An honest look at how Pro Forma compares to the Business Strategy Game (BSG), on price, setup, and the academic-integrity features a 2026 course now has to think about.
The Business Strategy Game has been used in strategic management classrooms for decades and is a familiar tool for many departments, with instructors who already know its workflow and rubric. That familiarity is a real advantage, and switching a running course away from a known tool is a legitimate cost to weigh, not something to wave off.
BSG's own pricing page lists $44.95 per student, purchased by self-registration with a credit card; the only discount mechanic is a department direct-billing arrangement at that same per-seat price. We did not find a published free tier, a playable no-account demo, or a public breakdown of the underlying formulas anywhere in BSG's own materials, and we found no discoverable AI coaching, modernized interface, or mobile-specific design on the product.
Pro Forma is priced at $29.95 per student seat, public on our pricing page with no sales call required. Every course gets a free 3-round evaluation before anyone pays, and the demo is playable with no account. Every formula running the market is published in-app in the Spec Book, and the fairness-calibration results behind that economy are printed, unedited, on our method page on every release. We built an AI coach with instructor-visible transcripts, per-student exam worlds so there is no shared answer key, and LTI 1.3 grade passback into your LMS.
| Feature | Business Strategy Game | Pro Forma |
|---|---|---|
| Per-seat price | $44.95 | $29.95 |
| Price public, no sales call | Yes | Yes |
| Free evaluation tier | Not found in vendor materials | Free 3-round evaluation |
| Playable no-account demo | Not found in vendor materials | Yes |
| Published formulas | Not found in vendor materials | Yes, in-app Spec Book |
| Calibration proof published | Not found in vendor materials | Yes, on the method page |
| Instructor-visible AI transcripts | Not found in vendor materials | Yes |
| Per-student exam worlds | Not found in vendor materials | Yes |
| LMS integration with grade passback | Not found in vendor materials | Yes, LTI 1.3 |
| Runs on phones | Not found in vendor materials | Yes, browser-based |
"Not found in vendor materials" means our research did not turn up a public claim either way, not that the feature is confirmed absent. BSG price and billing terms are drawn from BSG's own pricing page as of July 2026.
No cost, no sales call, no card required to start.
Choose an edition and format, set the season clock, and generate a join code, in under 15 minutes.
Run the founding phase, the first decisions, and the first results day before it touches your syllabus.
The Business Strategy Game, often called the BSG game, is a business strategy simulation used in strategic management courses where student teams run an athletic footwear company against classmates over a series of decision periods.
BSG's own pricing page lists $44.95 per student as of July 2026, purchased by self-registration with a credit card. The only discount path is department direct-billing at the same per-seat price.
We did not find a published free tier or evaluation mode in BSG's own pricing materials. Pro Forma, by contrast, gives every course a free 3-round evaluation and a playable demo with no account required.
Pro Forma is a business strategy simulation built for college courses at $29.95 per student seat, with published formulas, a free 3-round evaluation, and academic-integrity features such as per-student exam worlds and instructor-visible AI coach transcripts. It is new in 2026 and currently in an instructor beta.
Create a free instructor account, run the 4-step setup wizard, and generate a join code for your syllabus. Setup typically takes under 15 minutes, and the first three rounds of any course are free to evaluate before anyone pays.