Gary Stern

"If Stern offered me the job as the CMO of Stern, I guarantee you it pays less money than I make. I could almost guarantee that."

Prediction: The CMO position at Stern pays less than what he currently makes.

"I guarantee you that this is why I guarantee you I guarantee you this is why the new Stern CMO has no idea that yet he is firing off these text messages at 1240. 4 in the morning to to Kaneda I guarantee you he has no idea he's posting this stuff on so"

Prediction: The new Stern CMO has no idea he is posting messages at late hours and making social media posts.

"I think they're gonna do Star Wars 1 through 3 and then September, then October, November, I think we're gonna get a remastered walking dead. This is my prediction."

Prediction: Stern will release Star Wars episodes 1-3 followed by a remastered Walking Dead game.

"And I guarantee you, I will sell you more games. You will make more money through me than you will make if you do what you're doing now, guys."

Prediction: He could help Stern sell more games and make more money than their current marketing approach.

"Thank you, Gary Hardy. Now all of a sudden he knows everything because he's seen the game. Carrie, thank you so much for debunking the rest of us out there who speculate time and time again as you sit back and get it right after you've seen everything."

Gary Hardy criticized for debunking speculation after seeing the game

"Gary Stern is just allergic to it. And, and so, you know, I told him, I said, you got to get it past Gary and you got to get it past me."

Gary Stern is allergic to non-traditional playfield designs

"Do you think they're going to let the distro make as much as they make on the sale of a game? I guarantee you Stern is making at least double what the distro gets. So that means they'll make another $6,000 on top of that three."

Prediction: Stern makes at least double what distributors make on each game sale, approximately $6,000 per LE.

"if you spend a hundred thousand dollars on stern LEs and your collection is worth 60 grand in five years what are you gonna how are you gonna feel"

Prediction: Collections of Stern LEs worth $100k now might only be worth $60k in five years.

"It feels like Stern might reveal this game next week because they normally reveal a week before CES. Let's see what happens if my predictions are right."

Prediction: Stern might reveal JAWS game next week because they normally reveal a week before CES.

"Now, my prediction is the games that follow Jaws and Keith Elwin are going to have a harder time getting our money. But that's why I think Stern's going to go back to the well. They're going to make another Metallica knowing how great that g"

Prediction: The games that follow Jaws and Keith Elwin will have a harder time getting customers' money, so Stern will go back to making another Metallica-style game.

"So you heard it here first, people. Kaneda's Pinball Podcast Podcast is telling you that Stern will release a JAWS 50th anniversary edition. And they will absolutely destroy the value if you buy an LE version of the game."

Prediction: Stern will release a Jaws 50th anniversary edition in 2025 that will destroy the value of the current LE version.

"And Stern is not used to this, ladies and gentlemen, they're not used to having a game go on the line in which the majority, I guarantee you, the majority of these games are not sold."

Prediction: The majority of these $20,000 games are not sold, as there's no way they sold 250 of them at that price.

"mark my words, it's gonna backfire, this thing is not gonna sell, and then we're gonna see this thing, I'm done, you're gonna see this thing trade hands for $15,000 in a couple months, mark my words"

Prediction: The cash grab move will backfire, the game won't sell, and will trade hands for $15,000 in a couple months.

"I think he's just been sitting back and watching the big checks roll in and he's laughing all the way to the bank and he deserves to. Like Gary Stern deserves to retire with like fifty to eighty million dollars probably in net worth"

Gary Stern deserves to retire with 50-80 million net worth and hasn't been calling shots for years

"They only made 500 of these and mark my words, people, all of these stern LE's where there were only 500, you could just start there on like where to collect like Jurassic Park only has 500 Stranger Things, only 500."

Prediction: All Stern LEs where only 500 were made will become highly collectible starting points for collectors.

"Yes you heard it here first. I think they might do an addition for each movie and yet each game will have in it all four films to choose from. So I could be right I could be wrong but here's what they might do and it might be smart."

Prediction: Stern might create four different James Bond cabinets with artwork from each movie, with each game containing all four films to choose from.

"Because mark my words, here's what's going to happen. There is going to be more in a $9000 Stern premium than is in a $15,000 Jersey Jack Toy Story game."

Prediction: A $9,000 Stern premium will have more content and features than a $15,000 Jersey Jack Toy Story game.

"And I think we're going to see their game by the end of this month, early next month. I think this game will be at Expo and I think it's going to be Venom. And you heard it here first, like, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast was the first podcast to tell you it was going to be Venom."

Prediction: Stern's Venom game will be revealed by end of August/early September and will be shown at Expo.

"I predict pros, Stern, let's talk about stern. Stern, pros are gonna stop at seven grand, okay? I think stern premiums will be 10. I think stern limiteds will be 13 to 14."

Prediction: Stern pros will stop at $7k, premiums at $10k, limiteds at $13-14k.

"Do you think this would be a great addition Gary to a single parent home in which they're under water and debt and they need to buy A $4,500 pinball machine. I'm not so sure this would be a great addition to any home"

Gary Stern's claim game would be great for 'any home' is unrealistic

"You heard it here first. You are going to get an interview with Gary Stern. So I can't wait for you guys to hear this interview with Gary Stern."

Prediction: The show will feature an interview with Gary Stern on December 3rd.

"I think Gary Stern is lying about 5,000 games they need to make that they have orders on. That's total BS. 5,000 of them are back ordered. Okay Gary sure sure come on man like you guys are number one but we all know that you don't have 5,000 games on back order"

Gary Stern is lying about having 5,000 games backordered

"Gary Stern considers Stern pinball to be a manufacturing company. The most important thing in pinball is manufacturing."

Gary Stern considers Stern a manufacturing company first, which is the right approach

"Gary Stern asking people to shut off their phones at CES one of the dumbest marketing moves in the history of pinball it without a doubt how embarrassing were all those videos"

Gary Stern asking people to shut off phones at CES was embarrassingly stupid

"Gary, you're greedy and you know it. Is that extra $200,000 you saved by yanking out a feature really going to matter? Maybe focus on making games the world will remember long after you're gone."

Gary Stern is greedy and yanks features for profit at the expense of game quality and legacy

"somebody from Stern would walk by my table and then call him Gary and go, he's got Batman prints on his table. And Gary would freak out. He'd be like, you don't have a license for that. You can't do that."

Gary Stern repeatedly clashed with Franchi over unofficial prints at pinball expos

"don't fall victim to like Gary Stern's like point of view buy what's available now don't wait don't he doesn't want you to look back he doesn't want you to look forward he doesn't want you to look at BLE Williams games he does not want you to look anywhere else but the stern game that he's trying to sell today"

Gary Stern manipulates buyers to only look at current games, not backwards

"Do you believe that Stern underprices the pro versions of their games and Gary said they did... But then I remember something Nick Parks said and that the cost to make a stern pro is around 3500 dollars. So who's lying who's telling the truth... So I do not believe on any level that a stern pro is under price"

Challenging Gary Stern's claim that pro models are underpriced

"That's a big question I have is do you think Stern pinball is the leader in innovation and pinball and is Gary accurate when he says that and I have to say no way no way... who's the first pinball company that put an LCD into the game was it Stern pinball no they didn't innovate that it was Jersey Jack pinball"

Stern is not the leader in pinball innovation despite Gary's claims

"When you listen to Gary talk, I mean, there's a level of smugness. There's a level of like ego. There's a level level of attitude. But I don't disagree with... without them, there wouldn't be modern pinball"

Gary Stern displays smugness and arrogance but it's somewhat justified

"you can jump into a stern and I guarantee you on the stern machine you'll probably start a multiball without even realizing how you did it and you'll probably feel like you're getting somewhere in the game and you'll probably have more immediate fun because stuff is happening."

Prediction: On the Stern machine you'll probably start a multiball without realizing how you did it and have more immediate fun because stuff is happening.

"My predictions for this year, please allow jaws to be done really well because I've no Stern has it unfortunately. It seems like Stern has that title and jaws is my favorite movie."

Prediction: Hoping that Stern will do the Jaws pinball game really well despite their tendency to use cheap components.

"But here's what I think is going to happen. And I might be wrong. I might be right. But I think Stern is going to reveal the Monsters on New Year's Eve. Mark my words. I think they're going to do that."

Prediction: Stern will reveal the Monsters game on New Year's Eve as a special reveal so they can say they delivered three cornerstone titles in one year.

"The culmination Gary, the culmination of Stern pinballs 30 plus years of making pinball is re-skinning, see which? I mean, when I read that, I was like, are you kidding me Gary? This is not the culmination of pinball. This game does not represent everything you know up to this point."

Gary Stern claiming Beatles is 'culmination of his career' is ridiculous for a re-skinned game

"I don't think he's a great businessman okay but he's great at this right because that's what he learned on and he's he's borrowed from his past experience as he should to navigate through that"

Gary Stern is not a great businessman but brilliant at navigating disasters

"that's what Gary Stern does I mean Gary Stern locks deals and he knows how to get the IP permission and you know I think he also did the same thing to um I can't verify this but uh there's an alien pinball game coming out that doesn't feature sagorny weaver and and the rumor is a Gary locked her down contractually to be in his ghost buster's game so she's not so it's it's a it's a cutthroat business at times when it comes to securing these licenses"

Gary Stern is cutthroat and strategic about locking down licenses, potentially blocking competitors

"look I guarantee you when premium starts shipping and Stern fixes like the few issues they're having and this game gets you know goes down as like one of the most fun games and in most complete packages Stern has ever released I think it's"

Prediction: When premium starts shipping and Stern fixes issues, this game will go down as one of the most fun games and most complete packages Stern has ever released.

"Gary Stern single-handedly kept pinball alive when pinball was headed for obsolescence. In its dark years when no one was playing pinball, nobody was buying pinball, our kids were dying, companies were getting out of the pinball business, he single-handedly stayed in it."

"I know Gary gets up there a lot and says, I'm a manufacturer first and foremost, Stern is a manufacturing company. We're not a pinball company. I want to call BS on that. Because Stern, Gary Stern loves pinball."

Gary Stern's claim that Stern is primarily a manufacturing company, not a pinball company, is BS

"Gary is a professional and he runs his business properly. I think the only one he runs is Pinball Company really properly when it comes to keeping information tight and close to the vest"

Gary Stern runs the only pinball company properly when it comes to keeping information secure

"He is the trafficker. He is the morovinjian of pinball. Because if you tell all of your competitors that the majority of games are operator sales, they won't pay attention to how many premiums you are selling."

Gary Stern deliberately misleads about sales distribution to competitors

"Ask Gary fucking Stern which is what what game does he love the most you know his responses the game that makes me the most fucking money And that's all they care about it's the fucking money"

Gary Stern only cares about money, not passion

"Stern is adding 100 LEDs to the Monster-Elly offering and you heard it here first, right? And I saw on Pinside people were denying it, they were saying I'm going to backtrack that I wasn't I wasn't I wasn't being accurate on this information."