Stern Pinball

"if you support moves like this Jurassic Park topper, you are a moron. If you buy El Vira signature edition, you are a moron. And I know that someone out there has a big problem with me calling people morons, but you are."

Buyers of Stern's premium editions like Elvira Signature and Jurassic Park topper are morons

"Ernie Hudson's cost to be part of the game was $5,000 and a premium machine so you this notion that and break that down over the amount of games they sold with Ghostbusters and it's like a dollar per machine"

Stern doesn't invest enough in licensed content despite low costs

"I'm getting tired of stern's entitlement and the fact that they feel like entitled for everyone to cheerlead everything they do"

Stern is acting arrogantly and entitled toward customers

"this paywall to get to it is absolutely the wrong direction for stern pinball"

Stern's DLC model is wrong direction for pinball

"they have not fixed the fucking problem and if you look at their own images stern's own images that they release to the world and you zoom in on their playfield there's ribbing"

Stern Pinball still hasn't fixed their playfield quality issues despite years of complaints

"Stern machines should still be like four thousand dollars they all should be like four to four five hundred dollar machines... Stern premiums with what they have in them should all be like five thousand dollars or less and you fucking know it"

Stern Pinball machines should cost $4000-5000 maximum, not $9100, and Jersey Jack proved people will overpay

"I can only draw one conclusion that it was Stern Pinball who complained to Facebook about Kaneda"

Stern Pinball got Kaneda's Facebook links censored by reporting his TMNT episode as abusive content

"we know they don't cost that much to make. We know we're all kind of getting ripped off on every Stern machine and we don't really care because Stern machine gets it done"

Stern Pinball is overpriced but efficient at delivery

"I just don't see the same level the same level of creativity of innovation there's that word again but I just don't see that world under glass coming to life over at Stern"

Stern Pinball doesn't create the same level of creativity and world under glass experiences

"stern needs to get better at these streams... just play the game. Why is who do who does this with the video game like oh no go go to level three... just show the game"

Stern needs to dramatically improve their reveal streams and stop over-explaining games

"Again, they're the only drug dealer in town. When you're the only drug dealer on the corner all the time, you can control the price of the market. That's what Stern can do."

Stern can charge whatever they want because they're the only consistent manufacturer

"I'm starting to get this sense that this is just the best we're ever going to get from stern. That they just have hit a limit on what they will be able to give us... I feel like we've hit this limit."

Stern has hit their limit on what they can deliver and won't improve quality further

"It does feel a little cheap... It feels like if I saw that toy in a store, it would be five bucks. And there's no real artistic sculpting going on with any of this stuff... It feels like a child's Fisher Price toy when I looked down at a $9,000 stern alley."

Stern's toys and mechs feel cheap like Fisher Price toys, especially the van and Raphael glider

"All they have to do is go live with all of their intended media and all of their assets and HD images and videos. They just need to send that out to the world. At the exact same time, they do the distributor seminars. It makes no sense that you do this distributor conference called the day before your media is set to go live."

Stern consistently spoils their own product launches by doing distributor presentations before media releases

"I'm telling you right now, spooky pinball's clear coat mixture is better than everyone else's... it's as close to perfect as I've ever seen a pinball clear coat as of the last five years. And so why is Stern Pinball still confused about how to get these games to that level of quality?"

Stern's dimpling/playfield quality is unacceptable compared to Spooky's solution

"Why does in Stern pinball look at buying spooky pinball? Why don't they look at absorbing this little boutique company that has a big fan base that has some really talented people and why don't they combine forces?"

Stern should buy Spooky Pinball to access their superior playfield technology

"I'm so sick and tired of the celebration by the Stern fanboys and the Stern army as they celebrate the fact that the game they bought four months ago is still not done... It's pathetic. I really do think it's pathetic."

Stern's incremental code updates on incomplete games are pathetic

"there's no excuse now for Stern Pinball machines that are shipping in 2020 to have poor code in them"

Stern Pinball should use this time to focus on code quality

"that's why if you're wondering why all those Ghostbusters games had crappy inserts and poor playfields if you're wondering why stern cabinets all of a sudden didn't have the same quality that they had before and we start to see stern cabinets cracking left and right on new games why do you think that is because Churchill their supplier for decades had left"

The Chicago Gaming/Churchill split from Stern caused major quality control issues with Ghostbusters

"that's always stern's incentive to everyone in the industry if you want to be a part of something where things are happening you join stern pinball if you want to be a part of something where there's always delays where there's always pauses where there's always financial insecurity you join everybody else"

Stern Pinball's appeal to industry professionals is based on constant activity versus other companies with delays

"I think it was brilliant I've got a stern if it was his idea to come up with three versions of a pinball I think it was a terrific idea because it lets people get in on an entry level"

Stern's three-tier pricing system was brilliant

"in my mind the two companies that are best best suited right now to ride out this wave are our stern because they've got cash in the bank and spooky pinball because they've got every game sold over the next 18 months"

Only Stern and Spooky can survive the economic downturn

"Most stern machines, even if you're just flailing and throwing the ball up the playfield, you will probably start something. In Rick and Morty, that's not the case"

Stern makes games accessible to beginners while Rick and Morty does not

"And so I think that's what has sort of Disrupted it Robert a little bit he's putting more in he's gonna charge a little bit more But you're getting much more any and I don't think people just didn't feel it when they stood over Raza All right, what else did Jeff ask and he said what type of innovations can we expect to see during the launch and Robert said We will be excited to show a portion of what we've been working on on launch day"

No Stern Pinball machine feels worth more than $6,000

"Hilton's Rick and Morty has been played over a thousand times...The playfield still looks like glass...Look at Stranger Things pinball after over a hundred plays. Heck, after ten plays, a Stranger Things pinball machine looks worse than Spooky pinball's 1000 plays on Rick and Morty."

Spooky Pinball playfield quality vastly superior to Stern

"I think another sleazy move by Stern marketing... They introduced the full color premium completely destroying any sense of specialness to the LE game itself... they go out of their way to screw over the people that have made this company so successful"

Stern's sleazy marketing moves with Monsters owners

"I do think there seems like people don't give stern, um, as much slack as something like spooky because I don't know."

People are softer on smaller pinball companies than on Stern

"as much as they're increasing revenue, I think they're losing, I think they're losing people's good will. And I think they're turning people off"

Stern is losing customer goodwill with their pricing practices

"I think it's scummy. And I think people feel that way... I've just never seen any feature where you had to pay extra to unlock it like this since I've been covering this hobby"

Stern's UV kit controversy shows scummy business practices

"It is I think the biggest joke cash grab I've seen since I've been covering this hobby. They intended to do it all along... You spent $9100 on an LE that's unfinished and not only is it unfinished code wise it's unfinished because they left a feature out that they already put into the game."

Stern's UV kit is the biggest cash grab joke in pinball - they intentionally left out features to sell later

"It is like going to see a movie that has 3D in it and then the movie theater after you buy your ticket the movie theater wants you to spend additional money on the glasses. And to me that is what is happening here."

Stern's $280 Stranger Things UV kit is like a movie theater charging extra for 3D glasses after you buy the ticket

"I don't think Jody and Gary give two SHITS about any of you. I don't. I really don't. I think the designers care about you. I think the coders care about you. I think the people actually making these games care about you. But I think the people at the top, the investors and the fat cats, they don't give two SHITS about you."

Stern leadership doesn't care about customers, only the designers and workers do

"These are the worst these were the worst games in the 80s and 90s and now all of a sudden they have 85% of the market... Stern pinball has fooled all of you in so many ways they have but the saddest thing is this and you all know it you're spending so much money on a company that is making games and they're not the best pinball company."

Stern was the worst pinball company in the 80s/90s and only dominates now because better companies left

"why is it that I can option out my machine and get immediate emails back from someone helping me customize my machine exactly how I would like it when I buy a spooky pinball machine for $78,000 but when I buy a $15,000 from Stern pinball they won't let me choose any options they don't let me paint the coin door they don't let me add this or add that absolutely nothing"

Stern doesn't allow customization options like Spooky does despite charging $15,000

"When you buy stirons at these inflated prices considering what their bomb is, you're making fat cat investors who nobody even knows who they are"

Stern overcharges customers while enriching unknown investors

"nobody on planet Earth, nobody wants Stern Pinball to make back to the future... they know if they make back to the future, it's going to be a stripped down Baron Playfield with hardly anything mechanical in it"

Nobody wants Stern to make Back to the Future - they would strip it down with barely any mechs

"what other industry did the company that survived and became the biggest in the world was actually making the most mediocre games it's weird it's like they they just they survive because everyone who was making the better products left"

Stern Pinball survived by outlasting competitors, not by making the best games - they're mediocre and overpriced

"But daddy eased stern. The worst pinball company from the 90s survived and kept it going into 2020. Oh my god, did I just say that?"

Stern Pinball called 'the worst pinball company from the 90s' that somehow survived

"they make games they release them before they're even finished and then it's like as a pinball person who wants to review stuff I don't know when I'm allowed to review a Stern product"

Stern releases games before they're finished and creates review timing confusion

"I think the Stern's shilling and this bullying that happens on Pinside is one of the worst things to happen in this hobby and I don't think it's going to get to better product."

Stern shilling and bullying on Pinside is one of the worst things for the hobby and prevents better products

"Do you really think that Stern is going to put the best possible hardware into the game? And that's the downside. That's the downside of where we are right now when you try to be innovative. When you try to be ambitious, do you really think Stern Pinball is the company that's going to invest the money in making sure something like this is done correctly."

Stern cheaped out on the projector hardware in Stranger Things

"I just get this feeling, I just a little bit of a feeling that that there's sort of answering assignments versus giving these designers the ability to make their dream themes come to life... I think these games are, I don't know, they're starting to feel a lot like the designers are answering an assignment versus bringing the thing that they love so much to life."

Brian Eddy not being a Stranger Things fan before designing shows Stern's assignment-based approach

"I'm gonna challenge Stern Pinball and Zach Sharpe to stream Stranger Things Premium or LE version of the game by next week... If they do it by next Thursday, Kaneda will cut an additional check for $100, $100 in Zach Sharpe's name to Project Pinball."

Challenging Stern to stream Stranger Things premium/LE or he'll donate $100 to Project Pinball

"I just can't help but feel that there's a level. I think the word is it just feels a little cheap. It just looks a little cheap and it looks a little bit like it should cost. You know, I'm going to just say these games just look like they're not worth what the asking prices for these games anymore."

Modern Stern games look cheap and not worth their asking price

"if there's one thing that Stern excels at and it's like taking the biggest themes that are out there and the games they make aren't the best games they make are never based around the biggest properties... Ghostbusters, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, right? Stranger Things, Five Juggernaut themes. And I would argue that those games were just big misses"

Stern's biggest licensed properties consistently underperform expectations

"It is quite obvious, right? That Stern is just the juggernaut, the mothership that hangs over this entire industry. They're the company that gets the most arrows in the back. They're the company that has people have the most opinions about, because if you love pinball, how can you not have so many opinions about the company that is sharing so many titles with the world every year?"

Stern is the undeniable juggernaut of the pinball industry

"Because if you want to buy an L.E. version of this game and the company won't show you how that feature works before you have to lock in your order for your L.E. Do you know stupid that is that you have to commit to something that the company themselves won't even show you before the order banks are closed."

Stern is selling LE versions without showing the key projector technology feature

"If Jersey Jack pinball released this game as it is, as their version of stranger things, what do you think the response would be? Do you think they would burn Jersey Jack to the ground? Put this next to dialed in, pired to the Caribbean, Willy Wonka."

If Jersey Jack Pinball released this exact game, they would be heavily criticized

"If you want to build relationships like that and you want a blacklist me and you want to never do anything for me, then why should I do anything for you?... I don't play ball with Stern because they don't play ball with me at all."

Kaneda deliberately leaked Stern's Stranger Things video because Stern blacklisted him and won't work with him

"When you look at Stern Pinball Machines, when you look at them now... it's hard for me to look at these games and not see Gary walking around the machine being like, okay, you can have the screen... But you got to remove the Christmas lights. You got to remove the AGO Waffles... Nothing interesting over the sling plastic."

Modern Stern games always feel cheap with flat plastics and missed opportunities for sculpted features