Stern Pinball

"You guys are selling 15,000 dollar pinball machines you want to you need to start acting a little bit like the premium company you want to be... I think it's time to grow up I really do and this is coming from Kaneda someone who who never grows up right when when it's coming for me You know you know things are serious"

Stern needs to mature and stop acting juvenile as they move into premium pricing territory

"I think it's insulting what Stern is doing to customers around Batman 66. I think it is arrogant. I think it is closed-minded. And I think it is a little ego-driven."

Stern's Batman 66 marketing approach is insulting and arrogant

"I think Stern is acting like the big blue bully... They are trying to bully everyone around"

Stern is acting like a bully by demanding non-refundable deposits before showing Batman 66

"I think it's a huge mistake for Stern to eliminate people's ability to feel like their game could go up in value because they've priced it so high that there's nowhere for the games to go. I'm sorry but there is just nowhere to go."

Stern's Batman 66 pricing strategy is a huge mistake - eliminates potential for appreciation

"Stern is in a category that's like any other because they can go mainstream and boutique at the same time because they basically have a monopoly. They have a monopoly on Pinball people's passion. They have a monopoly on Pinball people's obsession with opening up new inbox."

Stern has a monopoly on pinball collectors' passion and obsession with NIB machines

"it's kind of one of these damned if you do, damned if you don't type of situations. I mean, there were a lot of people that were upset that there were going to be 30 of these games that were very limited and exclusive and that they potentially were not going to have an opportunity to buy one. But then on the other hand, you know, now Stern has made that opportunity to available to people. And yet, they're still upset about it."

Stern can never win with Pinside - damned if they do, damned if they don't

"Like, the fix is in. Like, the new game's shipping now with August 24th Playfields. They all are the beautiful and perfect. Like, there's no ghosting, there's no chip clear coat. The premiums are all going to have perfect playfields"

Stern's ghosting issue has been fixed

"Stern has become a master at understanding the collecting community and the supply and demand issues that will impact collecting communities"

Stern deliberately creating supply and demand pressure to control the collecting market

"we are going to make 20 special Kylo Ren Knights of Ren edition machines that are gonna have some special feature could have a couple extra modes... they're going to cost 20 thousand dollars"

Stern should create ultra-limited Star Wars editions at premium prices

"stern is in a position right now where if they get their shit together they're going to start putting other pinball machines out of business"

Stern will dominate and potentially eliminate other manufacturers

"I think all these Stern are going to decrease in value by a couple thousand dollars I just don't think you're gonna see people clamoring to get a secondhand version of stuff for sticker or more than sticker price"

Stern LEs from recent years will decrease in value

"I just think every day that goes by every week that passes where there's absolutely zero comment is just hurting the company. And I think they know that. I think people in the community know that and I really wish there would be some sort of statement. I don't think they can drag this out forever."

Stern's silence on Ghostbusters playfield issues is hurting the company and they need to communicate

"I love stern and I think stern pinball is an amazing company and I just really want to see them do the right thing here... I think the balls in their court and we have to give them some time to do the right thing. I really hope they don't just remain silent and handle this on a one by one basis because I think that's going to be a mistake"

Stern should handle Ghostbusters insert issue properly and transparently

"My main issue with this whole ghosted insert fiasco is simply one thing and one thing only. It's that Stern pinball, the number one pinball manufacturer is aware of an issue... They don't hit stop on the assembly line, fix the problem before sending out any more pinball machines. They continue to ship machines knowing there are issues."

Stern Pinball shipping machines with known quality issues is unacceptable

"what's annoying about them if you look at the plaques on the LEDs. They don't line up with the artwork of the speaker panel at all. That that little detail irks me to know"

Stern's LE plaques are cheap-looking and poorly positioned on speaker panels

"All of these delays could be mitigated by stern in terms of the court of public opinion if stern would communicate differently when a delay occurs"

Stern Pinball needs better communication about delays to help anxious customers

"People who have the old mechanism are not being sent the new mechanism. And I disagree with that. I think that is an issue. And I think it's wrong"

Stern should provide new slimer mechanism to all customers with old mechanism

"they were just like old dudes with Photoshop like dropping clip art around the playfield for like 10 years. It was really shit"

Stern's photoshop artwork era was terrible

"I think Stern once again has gone from reveal to shipping in what, two months. And people are now unboxing games. It's incredible where everyone else makes people wait two years."

Stern's rapid shipping timeline from reveal to delivery is superior to other manufacturers

"You always have to put yourself in the shoes of your customer if your customer is beyond frustrated You can't tease something out in a celebratory fashion Knowing that these guys have been in pain for so long they just wanted they don't care They don't want it delivered with a bow with fancy shiny wrapping paper they don't want to slowly know that it's going to be revealed they just wanted"

Stern's Kiss code marketing was poorly handled for frustrated customers

"I loved it Like I thought that Stern just knocked it out of the park it's so cool like I'm just glad that Stern is doing their thing right Because I think so much of the drama and so much of like leads people to do ugly things and say ugly things on the inside and other forms Is that people have been burned like for three years straight by like so many boutiques and miss miss release dates and pre-orders"

Praise for Stern Pinball's consistent release schedule and business model

"I am as a as a pinball fan concern that some of the best modding that goes on goes on from the community and should Stern go after and and send cease and to assist the people who are making these mods... I hope that the mod community and Stern can live in harmony"

Stern's approach to mod community licensing creates concerning restrictions but official partnerships show promise

"Stern has just been like upping their game and with this one it really feels like this is a quantum leap forward for them in terms of DMD aside... it feels like a new company to me I feel like this pin is a new version of Stern"

Stern has made a quantum leap forward with Ghostbusters

"Is there no one else? That is what Stern internally is probably thinking whenever they hear that they have this competition."

Stern Pinball has no real competition despite boutique manufacturers' claims

"If I want anyone to make Star Wars, I want it to be Stern. If I want anyone to make Jurassic World, I want it to be Stern. If I want anyone to make Toy Story, I want it to be Stern. You know why? Because I know that they'll make it. I know it'll ship."

Stern Pinball should make major licensed themes, not Jersey Jack

"But you can't compare the light show of those games to Game of Thrones or Star Trek or Wizvaz because they don't compare. They lack the colors."

Modern Stern games with color-changing LEDs can't be compared to 90s games

"I really feel like Stern has been mailing it in for a few years with what they're dropping into a game. But I think they really have heard the feedback. I think the competition has really forced them to raise their game"

Stern Pinball has been mailing it in for years but Ghostbusters shows they're raising their game due to competition

"I'm seeing so many issues with people having to fix their pins like like physically work on them to get things right... for this amount of money there should be enough R&D going on to avoid this."

Stern quality control issues are unacceptable for the prices charged

"those dots it's like like you've got to be kidding me those dots cargument coming they look like putting 14 inch rims on a modern sports car there's just like so embarrassing that Stern is getting away with this crap"

DMD displays look embarrassingly outdated on modern pins

"Stern is being really inconsiderate is people have money on the line here they have thousands of dollars riding on resale values of games that are being considered and turds... They need to let people who buy these pins have a time frame of when code updates will arrive. Otherwise, it's completely unfair."

Stern's lack of code update schedules is unfair to customers who have thousands of dollars invested and need to make decisions about keeping games

"Three years is a ridiculous long time to wait for an update. In no other entertainment category would that ever be acceptable. It would never be acceptable in video games."

Stern's three-year delay for Avengers code update is ridiculously long and unacceptable compared to other entertainment industries

"this is the one issue the only issue I believe that is keeping Stern from total you know world domination of pinball because whenever there's a new box Stern there's usually one and one complaint only you're going to get a game with incomplete code"

Incomplete code is the only thing preventing Stern from total pinball market domination

"Why aren't they hiring more coders to even like work around the clock to get these things into a better place? I mean, you could easily have coders working two shifts. One works the day shift and one, some coders work the night shift"

Stern should hire more coders and run coding shifts around the clock to solve the code delay problem

"should Stern have done something for everybody who bought Avengers because they waited so long and is code enough?... it might have been nice to think about Stern offering them maybe an exclusive topper to go with their games."

Stern needs to provide compensation beyond just code updates for customers who waited three years

"I don't believe Stern was going to go back to a title this far away and update the code and put resources to updating the code... unless guys like flash instinct and owners of Avengers kept harping them."

Stern wouldn't have updated Avengers code without persistent community pressure from owners like flash and stank

"There is no pressure on Stern to put in this level of innovation at all right now. Again, they're still the only ones shipping. They're still the only ones with these incredible themes. They have no real competition."

There's no pressure on Stern to innovate because they have no real competition

"the only two companies really... Spooky I will count them they did a license team and they didn't reveal it and didn't talk about it until they did everything locked up and stern who does it every time"

Only Stern and Spooky handle licensing properly by not revealing until everything is locked up

"They are about to pull the Steve Jobs and they are about to announce a game and Make that game available not just to buy but also to pick up and take home the same exact day They announced the game this has never been done before in Pinball and this is an amazing feat in Pinball"

Stern Pinball is about to do something unprecedented - announce and release a game the same day like Steve Jobs

"the pace at which stern moves is absolutely ridiculous they really have no competition"

Stern has no real competition due to their consistent release pace

"I also blame Stern that they literally just drop this thing into the world without explaining the concept of this pin that's on them and this is the problem with marketing why marketing and pinball fucking sucks."

Stern's marketing and reveals are poorly executed

"you immediately understand why stern pinball is so successful and why Jersey Jack pinball has struggled all these years"

Stern Pinball understands immediate satisfaction better than Jersey Jack

"You know those three things that Stern puts in the same place in every game? Why can't they put them somewhere else? Why do we always have to have three together?"

Stern always puts pop bumpers in the same boring configuration

"I'm telling you right now, you can't even put those games in the same sentence as this pin."

Guns N' Roses makes Metallica, AC/DC and AAerosmith look inferior by comparison

"There are only two companies that have ever put out dates and hit those dates, Stern and Spooky, and unless a date or an expectation is set by either one of those companies, I just think it's a hogwash."

Only Stern Pinball and Spooky Pinball know how to properly market and release pinball machines

"But there's no way around the fact that Stern Pinball has some of the hottest themes in the world and the their ability to Manufacture these things at scale is just unprecedented"

Stern's manufacturing capability and ability to secure hot themes is unprecedented in pinball

"Stern is thinking each big bang bar sold for 25 to 30 thousand dollars. They did not. They sold for what? $4,500. It is an illusion."

Big Bang Bar pricing illusion - they sold for $4,500, not $25-30k

"But I think Stern is in a little bit of a pickle here and needs to really, really listen to this feedback because I think the last thing people are going to want is to have a brutal, brutal pinball machine when it comes to Ghostbusters."

Stern is in a pickle and needs to listen to feedback before shipping premiums and LEs

"Gary should have started a second company inside of stern to make boutiques. Stern platinum. Stern ultra. Stern whatever. Instead he is watering down everything and making a mockery of collectors."

Stern should have created separate boutique division instead of watering down main line

"Starn is completely weak. Their model is very precarious... It's like building house of cards with an unsteady foundation"

Stern Pinball has a weak and precarious business model

"we all know that stern taking godzilla away from spooky was a real jerk move no way around it"

Stern stealing Godzilla from Spooky was a real jerk move