Pinball Industry

"I don't think any pinball machine is groundbreaking. These are old toys. It's an old way of getting entertainment. There is nothing groundbreaking about pinball ever and there never will be"

No pinball machine is truly groundbreaking - they're old toys

"There are going to be and mark my words. There's going to be winners and losers. There's no way that this battle can continue like this with all these companies."

Prediction: There will be winners and losers in the pinball industry battle, as this level of competition between multiple companies cannot continue.

"I've said it, there's no room for mediocrity anymore. Your game is either amazing or it's not going to sell well."

No room for mediocrity in current oversaturated pinball market

"25 pinball machines. In boxes, online's right now trying to get your dollars. That is insane. We are clearly oversaturated."

Pinball industry is oversaturated with 25 games currently available for purchase

"nobody caters to these rich people... there's no Bugatti there's no Lamborghini there's no Bentley... If Robert only makes fifty units of Alice in Wonderland... he could easily charge twenty five to thirty thousand per game maybe more and people would line up to buy it"

Pinball manufacturers should cater to rich collectors who want ultra-limited expensive games

"Always, I will always believe that theme is so much more important than people realize. And it is the most important part of any pinball machine. And I don't care what anyone else says. The sales data supports it."

Theme is the most important part of any pinball machine - sales data proves it

"This hobby has fucking failed to deliver what I think all of you want. And I'm saying is, I'm not saying this to be a dick. I'm just saying what happened to this fucking hobby? What happened to it? It used to be all about the fucking magic under the glass."

Modern pinball has shifted from playfield magic to code/LCD focus - the hobby has failed

"The other thing I would say is that theme is more important than innovation. And this is something that is absolutely true. You might not want it to be true, but it is true."

Theme is more important than innovation in pinball success

"There's no way pinball buyers will continue to increase or stay at this level in the future. There's just no way. I think pinball has another five years left before we start to see a real decrease in demand."

Pinball market will decline in 5 years due to oversaturation

"Games that I sell to women that I'm only interacting with the women is actually on the rise to the point that it's now probably a few a month. Whereas, you know, if we go back five years, it was zero"

Women pinball buyers increasing significantly

"it's great or go home with Pinball these days I think that's where we're at you either have a great game or it's going to fail there's no middle ground anymore there's no middle ground"

It's great or go home with pinball - no middle ground anymore for game success

"we're still what I considered to be overwhelmed with the number of manufacturers that are going to survive in the long term. There's just too many continued options for games, both new and used in the market. And it's inevitably time for an additional one or two pinball companies to fail."

Too many pinball manufacturers exist and won't survive long-term

"There's no way Stern is buying Jersey Jack Pinball or deeproot. They don't need, Stern doesn't need to own any one. Why would they need help? They have 90 plus percent of the market."

Stern wouldn't buy other manufacturers - consolidation should work against them

"It is really hard for people to give an honest prediction about what they think is going to happen in the pinball world... because I don't think 2019 is going to be a great year for most pinball manufacturers."

Hard to make honest predictions about pinball without being negative

"In the fuck that this analog toy that is supposed to be about magical shit happening physically on the playfield, when the fuck did it become about software? Seriously, when the fuck did that happen? And when that happened, you all got fucked."

Modern pinball is ruined by over-reliance on software instead of physical magic

"I think, I mean, honestly, the quick answer is yes. I think it's over getting a little oversaturated"

Pinball market is becoming oversaturated with too many manufacturers

"I think that culture of buy it now in pinball is really fading away fast. And without it, this is the crazy part. When you remove that hype train and that fear of missing out, the only way for your company to succeed then is to give people the total package"

The pinball market is softening with less FOMO buying

"why can't another pinball company just get their shit together and make a good game every year Once a year make a good game is that too much to ask I mean we wait so long and I just feel like so much comes up so short"

Kaneda wishes other pinball companies could just make one good game per year consistently

"jersey jack that i think gets overly ambitious and put so much into the game that they like make it crowded at times and like like they have too many things trying to wow you where it kind of all cancels each other out and then you have stern where it's like i don't think they have enough to wow you on you know on the physical playfield"

Jersey Jack gets overly ambitious with too many wow features that cancel each other out, while Stern doesn't have enough - the perfect manufacturer would be somewhere in the middle like BLE Williams

"Companies will fail. There is not, there are not enough new inbox pinball buyers to ensure all these companies survive. They're just not."

Too many pinball companies - not enough buyers for all to survive

"If people think for one second that stern doesn't want to put other pinball companies out of business I think those people are stupid of course they do... This whole notion that all these pinball companies are in it together... That's such bullshit"

All pinball companies want to put each other out of business

"artwork continues to be almost like the most important thing you need to sell a pinball machine oh even more than design and I think my overall assessment of this hobby is that's that's unfortunate and that's kind of tragic"

Artwork now more important than design for selling pinball machines - this is tragic

"It's really hard to be unbiased because if you're gonna slam a game and you're gonna say the honest truth about a game there is a very good chance that a lot of manufacturers will just stop talking to you"

Hard to be unbiased pinball reviewer because manufacturers will blacklist you for honest criticism

"I shouldn't even bother applying any marketing knowledge to this industry because it's run by a bunch of like old men who are just winging it they really are just winging it"

Pinball marketing is terrible and run by old men who are just winging it

"I think pinball really is in need of a little shake up. And I don't think the current pinball companies that are out there are really pushing the hobby forward in the right way."

Pinball needs a shake-up; current companies aren't pushing the hobby forward properly

"there is no need for more pinball in the world. I just don't think we're at a shortage of options of where to buy pinball machines these days"

There is no need for more pinball in the world - market is oversaturated

"I'm tired of people wanting to remain anonymous. I'm tired of all these people who under threat of NDA allowed this clown to go on for year and year and year."

People need to stop hiding behind NDAs and anonymity when they have important information

"I think there is a dark cloud coming over pinball that a lot of people just don't want to admit... if you think the pinball landscape is going to look as verbose, as plentiful, with as much variety in 2019 as it does in 2018, I think you're going to be in for a big surprise"

Dark cloud coming over pinball - most manufacturers will collapse in 2019

"I want there to be games that are special, that are very truly limited, that not everybody can buy... There really is nothing that is truly limited and truly special for the high-end collector"

Pinball needs ultra-limited high-end collectible games for wealthy collectors, not mass production

"the super high-end collector is still left without any options and I think that is the white space that if you're listening and you want to bring bimbal to market that's that's the itch you need to scratch"

Super high-end collectible limited run games are the only white space left in pinball

"do I think there is a lot of growth left in this hobby I don't I do not I think the resurgence of barcades I think it's peaked I don't think it's growing"

Pinball market growth is limited and may have peaked

"the games from the 90s still blow away modern pinball... there's just no denying the fact that what we're getting these days is... just not delivering the magic"

Modern pinball games aren't as good as 90s games despite all the hype

"theme is number one reason why people buy pinball machines and so you come out with a theme people don't want and this is not just America this is not just P3 this is like Andrew Heighways decision to make full throttle to make animal house"

Theme is the #1 factor in pinball purchasing decisions, but manufacturers keep getting it wrong

"I think all Pinball companies need to read this article because they are failing at this... Conversely, Pinball companies are just putting out whatever licenses they scrounge together and slapping a price tag on it. This won't work in the long haul."

Pinball companies lack market research

"I want to ask this company to be the first pinball company that doesn't hype themselves way before they have anything ready to show."

Pinball companies should stop hyping themselves before having products ready to show

"I think for all of you out there the excitement of a new pinball coming out right the more new titles I get released or revealed or the more times a company asks us to buy their games I think the less special it becomes"

Too many pinball releases are making each launch less special and creating market saturation

"I think it's incredible that it was three the three manufacturers that I've continued to say will be the only three pinball manufacturers that will be in business in the long term"

Only three manufacturers will survive long-term: Stern, Jersey Jack, and Spooky

"Those three to me those three to me right now are the only ones the only ones that I would actually consider buying right now simply because I know I'll be taking care of and I know there's going to be a person on the other end of the phone that will help me out"

Only three companies can be trusted right now: Stern, Jersey Jack, and Spooky

"I think it's fair to say that the last five years of pinball has barely barely even scratch the surface of coming up with the same type of magic that the nineteen nineties brought to pinball"

The last five years of pinball have barely scratched the surface of 1990s magic

"this hobby is starting to implode a little bit... people are starting to lose thousands of dollars now on these new and box games thousands... you can get a smoug special edition for six thousand dollars a fucking smoug edition is six grand and so is the jetsons"

Hobby is imploding due to overpriced games and massive losses on resale

"I think ego gets in the way of a lot of decision making in pinball. And this is not just with Charlie and then spooky. I think ego is what killed Star Wars pinball. I think Steve Ritchie's ego is what killed it."

Ego is what killed Star Wars pinball and affects many pinball decisions

"I think this out of any period since I've been following this hobby, I think this is the ultimate period to kind of just like hold on to your money for a while and see what comes out and play everything before you buy it. I mean, you'd be a fool not to"

This is the best period to hold money and wait before buying

"all these games are fucking ripoffs they're all fucking ripoffs like everyone's getting ripped off across the board and they're all accepting it"

All modern pinball games are overpriced ripoffs that people accept

"I think we're stuck in this cookie cutter land of old designers with the same old ideas making the same games over and over again... they're afraid to create original themes"

Pinball designers are stuck making cookie cutter games with same old ideas - afraid to innovate

"I'm really glad that people haven't remained silent and people have been very vocal about their disappointment... there's certain people that think we should just cheerlead every single pinball machine"

People should be vocal about disappointment in pinball machines, not just cheerleaders

"You guys realize. We are oversaturated with titles. Oversaturated... that's 21 games. 21 games. Are they all going to survive? Are they all going to make it? I mean, come on"

Pinball market is oversaturated with 21+ available titles

"Go try PlayStation VR and do the car chase scene where you're actually sitting inside this car chase. Pinball is so archaic when you see where video games are going. There is not going to be a Pinball collectible community twenty, thirty years from now."

Pinball won't survive VR technology - the hobby has limited future

"I think LCDs are actually hurting. They're hurting pinball because they are removing the physical parts on the playfield that used to create those worlds"

LCD screens are hurting pinball by removing physical playfield elements

"They're the Honda Civic of Pinball... Jersey Jack to me is more of the Mercedes Benz of Pinball... I think it's time we just stop trying to compare these two companies Like it is apples to oranges"

Stern vs JJP is like Honda vs Mercedes - different market segments that shouldn't be compared

"I don't think there's going to be many more than three pinball companies that survive into 2018"

Only three pinball manufacturers will survive into 2018: Stern, Jersey Jack, and Chicago Gaming/PPS