Blockbuster Inc.

While the gameplay isn't amazing, it is really fun for cinephiles like me to just play a game where you can make movies. The number of animations is limited, but you can get creative with the ones you have. Definitely a top 5 game for me personally

I'm sad to see so many negative reviews for this game. I was obsessed with The Movies back in the day & I cannot get it to play on my current computer, so when I discovered this game randomly, I was so excited.
If you enjoyed The Movies and, like me, cannot play it anymore, this is a fun alternative, which is very similar.
If you're still playing The Movies, you may not need to bother with this unless you just want to try something new.
If you've never played this type of game but enjoy simulators, movies, and challenges, then give this game a try.
The scenes, costumes, and animations are more limited than I'd like, if more people play perhaps the Devs will give us some updates. Still a lot of fun and enough options to keep me interested and enjoying making short films.

Very fun to build lots of toilet stalls and force staff to walk through the maze of toilet stalls

Blockbuster Inc. is an engaging business simulation that places players in charge of transforming a modest film studio into a globally recognized entertainment powerhouse. Developed by Super Sly Fox and published by EndGameLoop Games, the title blends creative filmmaking with strategic management, allowing players to oversee nearly every aspect of movie production. Rather than limiting gameplay to financial decisions, it encourages players to become producers, directors, and executives simultaneously, balancing artistic ambition with commercial success. The result is a management experience that celebrates the magic of cinema while rewarding careful planning and imaginative storytelling.
The game's biggest appeal comes from the extensive control it gives players over the filmmaking process. Every production begins with selecting the right script, genre, cast, and crew before moving into set construction, filming, and post-production. The ability to design unique movie sets, arrange props, customize locations, and experiment with different creative ideas makes each project feel personal. Instead of relying on repetitive templates, Blockbuster Inc. encourages experimentation, letting players combine genres and production choices to create films that reflect their own vision while appealing to evolving audience demands.
Building and expanding the studio itself is equally rewarding. Players gradually unlock new facilities, production stages, research departments, and employee amenities that improve efficiency and attract better talent. The layout of the studio has a meaningful impact on workflow, encouraging thoughtful planning rather than random expansion. As the company grows, managing multiple productions at once becomes increasingly complex, requiring players to balance budgets, schedules, staffing, and technological upgrades without sacrificing quality. This progression creates a satisfying sense of accomplishment as a small independent studio slowly transforms into a thriving entertainment empire.
Talent management introduces another layer of strategic depth. Actors, directors, writers, and technical staff each possess individual skills, personalities, and career potential. Finding the right people for specific projects often determines whether a movie becomes a critical success or a financial disappointment. Employees gain experience over time, allowing promising newcomers to develop into major stars if given the right opportunities. At the same time, maintaining morale, avoiding overwork, and investing in staff development become important long-term considerations, making personnel management just as important as producing blockbuster films.
One of the game's strongest qualities is its variety. Players are free to create everything from romantic dramas and action-packed thrillers to science fiction adventures, horror films, fantasy epics, and television productions. Audience interests evolve over time, preventing players from relying on a single winning formula throughout the campaign. Adapting to market trends while still pursuing creative ambitions creates an enjoyable balance between artistic freedom and business strategy. Researching new technologies and production techniques further expands available options, ensuring that gameplay continues to evolve as the studio advances through different eras of filmmaking.
Visually, Blockbuster Inc. embraces a colorful and approachable art style that perfectly matches its lighthearted atmosphere. The animated characters, bustling studio lots, and detailed production environments successfully capture the excitement behind creating movies. Watching actors perform on carefully designed sets while camera crews and technicians bring scenes to life gives productions a tangible sense of authenticity. The interface organizes its many systems clearly, making it relatively easy to navigate despite the considerable amount of management involved. Complementing the visuals is an enjoyable soundtrack and fitting ambient audio that reinforce the feeling of running a busy film studio without becoming distracting during extended play sessions.
Although the game delivers an impressive simulation overall, it is not entirely without flaws. As players become familiar with its mechanics, maintaining financial stability becomes less demanding, reducing some of the challenge during the later stages of a campaign. Rival studios rarely provide enough competitive pressure to consistently threaten an established company, and certain production tasks can become repetitive after dozens of hours. While these issues do not diminish the enjoyment of creating films, more dynamic competitors and deeper late-game management systems would have added greater longevity and strategic variety.
Despite these shortcomings, Blockbuster Inc. succeeds as a charming and feature-rich studio management simulator that captures both the creative excitement and business realities of the film industry. Its combination of studio building, employee management, filmmaking, technological progression, and creative freedom offers an experience that stands out among management games. Players who enjoy simulation titles with a strong emphasis on creativity will find plenty of reasons to keep expanding their studios, discovering new production strategies, and chasing the next cinematic hit. It successfully balances accessible gameplay with meaningful management mechanics, making it an enjoyable choice for both newcomers and longtime fans of the genre.
Rating: 6/10

very fun! you can make some funny stuff in this game, but it's a bit pricey. i suggest you get this when its on discount.

Alright so I've been playing this for about 8 hours, which I suppose qualifies me to review this game.

If there's one thing that this game absolutely nails, it's its game-you-played-as-a-child-at-your-grandparents type game, laying eyes on this game it felt oddly nostalgic, like it was calling out to my younger self. As with many games, I decided to toss it in my wishlist and never think about it again, until it came on sale, where I found out that this game is the production of like 3 dudes. This made me feel guilty about buying the game on sale, feels like in cases like these a supporter pack would be very much welcome.

I think it's a good game, let's start out with that. Like I said it perfectly captures the vibe of 'game you used to play at your relatives' both in terms of gameplay and artstyle. The visuals seem to me like a blend between the Sims 4 and the Two Point games, with the menu's leaning more towards Sims 4, not that I consider that a bad thing. I do find it surprising how this game on the highest graphics at 1440 manages to reach 100% utilization, it's a 5070. But I'm not gonna consider this a bad thing when all I have to do is just lower the graphics and/or cap the framerate. I'm pretty sure that if it were to do some crypto mining on customer GPU's it wouldn't be sold on Steam anymore, so there's no worries about that.

The gameplay itself is solid, when I started up the game I was asked to do a brief tutorial, which I'll say was kinda useless, it only really went through controls, and when I started my game I had no idea what to do. There's a handful of tutorials available in the menu, but I feel like these should've been more integrated into the main tutorial. Because of this I had no idea that I had to assign work hours, and all the needs that your employees carry. Worry not however, because there's only a few. Where the graphics reminded me of the Sims 4, the gameplay reminded me more of Game Dev Tycoon, I feel like there's a handful of similarities this game carries, and the biggest flaw the games share is the fact that upon completing a project, your employees don't improve, the only way to do so is training. Despite my employees being low ranked, I did find myself breaking the game rather quickly, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I feel like the simulation genre nowadays has way too little casual games. I was playing on normal difficulty, and before I knew it I was swimming in money, money I then used to recruit about 30 researchers. Admittedly I do find it kinda nonsensical that stuff like equipment is locked behind what year you're in. Something else I disliked has to do with employees being able to retire, not because of the concept, but because if they are part of a project and they retire during this project they just leave unceremoniously, I kinda wish they would stick behind until the project is done. Plus there's this bug where if you press the button to replace them for the ongoing project, the button to quickly remove them doesn't appear. I also think it's very good that the game automatically approves raises, but I really wish the game wouldn't constantly notify me of that, at a certain point you get it. You can train your employees all the way to the max level, which is good, but as someone who prefers to get everyone on max level it was getting kinda hard to tell when an important employee reaches max level, as there's no notification for that. And to finish my 'complaints' off, and this might've been because I was playing the game for 8 hours straight, the talky radio bits are getting old fast, and the OST kinda does. Maybe the Steam Workshop can help with that? I'm not a Steam Workshop person though.


So to summarize, it's a good game, but I wish the following changes to be implemented
-Make the tutorial more in-depth
-Add an option where employees earn experience upon projects
-Maybe add a cap to how many employees of a certain type you can recruit
-Possibly allow your studio to manufacture its own equipment so you don't have to wait for the next era
-Have employees finish their project before they retire
-Stop notifying me of employee raises
-Add notifications whenever employees reach max level



I also had a handful of crashes, which I've reported when I was being prompted. Didn't feel like making a fuzz about those.

This game is really good the way to make movies and Tv shows is a really fun and is a cool idea for a game.