date.

How the game plays

You run a shop after the collapse. You design the store layout, decide what goes on each shelf, set your prices and serve the survivors who walk in. Every so often a zombie horde raids the place, and you defend it with melee weapons, firearms or whatever is within reach.

The rest of the loop, as described by the developer and the store listing:

  • A crafting station, once unlocked, makes medicine, weapons, tools and shop upgrades, along with defenses and traps.
  • You can hire survivors to serve customers, scavenge for supplies or stand guard, and you have to keep them equipped and motivated.
  • Your trading style is up to you. You can help the community, or you can price gouge or even murder customers for profit.
  • Your reputation decides who comes knocking.

Why the developer built it

Carmichael wrote on Xbox Wire that he grew up on tycoon games in the early 2000s, with RollerCoaster Tycoon and The Sims as favorites. He liked the feeling of starting from the bottom and building something from nothing, and wanted the same feeling here.

He says shop simulators interested him because they focus on day-to-day work, like the shelf that needs restocking or the customer waiting to pay. But he found them incredibly chill by design, and he wanted risk and danger. In his words, “I made it on my own, and I made it without ever playing a shop simulator.”

He started work in October 2024, when he was about to be laid off from his job as a software developer at an indie game publisher and had just learned he and his wife were expecting their first child. Around 18 months later the game came out on PC.

The character named Robin

On your second day, a survivor named Robin runs into your store while fleeing a zombie. He becomes your first staff member, and his arrival is how the game introduces both combat and team management. Carmichael says Robin is also his son’s name, and that after the PC release he saw players on YouTube and Twitch go out of their way to keep Robin alive.

What it means for readers

On Xbox, the game is for Xbox Series X|S. The store listing shown in the Xbox Wire post gives a price of $11.99, marked down to $10.79 at the time of writing. The listing does not name a currency beyond the dollar sign, and Canadian pricing has not been stated in the sources, so check the Xbox store in your region before buying. Steam lists the PC version at a $11.99 base price.

If you enjoy shop sims but want something less relaxed, this is a low-priced way to try one with combat and a moral choice built in. Prices can change at any time.