Stern Pinball

"If you were to look at what's happening at Stern, every decision being made driven by the private equity investors, that entire company is basically all about what they're compromising with each game, what they're taking out of each game"

Stern Pinball is driven by compromises due to private equity ownership

"Do you really think with the climate of where we're at that this is all going to work out? And the moment any sort of recession hits people in America, you're going to see like the big guy collapse. It's just going to happen. No one's going to buy them. No one's going to swoop in and buy them. Jersey Jack will become the new biggest pinball company in the world."

Stern will go out of business due to their unsustainable model and size

"When you go from a Harry Potter and then you go to a Beetlejuice and then you jump on a Stern, the Stern just feels really, really cheap. It doesn't cost any less money. It just feels really, really cheap."

Stern Pinball feels cheap compared to boutique companies despite similar pricing

"When you buy a Stern LE, it doesn't stand for limited edition anymore. It stands for loser edition because you are losing so much money on something that is not giving you any more fun than the Pro Buyer"

Stern LE stands for 'loser edition' because buyers lose money without gaining fun

"I just feel like as a community, we should all be pushing against Stern right now. We shouldn't be showing them support."

Pokemon code situation means community should stop supporting Stern

"I definitely think that Stern failed on this assignment with Transformers. And I think lately over at Stern, it's like the code has gotten so good on their games, but the games themselves, the physical games, have been piss poor."

Stern failed with Transformers and recent physical games are poor quality despite good code

"Look, this hobby is absolutely inane. It is inane. You would think that the majority of people in this hobby are actually Stern employees or Stern investors. Why would people root for a company that can't figure out how to make a transformer transform?"

The pinball hobby is inane because people act like Stern employees or investors despite company failures

"Post-Godzilla, every single modern Stern is really relying 100% on the code taking you somewhere magical. It's just the way it is. The actual mechanics aren't magical. The actual gameplay isn't incredible on their games anymore."

Modern Stern games rely entirely on code for magic, not physical mechanics

"now they didn't get him to work and they yanked him out. So they took out all of that, all of the R&D, all the value of that mech, all of it is now not in the game. And it's still $13,000."

Stern should have reduced Transformers price when they removed the transforming mech

"I think Stern Pinball designs things to be good enough. They're getting a little bit better in certain areas. The code is great when they actually get it out the door."

Stern designs things to be "good enough" vs other manufacturers

"I'm hearing more and more from people on the inside that this mechanism of Optimus was working. It was yanked out and it was a cost-cutting measure... the more I'm starting to believe that it was a cost cutting measure"

Optimus Prime's transforming mechanism was removed as cost-cutting, not technical issues

"what's clear now is that they're really at the mercy of the manufacturing schedule, the private equity loan that they have to pay back. And these decisions are being made by the accountants, not by the creative team."

Stern Pinball is compromised by financial pressure and manufacturing schedule

"I'm going to spend $6,000 or more than the pro buyer. I don't even get an exclusive mode"

Transformers LE has insufficient value differentiation from lower tiers

"Stern Pinball has made a transformer pinball machine in which nothing transforms"

Stern failed to deliver on the core Transformers theme by making nothing transform

"Before Pokemon can even have a shot, you've moved everybody on the Transformers. It doesn't work"

Stern's rapid game releases are cannibalizing their own products and burning out developers

"it's a game that's half complete... this is sort of like Decepticon Pinball featuring static Autobots"

Transformers is essentially Decepticon Pinball featuring do-nothing Autobots

"It just feels like Stern made a Godzilla that didn't move, made a Jaws that doesn't eat the ball, and made an Optimus Prime that doesn't transform. You have to sort of ask the question, what is up with the engineering over there at Stern?"

Stern's engineering failures with main character mechanics across multiple games shows systematic weakness

"They're making too much. They're moving too fast. The way their games are cannibalizing each other is a problem. And then it's crazy that a game that can come out next week will have more code in it than a game that came out four months ago."

Stern is rushing games to market with incomplete code and too many releases per year

"Stern LEs to me are just in this strange no man's land that just doesn't work anymore... They took the LE so much over the premium, $3,000 more. You don't get $3,000 more in value."

Stern LEs are overpriced and don't provide sufficient value over premiums

"There is no Stern Pinball machine that is worth anywhere near $13,000. And that is a big problem for this company... every single $13,000 LE is just going to lose money"

No Stern Pinball machine is worth $13,000 and all LEs lose money

"When you buy something new, like a new car, do you go and buy another new car in three to four months?"

Release schedule too fast - people need time to appreciate what they bought before next machine drops

"But Stern doesn't care. We all know this, right? We know they don't care. Their objective is to make sure there's a game on the line."

Stern doesn't care about customers, only about keeping games on production line

"You did a 40 minute video about the new code in Pokemon and I just watched the first 10 minutes and it's atrocious. Guys, come on. You've got a new code update. You need to start the stream right away."

Stern's Pokemon code update video was poorly executed

"Imagine if Stern was like, you know what? We're just going to make one game this year and it's going to be like a banger. Like, let's just say like die hard. We're going to take all of our money, all of our talents, all of our design expertise, our coding expertise. We're going to make one game so damn good that the line is never going to stop going."

Stern should make just one amazing game per year instead of multiple mediocre ones

"Where is the code? Now, it is not the Pokemon people that are suffering the most. There are some of our friends that bought a Walking Dead remastered. That game, as of today, as of May 5th, the Walking Dead remastered has been out for six months. The code on a game that is a remastered game. They didn't even have to fully code a game. It is Lyman's masterpiece. They simply had to port it over, make some new dots. And what is the issue? What is the holdup?"

Stern Pinball consistently releases unfinished games and takes too long with code updates

"And I still think Stern needs to go back and make only 500 LEs on everything. But they also need to add more. A few more exclusive modes. I think an exclusive topper."

Stern needs to cut LE production to 500 units and add exclusive content

"Is FOMO over for Stern LE Machines? ... I'm here to tell you right now, as I think about Transformers around the corner, are we going to see the same sort of running at an LE and are we going to continue to see consumers spend over sticker to get one of these Stern LEs? I don't think so."

FOMO is over for Stern LE machines due to poor value retention

"I will say the Stern anti-reflective glass is really, really nice. And it doesn't really need any better glass than that."

Stern's anti-reflective glass is really good quality and doesn't need upgrading

"Stern, if you're listening to this right now, do the right thing. There should be only a total of 500 Transformer LEs. That's it. I don't care. That's it... LEs for 13 grand should come with exclusive toppers and an exclusive mode or two."

Stern should limit Transformers LE to only 500 units and add exclusive content for LE buyers

"And this is my thing with Stern. It's like, why is it so hard? Why is it so hard for this company to just realize that? Like, that does not look like the Walking Dead. When you look at the new Walking Dead game, that is not how Walking Dead fans connect with the IP. When you look at King Kong, that is not how King Kong fans connect with King Kong."

Stern consistently fails with art direction across multiple games - Walking Dead, King Kong don't represent their IPs properly

"if you're an operator and you want a problem-free game that makes you money the most days it's in operation, you're most likely gonna go with the Stern Pro. That's what they're built for."

Stern Pro is the best choice for operators wanting problem-free money-making games

"Why is it that the cheapest games that Stern makes, the damn Costco Star Wars games, get these beautiful boxes that have artwork on the box and we spend $13,000 on a 750 limited edition Pokemon machine and we just get a standard box."

Stern should put artwork on LE boxes like they do for cheap Costco games

"It's like this company could make every single other pinball company's annual allotment in like one month. One month Stern Pinball's manufacturing power is insane."

Stern's manufacturing power is insane compared to other companies

"I'm like, why would you even buy a Stern premium? What is the point? Like, Pokemon LE is going to hold value. The game's not done. It's not going to be coded for like a year. So why would you buy a $9,500 premium? You could say, well, because I want to play the game now. But why? Why they're going to make those premiums forever."

Stern Premiums are pointless to buy now - wait for distributors to discount them

"Both of those can stand their own next to Harry Potter and then Stern is like a distant fourth... If you might start out by saying Spooky or Barrels or JJP. Stern is fourth."

Stern has fallen to fourth place among manufacturers

"a dude spending $13,000 on a Stern, which is crazy to begin with because no Stern machine is worth anywhere near $13,000. We all know it."

No Stern machine is worth anywhere near $13,000

"Stern is back. Stern is back, baby. Like, they are back. This company's been taking lashes not just from me, from everybody, and rightfully so... That company has been demoralized for like four years. It's been a toxic work environment."

Stern is back after years of criticism and toxic work environment

"I think if you're going to remaster anything, remaster stuff that's just impossible to get. I think Batman on the new platform would be fun to see. I think Ghostbusters would be fun to see"

Stern should remaster classic games like Batman, Ghostbusters, LOTR instead of AC/DC again

"Everything else since then has been somewhat of a sales disappointment and a little bit of a cultural flop. If you ask me, D&D never really caught on. You didn't really see people catch on with King Kong. You didn't really see Star Wars take off. The Walking Dead didn't take off. John Wick didn't take off. Venom didn't take off."

Stern's recent games have been sales disappointments and cultural flops

"And then you go over to Stern. And Stern continues to be, out of all the companies, the one company now where people feel like they're just not getting the value. It's at Stern Pinball."

Stern continues to be the company where people feel they're not getting value

"Stern Pinball is like the opposite. Like they were doing things better years ago... So you're telling me you can make Godzilla for 10.5 with everything in it and get every single asset imaginable. And then years later, we're ending up with an assetless King Kong without as much magic."

Stern made better games years ago - new management and Spike 3 platform are worse

"They easily could have done a poll. What would be the secret? We know they're doing remasters... why didn't they at least survey the community. Would you like to see kiss AC/DC? Would you like to see Tron?"

Stern should survey community before choosing remasters

"the fact that Stern got that so wrong is really indicative in my honest opinion of a company that's missing the mark big time. There is no way Stern Pinball with all of their knowledge of this community should ever create such a failure of a remastered"

Walking Dead Remastered failure shows Stern is out of touch with community

"My worry is stern is going to chase the money and not chase the legacy. They are really going to be about volume, volume, volume, because now their customers are the private equity investors. That is my take on the modern world lately. The world has become a weird place where we are putting simple profits over people."

Stern will chase money over legacy due to private equity ownership, prioritizing volume over creativity

"Can we finally get to a place in the pinball universe in which the largest company in the world will just tell us a month in advance when we can expect to see their next game? Why can't they just do that? It's not like we don't know what's coming. It's only pinball."

Stern should provide month advance notice for game releases instead of keeping everyone waiting

"Stern keeps burning its own customers. They did it again on Jaws"

Stern keeps burning its own customers with better versions after LE releases

"It just hasn't really worked out for anyone who's gone in early on any of these Stern games"

Stern Pinball's new pricing strategy hasn't worked out for early buyers

"I mean you put these games next to the Stern machines. And they make the Stern machines look so cheap"

Modern boutique games make Stern machines look cheap in comparison

"Stern Pinball has lost. All the confidence and all the trust between the collectors and Stern. They just kept remaking stuff"

Stern has lost all collector confidence by constantly remaking games

"I just think all Stern are stupid buys now at new inbox prices. I think all Stern new inbox now are just stupidly priced. I don't think they've done anything to justify the pricing of any of their machines."

All new Stern machines are stupid purchases at current pricing