Trade Empires is a PC game developed by Frog City Software in San Francisco and published by Eidos Interactive. During development its working title was The Silk Road; however, this was changed by Eidos Interactive as they were concerned about the title being too highbrow. Trade Empires is a pausable real-time strategy game about building a merchant empire. Gamers build vast transport and trade networks that change over thousands of years as new technologies are developed and more modern products are discovered. The rules of the game are simple; the variety comes in through the discovery of new products to trade and new ways to transport those products.