Pinball Industry

"I really want Eric Meunier one day to make a game that is based on a theme that he's super passionate about. He openly admits that he didn't really see these movies and hasn't been dreaming about making the Godfather."

Pinball designers should only work on themes they're passionate about

"if I were you I'm telling you it is the best time ever. To just sit on the sidelines and wait to see how the rest of the year pans out. You will be able to get anything you want. Anything. There is nothing that's going to be hard to get in like four months"

Wait to buy games - everything will be available cheaper in 4 months

"since I've been covering this hobby, there really have just been two releases that gave me everything I wanted when it comes to a pinball theme that has just executed perfectly... Guns N' Roses from Jersey Jack Pinball and The Big Lebowski from Dutch Pinball"

Only two games in 5 years have perfectly executed theme integration

"It always feels like pinball is a place where you could take a million dollars and turn it into a thousand dollars. It's not a place where you could put in a few thousand dollars and make a million dollars because of your idea"

Pinball is where you turn a million dollars into a thousand

"Like there is nothing really innovative happening anywhere in pinball."

There is no real innovation happening anywhere in pinball currently

"The only thing they've really been innovating in the world of pinball lately is how much money can they charge us for the same exact product year in and year out."

Pinball companies are only innovating in how much they can charge, not in actual features

"No, you're not a rock star in pinball until you make a rock star game."

Pinball companies should be held accountable for quality and value, not just celebrated

"these three companies, if you think about it, Spooky Pinball, Stern Pinball, and Jersey Jack Pinball, are really the only pinball companies that are consistently making brand new games that you can go own and buy."

Only three companies consistently make buyable new games

"But this modern approach to making a thousand LE's, a thousand CEs, charging all of this money for them at MSRP, I think it severely diminishes the collectibility of a lot of these games."

Modern approach to making 1000 LEs and CEs diminishes collectibility

"Most of these companies don't do any market research whatsoever. They don't do surveys about what themes people want."

Most pinball companies do zero market research before selecting themes

"And this greed is really going to kill Pinball. In original IP game for $18,500, Pinball is over. New Inbox Pinball will be dead if this is what people think an original IP game will go for."

High pricing like this will kill new pinball and the hobby entirely

"I almost feel like we're getting bullied right that we're not allowed to not like something anymore in pinball at these prices"

Industry bullying consumers into accepting poor games at high prices

"The entire pinball industry is dropping all of their games at the same exact time. This is idiotic... There's not enough money to go around in this hobby for all of these games to find homes, to get orders."

The entire pinball industry dropping all games simultaneously is idiotic marketing

"No pinball is worth more than $10,000. Everybody knows it deep down inside... It's because all of the pinball media is controlled now by people that are selling you games that want to be friends with the designers and the manufacturers."

No pinball is worth more than $10,000 and the media is complicit in overpricing

"Stern Pinball sucker punched everybody else in the entire industry that was waiting for March to get their new games out"

Stern Pinball strategically sucker punched other manufacturers by releasing Foo Fighters trailer right before competitors' March announcements

"I'm going to say it. pinball at these prices, it's not as much fun as it used to be."

Pinball at current prices is not as fun anymore

"And when are we gonna stop making excuses for these companies, ladies and gentlemen? And this is the most expensive pinball has ever been."

Stop making excuses - demand better engineering for these prices

"I don't think we need to go back and make games from the 90s I don't I think what we need we need more new games based on themes we love that are integrated mechanically code wise light shows artistically"

Industry should focus on new licensed themes instead of remaking 90s games

"the mood shifting in pinball from buy buy buy to why why why. I think we're all starting to ask ourselves these questions more and more. Why am I buying this game? Or more poignantly, why do I not want to buy this game?"

The hobby is shifting from 'buy buy buy' to 'why why why' - people are fatigued by FOMO tactics and questioning purchases

"for almost a decade, we had it all really, really good. These companies would make these magical machines. They would price them fairly. And they would pass on the value to the customer"

The golden decade of pinball (2010s) had fair pricing and magical games

"We don't mind spending these prices if the games are masterpieces. We're not gonna wait a year for code to be done. We're not gonna take your excuses anymore. We know what a magical pinball machine should be like."

The pinball industry needs to raise the bar in 2023 - consumers won't accept mediocrity at high prices

"You don't need to buy this game on Friday. You know that... I think this game is going to create a little bit of a seismic shift in the pinball world and I think it's all going to be for the better."

Making 1,969 machines eliminates FOMO and changes how pinball sales should work

"Mark my words right now. 2023 could be even more underwhelming than 2022 was in pinball."

2023 could be more underwhelming than 2022 for pinball releases

"These pinball companies have become very greedy and they've increased the prices of these machines so significantly and we are not getting the value in these games."

Pinball companies have become greedy with excessive price increases

"We never asked ourselves does this game offer the value for the money?... Now what are we asking ourselves with every new launch? Is this game really worth it? It's no longer about whether or not the game is fun"

Pinball has fundamentally changed from evaluating games on merit to questioning value for money, which means the hobby is less fun

"This is the same mistake that Mark Zuckerberg made thinking that the behavior we showcased during COVID was going to last far into the future"

Pinball companies made the same mistake as Meta - thinking COVID consumer behavior would last forever

"no, I don't want to interview George Gomez. I don't care to interview any of these pinball personalities over at these companies because I don't care what they have to say. My eyes and ears and my mind works."

Refuses to interview pinball company personalities because their actions speak louder than words

"This has been one of the most myopically developed genres in all of pinball... It's crazy that there's no Eminem. There's no Biggie Smalls. There's no like Dr. Dre. Nothing in the hip hop space and nothing in the pop space is even represented in pinball."

Pinball music themes are myopically developed - need more modern genres like hip-hop and pop

"Like this has been the year in which pinball pricing has jumped the shark. Everybody knows it. Everybody's holding back now."

Pinball pricing has jumped the shark in 2022

"I think they've overpriced it. I really do mean it. I think they've overpriced it. Jersey Jack Pinball cannot sell you a Godfather for $15,000. There is nobody who is going to wake up and want to spend $15,000 on a Godfather collector's edition."

Pinball companies have overpriced their games and will struggle to move inventory in 2023

"2022 has been the worst year in pinball NIB games that we've received in the five or six years I've been covering this hobby"

2022 has been the worst year for new pinball games in 5-6 years

"At these prices with all of these companies, we all deserve better customer service. ... You could spend a hundred thousand dollars on stern pinball machines. What does it get you? ... You get absolutely nothing."

Pinball companies should offer better customer service, warranties, and loyalty programs at current prices

"Mediocrity in Pinball is dead. Like you can see it when people jumped on Queen Pinball at Expo. ... There's no room for mediocre games."

Mediocrity in pinball is dead at current price points - only magical games will survive

"I don't want to play a game that's only like 50% there. I don't. I really don't. I think when a game gets released, we should experience it for the first time the way the game was meant to be experienced"

Players should refuse to buy incomplete games at premium prices

"The big issue in 2023 is going to be every single distributor is going to have an abundance of inventory. They cannot move"

Pinball market will crash in 2023 with distributors overstocked

"The world economy is in the toilet and it's just beginning. This is not the end of a recession... I would be really cautious if I was a manufacturer right now at these prices. I would be really cautious if I was a distributor right now, how much inventory I'm going to buy because I think you might be sitting on that inventory for a really long time."

Economic downturn will hurt pinball sales at current prices

"I just want you to remember this. These pinball companies don't care about you as much as you think they care about the almighty dollar. Cause if they really wanted you to get this machine at the right price, they would just sell it to you."

Pinball companies care more about distributors and money than customers getting fair prices

"I think 2022 was a really sort of mediocre year in pinball. I don't think there's one game that's like won everybody over."

2022 has been a mediocre year in pinball with no runaway game of the year

"Every time a Pinball company wants to sell you something, they're selling it to you at the flipper price, at the inflated price, at a price in which the only direction the pin can go is down."

Pinball companies are now charging flipper prices directly, making buyers lose money

"But as someone who's been covering pinball for the last like 7, 8 years, these companies always fail horribly at syncing up the release of a pinball machine with an anniversary or milestone for the property."

Pinball companies always fail at syncing releases with property anniversaries

"There are no objective reviews anywhere in pinball. These manufacturers don't want the pinball media to have the games before the nonrefundable deposits are taken from the community."

No objective pinball reviews exist - manufacturers won't allow media access before deposits

"If you think Taylor Swift pinball would not sell, you're crazy people. You are absolutely crazy."

Pinball needs more diverse music genres - Taylor Swift, hip hop, pop instead of just dad rock

"Pinball can't be this sport anymore in which almost everything is around or above $10,000. If you're going to ask us for $10,000 then you better hire a good artist."

Pinball can't survive if everything costs $10,000+ without quality to match

"Why is it 18 years ago we can recreate Lord of the Rings in a way that blows Toy Story away and I could go buy that game 18 years ago for like $3,700...To justify the cost of a $15,000 pinball machine, do you know how much pinball machines would have cost in 2004 with inflation in mind? $9,500 people."

Modern pinball prices are unjustifiable compared to older games

"We don't need another pinball company. We don't need another startup. We don't need another boutique at all... This hobby is over saturated. Everybody knows it."

Pinball hobby is oversaturated

"Why does anyone want to be a part of a hobby where the prices go through the roof, but what we're getting for the money hasn't improved at all?... none of these companies are putting 50% to 80% more into the games."

Hobby has jumped the shark - prices increased without corresponding quality improvements

"I think all these companies have dug a financial ditch they're now standing at the bottom of. And the more expensive your game is, the deeper that ditch is."

All pinball companies have dug themselves into a financial ditch with high prices

"I think this hobby is going to get real soft on the second hand market real soon. I think a lot of these boutique companies that are selling games around $10,000, I think they're going to feel this real soon."

Pinball hobby will get soft in secondary market soon due to economic conditions

"What a miss by this entire industry that nobody could figure out a way to get the Top Gun license... what a missed opportunity to create a Top Gun pinball machine."

Top Gun license miss is a massive industry failure

"I think the pinball hobby with where the prices are at only have three designers, and I mean this, it only has three designers that are actually doing stuff that's interesting, things that are innovative, and things that you are looking out for. And those three designers are Eric Meunier and Pat Lawlor and Keith Elwin. And that's it."

Only three pinball designers matter in the current market: Keith Elwin, Eric Meunier, and Pat Lawlor