Solo developer's Westminster game outsells Minecraft on Apple's paid chart
A one-person Manchester studio toppled the world's biggest video game atop Apple's paid downloads, signalling that political turmoil has become a commercially viable genre for indie developers.
A mobile game built by a single Manchester developer has knocked Minecraft off the top spot of Apple's paid games chart. The title, No 10: Full Confidence, casts players as a British prime minister navigating more than 300 hand-written parliamentary scenarios while balancing the loyalty of cabinet ministers, backbenchers, the press and the public.
Its creator, Benjamin Brewis, began work around December 2025, when leadership challenges against then-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer were intensifying. "I remember thinking at the time, someone should just start taking the mick out of this," Brewis said. "We've had so many prime ministers – it's funny now."
The commercial result is striking. A paid, text-driven political satire from a solo coder has outperformed the most recognised franchise in gaming on the world's dominant app storefront. It currently sits fifth in Apple's UK paid games rankings, above Monopoly Go. For a market long dominated by free-to-play titles with in-app purchases, the success of a straightforward paid product is a notable data point for developers and platform economists alike.
The gameplay loop is deceptively simple: each scenario offers three choices, and each choice shifts the mood of one or more factions. Lose one faction entirely and the premiership ends. Brewis says one player has survived 1,885 in-game months – roughly 157 years. "I'm not sure if that's a democracy any more," he joked.
The material draws heavily on recent Westminster chaos. Five different prime ministers have occupied No 10 since 2016, including one tenure lasting just 49 days. Brewis cited real incidents as inspiration, from an MP who threatened colleagues with a spider to Boris Johnson walking into a fridge.
Dr Russell Foster, a lecturer in British and International Politics at King's College London, suggested the rapid "churn of prime ministers" and the growing presence of politics on social media help explain why Westminster is suddenly a sellable setting for interactive entertainment.
A nascent sub-genre
No 10: Full Confidence is not an isolated bet. Fantasy Parliament, a browser-based game by UK developer Evan Roberts, lets players draft fantasy leagues of sitting MPs and score points based on real media coverage. Its Policy Tester feature uses a ChatGPT-style model to simulate voter reactions to typed-in proposals through personas such as "Coastal Keith" and "Graduate Gemma."
Separately, Scarborough-based Black Cannon Games is preparing UK Politics Simulator, billed as being "built on real UK data down to ward level," for PC release later this year. The clustering of titles points to an emerging niche that investors in gaming and media may want to watch, particularly if Westminster instability persists.
Whether actual politicians are playing remains unclear; Brewis said he does not know if any have tried the game. He has, however, received informal quality assurance from friends in the civil service. Their verdict: "It's exactly like this, but worse."
