If you want to support a 3-people dev team, buy this game.

If you want to play a game with the same content that The Movies had when it released in 2006, check out the demo for Movies Tycoon instead.

As an Early Access game it would get a thumbs-up, but as a 1.0 release there is simply not enough content to play for long.

At the time of writing this I am just over 50 hours into the game and have enjoyed it so far. I am a huge fan of tycoon games and though this game requires some fine tuning, balancing, bug fixes, and just more of everything, I still recommend it based on it's potential future. It's also a decent price and I always look at a game with entertainment value in mind. When I buy a game I want at least 1 hour entertainment for every dollar I spend. So, spending $23 on this game and getting 50+ hours of entertainment I am ahead of the game.

I applaud this small team of devs for the work they have done and think they have done an amazing job so far but they still have a ways to go. Hopefully, they have earned enough revenue for the game to higher some additional help and get this game where it should and could be quickly so I can enjoy it some more.

I wont get too detailed into the bugs etc because I am sure most of that will be fixed soon. I did get a crash bug but it was my fault for not updating my video card drivers and once done problem solved. Aside from that I have not experienced any game ending bugs for a game just released. I could be wrong, only 50 hours in, but it seems like money is too easy to make and research could be a problem with not ever being able to make enough of it to get everything or maybe that is intentional. My biggest problem is just not enough stuff to use for beautification of your lot, sets, offices etc,. and some additional character models like hair styles and such to choose from but that is an easy fix and I hope to see a lot more in the near future.

I really like being able to make your own characters and I mean you can make them all. From the maintenance guy to the superstar and they are savable to use in a future play throughs so you don't have to create them all over again. Same with the sets. You can use some pre-made, download them from the workshop, I have about 10 uploaded, or create your own and save them for future use which is once again a nice feature so you don't have to recreate them over and over again.

Another nice feature is getting into the film and directing it your self. Honestly, I have not done a lot of that yet, just some minor tweaks and stunt choices but it is a feature I plan on getting into soon.

All in all it is a fun game to play but it definitely needs more of everything. In it's current state I would give it somewhere between a 77-80 but it has potential to be a 90+ and I hope to see it get there.

As of today.....11 Jun not a single review has been completed by someone with more than 20 hours of playtime.....so every review should be taken as their opinion based on 10% of the actual game.

The overall mechanics of the Unreal engine 4 has been quite good, so good in fact that one person has falsify accused the game of theft of components because they can't believe it's the Unreal 4 engine......and Steam has allowed their lie to continue.

The balancing needs slight adjustments as the actual time required to complete a movie is quite short allowing for unrealistic earnings and enhanced character development which makes for early progression making it feel stagnant until the next advancement.

The devs have started to add small content additions and fixes with plans for more over time.

Yes, they could have called the release EA, but does it really matter? Outside of the balancing issue this product is further along than most other products that have been release. The problem for most with negative reviews is it's not as far along as a game they played which had 3 years development with a major studio, multiple patches mostly pre and one post release, and over a decade of mods.

So my overall opinion is: Blockbuster Inc. is a good product that needs a bit of work, and a little time......and a whole lot more maturity from some of it's players on Steam. Come back in a few weeks and eliminate any review with under 25 hours playtime and you will see a far better rating.

Update 15 Jun.

After 2 fixes some issues have been addressed giving hope to future improvements.

IMO the only negative to this title is the comparisons to 2005 "The Movies"......

my question is; Why would anyone want a new Film studio tycoon game to be exactly like a 2005 game which was released to average reviews, have average sales, and remained on life support until it was eventually abandoned?
The only real negative is the hard core "The Movies" fans. They appear to not be able to get over this product doesn't look like 2005 "The Movies" and will put down anyone who doesn't agree with them.

This title has a similar concept, far better graphics, and a far superior "open world" feel to it.

I've had the privilege of playing the majority of Film studio tycoon games and Blockbuster Inc. is one of the better ones. It's a shame a very few are stunted with the "The Movies" attitude.