Stern Pinball

"Stern pinball will always be successful because they will always get the best themes. Their pins will always feel the best. And if you just love playing pinball, nothing plays better than a stern machine... stern's flippers have always felt great."

Stern Pinball will continue to dominate due to themes, flipper feel, and manufacturing speed

"I couldn't help but feel like we are really getting ripped off by stern pinball. There's just not a lot in the game from a mechanical standpoint and for an LE of this machine to be $13,000 no, thank you"

Foo Fighters has great unique layout but lacks mechanical wow factor for the price

"I mean it when I say it I think $13,000 is too much for every single Stern LE moving forward I just do I just don't make enough money to write checks for 14.5 every time a new Stern LE comes out"

Stern Pinball LE pricing is too expensive at $13,000+

"It's not even about this game, ladies and gentlemen, this game at this price is a trojan horse. To make the rest of us feel like these $13,000 L.E.s are a good value. To make the rest of us feel like these $10,000 premiums are a good value."

The $20,000 James Bond machine is a Trojan horse to make $13,000 LEs seem like good value

"It's really unfortunate that our hobby is now being hijacked by greed, people. It is simply greed."

Stern Pinball's pricing strategy represents pure greed and is hijacking the hobby

"You're telling me that Stern Pinball could not engineer an Aston Martin to do more than what the Aston Martin does in this pinball machine. I mean, it's pretty pathetic, people."

Stern Pinball failed to properly engineer James Bond's Aston Martin toy

"I worry that stern pinball and Jersey Jack pinball have painted themselves into a price corner That they are going to struggle to get out of"

Stern and Jersey Jack have priced themselves into a corner they'll struggle to escape

"They just launched the most expensive pinball in the history of pinball and they refuse to give us a real gameplay video before they took your money. If that doesn't say to all of us what Stern thinks of us, then I don't know what does."

Stern refuses to show real gameplay before taking money, showing what they think of customers and how gullible buyers are

"I think this is a good mod, gang... When you see it on Godzilla and I played Godzilla with it, it's awesome. I love it."

$650 Stern screen mod is awesome and worth it, saw it on Godzilla at Jack Bar

"I mean the Stern Pinball sounds a little bit like a mob. They're like the mafia. You better do what we say. You better sell for what we want you to sell it for. You better know who you're selling to or else you're out."

Stern Pinball's dealer agreements and pricing policies are overly corporate and mob-like

"many people out there and you know who you are you've been getting games for below the map price because your dealer and your distro has called you up and given you a price that is below the map price. They never put it in writing. They never advertised it but you've been able to buy your games cheaper than everybody else"

Dealers regularly violate Stern's MAP policy by giving verbal pricing over the phone

"Unlike everybody else, they're the only pinball company. That has like a portfolio of like 75 IPs that are tremendous IPs. And at any given point, they can just run more of older IP that people want."

Stern Pinball has major advantage over other manufacturers with their portfolio of 75 great IPs

"I think what Stern's going to end up doing with titles like Venom and titles like Foo Fighters, I think they're going to knock down the number of LEs to 500."

Stern needs to reduce LE production numbers for weaker themes

"If you want the ultimate gaming experience by a pinball machine, is he out of his mind? Like I love pinball to no end, but there is no way in the gaming world, pinball is a better gaming experience than what's on Xbox and PlayStation."

Pinball is not the ultimate gaming experience compared to modern video games

"Stern doesn't care about the details. Stern doesn't care to actually make the cabinet artwork more interesting. Stern does not care. And Stern doesn't care that they false advertise."

Stern lied about James Bond topper exclusivity and doesn't care about details

"This is the sleaziest move I've seen Stern do. I think they should be ashamed of themselves."

Opening James Bond topper to everyone after advertising as exclusive is sleaziest move from Stern

"Stern's greed and the DNA of their marketing department will leave an indelible impression on both customers and distributors for a while. As we wait and see what is the next greedy cash grab move from this company, I can't wait to Stern tries to do DLC. Why do you think they're shoving Insider Connected onto everybody's game? Because they're going to make you pay money to unlock the full potential of the game after you already spent like $14,000 on an LE."

Stern's greed and marketing will leave lasting impression, expects them to do DLC through Insider Connected

"Stern Pinball using Keith Elwin to make a move to release a game that is the biggest FU to pinball collectors in the history of pinball releases"

James Bond 007 60th Anniversary is the biggest FU to pinball collectors in history

"there is no way they're going to get 500 orders for this machine, and I think it's going to be another example, stern pinball just not understanding the market"

Stern Pinball doesn't understand the market and this game will fail commercially

"I think this is a bad move for Stern, I think they should be honoring the price of the game in which you ordered the game for that price."

Stern's price increases on existing inventory is a bad move - they should honor original pricing

"You're gonna bring a single level pinball machine with scoring reels and a cheap screen in the playfield into the den of the most highly advanced technology on planet earth. Really questionable moves. Stern, you're not a modern technology company."

Bringing James Bond to CES was a questionable marketing move for a single-level pinball machine

"I think it was a sleazy marketing move. I do because they put every single game into like the press release when they announced these James Bond games. And they easily could have shown you the Elwynn pin. Even if it wasn't ready, they could have showed you like the gameplay and the features and they could have told you how much it would cost."

Stern's handling of James Bond reveal was a sleazy marketing move

"Stern Pinball, my hat goes off to you because when you watch these games arrive, it is kind of incredible. It's not just like one unboxing here and then another unboxing a week later. It's like in one week, hundreds of games are arriving to customers, which is absolutely incredible."

Stern Pinball's manufacturing capability and speed is impressive

"they continue to fumble this like James Bond launch. Like this was the year. This was the 60th anniversary year. And Stern, you knew about this, even though the license holder might have been complicated and difficult. This isn't your first rodeo, Stern."

Criticism of Stern's handling of the James Bond launch and timing

"this is a bad time for Stern because they're gonna come out with this Elwynn pin only 500 units like they're really gonna play the FOMO card to the 10th degree and then they're gonna ask so much more money than Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo is gonna be more fun, have more in it and be like a third of the price and I think it's gonna backfire"

Stern's upcoming Keith Elwin pin will backfire due to FOMO pricing vs Scooby-Doo value

"I think Scooby-Doo could win as game of the year because I think the pinball community wants to send a message to Stern and JJP that they are not happy that those two companies have become very greedy, I think the community in general is over it"

Pinball community wants to send a message to Stern and JJP about their greed through Scooby-Doo

"Are you looking at this stern pinball with your lazy James Bond LE offering for $13,000? Are you looking at this Jersey Jack pinball with your lazy Toy Story offering for $12,000 or $15,000?"

Attacking Stern's James Bond and Jersey Jack's Toy Story for lazy offerings compared to Spooky's effort

"if you spend 6700 bucks you're getting the V12 engine in that pro. You're getting the same exact software that's going to go in the premium and the LE"

Stern Pro models are the smart buy due to identical code

"James Bond is $13,000 and Stern is now using a single node board to fire all of the pop bumpers. So they're no longer individually firing pop bumpers, which is so much cheaper for them to do."

Stern is cutting corners by using single node boards for pop bumpers while charging more money

"They want everyone who ordered a James Bond, LE, which is for the collectors. They want all of those people to pay in full for their games before they show you the Keith Elwin version of the game."

Stern's business approach with James Bond LE hurts the collector community

"I think this game is going to be a public relations nightmare and backfire for Stern pinball. I think it's going to show each and every one of us that they really are greedy."

Keith Elwin's James Bond at $25,000 would be greedy and a public relations nightmare

"And my prediction is this. I think they've overpriced it. I really do mean it. I think they've overpriced it. And I think what's going to happen is this. Distributors are going to be left holding the bag because in the pas"

Prediction: Stern and Jersey Jack have overpriced their games and distributors will be left holding the bag.

"Nobody cared about it. They didn't set the world on fire. It was a really weird move for Stern Pinball trying to jump into the NFT craze"

Stern's NFT game was weird and nobody cared about it

"I really do think the Stern marketing team isn't really doing much. And they're not thinking creatively...What does Stern do to give back to the community?"

Stern Pinball's marketing team is creatively bankrupt and should be doing much more for the community

"The only knob they can turn to slow demand on new games and still make all the games people are ordering every year is price. And that's what I think they're doing. They're raising the price of these games not to just follow suit with Jersey Jack, not to be greedy. I think they're also doing it to slow the demand down just a little bit"

Stern is raising prices not just for greed, but strategically to reduce demand and manage manufacturing backlog

"You know, what's to stop Stern in five years from doing an Elvira 45th anniversary edition. There is nothing in writing by them that this is it. And I think this is on us as buyers and as collectors."

Prediction: Stern might create an Elvira 45th anniversary edition in five years since there's nothing preventing them from making more limited versions.

"I think there is a tipping point in which there's only so many versions of the game you can make before every version of the game doesn't feel special."

Stern's strategy of creating multiple limited editions undermines the value of each version

"when I said Stern should fire their marketing department, I was joking. I don't really mean they should fire these people, but they definitely should be called into a room and figure out what is going on here."

Stern's marketing department should be called into a room over James Bond launch issues

"This was probably the most botched launch in the history of pinball. I mean this. I haven't seen anything sloppier than the James Bond reveal."

James Bond pinball reveal was the most botched launch in pinball history

"How do you now compete with Stern Pinball? How does anybody else compete with this?... So it's absolutely looking like Stern Pinball is about to clobber everybody."

Stern Pinball is about to dominate and clobber all competitors with superior resources and output

"But ultimately, the reason why this game leaked, it's all on Stern people. Stern is the company that unboxed it on a show floor."

The James Bond leak is entirely Stern's fault for poor security planning

"your marketing department continues to mess this up every single launch. And I think you need to get Mr. Sharp in a room and Jody in a room and really think about this. Because maybe hire an agency, get more professional."

Stern Pinball's marketing department continues to fail and they need professional help

"But are you telling me that as the world mourns the loss of the queen, that that overlaps somehow with the launch of a niche little Pinball machine? There is absolutely no overlap there."

Delaying James Bond reveal for Queen's death makes no sense - no overlap between mourning and niche pinball

"Now you could argue that we haven't seen the HD images, but that's not my fault. This is what Stern always does. And that's Jody's fault and it's Stern's fault."

"Now look, I bet Stern does go totally woke. They're going to go totally woke on us and remove all of that stuff... In today's modern world, everyone gets offended by everything."

Stern will go totally woke and remove inappropriate James Bond content

"Now Stern Pinball has all the momentum. They really do. Everyone else has fumbled the ball this year. And Stern Pinball, the giant, the biggest pinball company in the world, with the most resources, the best licenses, the best coders, the best artists, the best everything..."

Stern Pinball now has all the momentum while others fumbled

"As expensive as these stern machines are now, I can't look at anyone else that's doing it better than they are. And I think this game is going to come out. There's going to be no shenanigans. And every single person who orders an L.E. is going to have their L.E. by the end of October."

Despite high prices, can't look at anyone doing pinball better than Stern

"They seem to be firing on all cylinders recently. And there's so many talented people in Stern pinball. And when they get passionate about a project, and I mean this, when there's real passion behind a project over at Stern, they tend to deliver and they tend to bring out something pretty special"

Modern Stern is firing on all cylinders and delivers when passionate about projects

"Now just a few years later, they're 50% more than when games like Ghostbusters came out. 50% more for a stern LE... a pro is now going to be like 7,200 bucks like for a stern pro."

Stern price increases are getting crazy - 50% more than Ghostbusters era

"All this is doing is helping Stern Pinball convince all of us that a premium is worth $9,000."

Stern Pinball looks like the best value compared to boutique pricing