Blockbuster Inc. Review Summary

Fun and addictive movie-making tycoon with great customization, but it feels unfinished and was abandoned by developers, failing as a worthy successor.

Great potential and foundation: Several players note that the game has a solid foundation, great potential, and room for development. They appreciate the core mechanics but see opportunities for further refinement and expansion.

Game is fun and addictive: Multiple reviews highlight the game's enjoyable and addictive nature. Players find it engaging enough to pass time quickly and consider it a fun way to unwind.

Good concept and idea: The game's concept of running a movie studio is appealing to many players. They appreciate the unique theme and the interesting idea of building and managing a studio.

Great customization options: Players value the high level of customization, including building sets, designing studios, and creating actors. This flexibility allows for creativity and personalization, making the game more engaging.

Spiritual successor to The Movies: Players often mention the game as a worthy or spiritual successor to The Movies, citing similarities and improvements over the original cult classic. Some note it captures the nostalgic feel of that game.

Game feels unfinished and beta-like: Players describe the game as feeling like an early beta or unfinished code, with crude gameplay and lack of polish. This suggests the game was released prematurely.

Developers abandoned the game: A significant number of players report that the game receives no updates and has been effectively abandoned by its developers. This has led to a belief that the game is dead.

Not worthy successor to The Movies: Players consistently compare the game unfavorably to The Movies, citing less humor, fewer features, and reduced customization. It is perceived as a low-quality copy rather than a true successor.

Animations are poor and limited: Players criticize the quality and variety of animations, describing them as silly, primitive, and insufficient. The movie editor also lacks animation, set piece, and costume options.

Lacks challenge and is too easy: Players find the game too easy and lacking in challenge, especially after the initial stages. The absence of a difficulty curve reduces long-term engagement.

Movie-making tycoon simulation: The game is a tycoon simulation where players build and manage a Hollywood film studio, producing movies and short films with scenes, costumes, and animations. It emphasizes creative filmmaking and studio management across decades.

Customization and set design: Players can customize sets, wardrobes, and film scenes, with building and design features for movie production. The game heavily relies on customization to allow players to create unique films and studio environments.

Economy and share system: The game features an economy system where players can buy shares of other studios for profit and invest in various aspects of their own studio. This financial mechanic adds depth to the tycoon gameplay.

Manage staff and schedules: Players organize working days, assign work hours, group employees into teams, and manage staff housing and salaries. This includes hiring directors, writers, actors, and additional staff to run the studio effectively.

Movie creation editor: The editor is a core part of the game, allowing players to create movies with customizable elements similar to video editing software. This feature enables detailed creativity and control over film production.

Frequent game crashes: Multiple players report the game crashing during play, frequently and randomly. Crashes occur often, sometimes after an hour on weaker PCs, indicating stability issues.

Poor optimization and performance: The game is resource-heavy, using large amounts of RAM and video memory, and needs optimization. Performance issues occur even on high-end hardware, with stutters and lag.

FPS drops in construction mode: Construction mode lacks optimization, causing FPS drops to as low as 3 FPS. This makes building tedious and frustrating for players.

High GPU usage bug: The game reaches 100% GPU utilization at 1440p on a 5070, and there is a 100% GPU load bug. This indicates severe performance issues on capable hardware.

Editor mode laggy on high-end: Editor mode is very laggy on high-end hardware, and adding objects causes lag. Performance is described as inexcusable.

Do not buy game: Most reviewers advise against purchasing the game, citing it's not worth the price, incomplete, or not supported. They strongly discourage buying it even at a discount.

Wait for updates: The game is incomplete and in early access, so reviewers recommend waiting for updates or improvements before purchasing. It shouldn't have been released yet.

Not recommended currently: Reviewers say the game is not enjoyable or worth buying in its current state. Several warn against purchasing until major updates or improvements are released.

Better than The Movies: Many say the game is not a replacement for The Movies and that playing the abandonware version or replaying The Movies is a better option. Fans of The Movies are likely to be disappointed.

Game recommended: A few reviewers recommend the game and consider it worth playing. They suggest giving it a try and taking the leap.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $15.00.

Game completion: 13.0h.

Blockbuster Inc. starts fun but quickly becomes repetitive and boring, typically within 30 minutes to 2 hours, with early friction like a weak tutorial and slow research compounding the decline.

Friction: Useless or shallow tutorial; Slow research progression; Forced and tedious early progression; Repetitive gameplay loop; Bugs and unfinished state; Limited scene customization.

Unlock drivers: Updating UI and adding more tutorial pop-ups; Unlocking modern processes early; Adding more content and variety; Adding automation for tedious tasks; Making tutorial more in-depth and integrated.

Bug-Frustrated Veteran: Engages deeply and progresses far, but is halted by technical issues that block key features. Motivation: Seeking a polished, complete movie studio tycoon simulation without game-breaking bugs. Stance: no buy.

Nostalgic The Movies Fan: Focuses on filmmaking creativity and building studios, comparing mechanics to the original game. Motivation: Reliving the experience of The Movies and enjoying movie studio management. Stance: sale.

Casual Tycoon Enthusiast: Plays for fun, experiments with filmmaking, and doesn't get bogged down by technical flaws. Motivation: Enjoying the creative and management aspects of running a movie studio. Stance: buy.

Unfavorable comparison to The Movies: The game is frequently compared to The Movies, with most reviewers stating it falls short in features, animation quality, and overall polish. The comparison is often seen as misleading or suggests The Movies remains the superior title.

Feels like early access: Many reviewers note that the game feels like an early access title rather than a full release, citing incompleteness and missing polish. Some suggest it would have benefited from an early access period.

Abandoned by developers: Reviews indicate that development has ceased, with no updates for extended periods and the studio possibly shut down. The game is considered dead or no longer receiving support.

Potential but unrealized: The game is described as having good bones, potential, and ambition, but it fails to realize this potential due to incompleteness and lack of polish. It is seen as a passion project that needed more development time.

Priced as full release: The game is sold at full price, yet it is perceived as incomplete and more appropriate for early access. This pricing mismatch is a common point of criticism.