Stern Pinball

"Stern Pinball hasn't released an exciting game in years. I mean, let's be honest, in years. And we all know what the Stern themes are. Like, do you actually think Stern has a game that's not going to be Pokemon, The Walking Dead, Transformers, or Fallout?"

"I think one of Stern's biggest mistakes is they never did any M&A. They never merged or acquired anybody. They should have bought spooky years ago"

Stern needs a statement game and should have done M&A with boutique companies

"The problem with Stern Pinball these days isn't what Stern is making. It's what they're not making. The problem with all these Stern games is the moment you put it next to a Harry Potter and an Evil Dead, you just don't feel the value anymore"

Stern's problem isn't what they make, it's what they're not making - they look cheap compared to JJP

"If they had stayed in the old factory and been a little bit smaller and leaner, their margins would be better. They would make more money per game."

Stern grew too big and should have stayed smaller and more profitable

"I really think stern LE stands for loser edition now. I mean I have five years of data that actually supports that that stern LE now stands for stern loser edition. You're losing money."

Stern LE now stands for Stern Loser Edition - buyers have been losing money for 4 years straight

"The guy that Seth brought in to replace John Bruscaglia, I heard that this guy thinks that Stern should be able to sell a hundred million dollars in merchandise, in merchandise. These are the people that think that Stern is a lifestyle brand... These people are delusional. The only people making a hundred million dollars on merchandise sale are called Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Demon Hunters."

Outside hires at Stern have done a poor job and the new sales director thinks they can make $100 million in merchandise

"the boutique companies are about to eat stern's lunch Beetlejuice is about to change the game it's gonna be an awesome three months because there is going to be the changing of the guard... I think Beetlejuice will bring back the fomo and sell out instantly"

Beetlejuice will change the game and bring back FOMO while current Stern LEs lose value

"I think the problem happening at Stern is that they're not looking internally to solve this issue. I think they think they can find an outside consultancy or an outside firm that does sales and they think they're going to turn that on and all of a sudden they're going to ignite new demand for this product. But the answer is a lot easier than that. The answer is in the past. The answer is what made Stern as big as Stern is today."

Stern Pinball's problems stem from bringing in outside consultants rather than focusing on making amazing products

"I put hours into that deck, recommending a direction for your company... And I mapped out the number one thing this company needs to do is win back the new inbox buyer... I showed them that whenever you launch a game, you can make it a moment."

Kaneda presented professional business advice to Stern that they largely ignored

"I would argue that Stern pinball's catalog is better than the Bally Williams catalog. The games are more fun. The games are based on better themes."

Stern's catalog is better than Williams' catalog - games are more fun with better themes

"I really do feel like Stern pinball is in very, very deep trouble because of their own inability to sort of be aware and cognizant of what the exact issues are that have kept people away from buying their recent offerings."

Stern Pinball is in very deep trouble due to poor decision-making and brand management

"Stern Pim ball cannot survive at these prices with this kind of product"

Stern Pinball cannot survive at current prices with current product quality

"we all know star wars 50th will come out I don't even think they'll do star wars 50th now because star wars is a sales disaster it's got to be a sales disaster from them is no way it's selling that well"

Star Wars pinball is a sales disaster that will never get a 50th anniversary version

"Poor Stern Pinball...You guys so good for the last 20 years. You kept Pinball alive all these years. You've lost your way...you've turned your back on your loyal customers and you overcharge for a platform that's not innovative enough and your games are looking really cheap"

Stern Pinball has lost their way and needs to punch back

"Stern games look like tinker toys next to Jersey Jack games...Harry Potter makes King Kong look like a $5,000 game"

Stern games look like tinker toys compared to Jersey Jack games

"Stern Pinball, they need help, whether it's Don, Ralph, Kaneda, people need to put more creativity into these games... nobody really cares where a great idea comes from."

Stern Pinball needs major creative help and innovation

"Stern going out of business would actually be the number one thing that would help preserve the value of Stern games. Stern staying in business is the number one way their games continue to lose value."

"there will never be in the history of everything I've covered in pinball a greater bone-headed move than stern pinball in 2025. Maybe early 2026, increasing the price of their product as demand for their product continues to decline"

Stern Pinball will raise prices despite declining demand

"The boutiques are the companies that should be selling games for $15,000 not the mass produced company... Stern wants to be mass and high price... They want to be volume and command the most amount of money"

Stern should be mass market with lower prices, not trying to be both high volume and high price

"If you buy a Stern new inbox right away, you kind of are telegraphing to people that you don't have common sense. Because there's no point in buying any of these things new inbox right now. The code's not done."

Buying Stern games NIB shows you don't have common sense because code isn't finished

"But for some reason, the soul of Stern Pinball seems to be missing. The swagger is missing. The confidence is missing."

Stern Pinball is missing soul, swagger, and confidence despite their technical capabilities

"they don't look at any of us like the customer to them the person who spent a quarter million dollars or more are the distributors"

Stern's core problem is they see distributors as customers instead of home buyers and collectors

"you've got jack danger in a sling walking up to a guy to give the first ever testimonial of the first ever gameplay at the first ever reveal of the global biggest ip in the history of stern pinball and the guy can only utter i kind of like the death star shot it's tight it's kind of hard to hit"

Stern Pinball's Star Wars marketing featuring Jack Danger with one arm in a sling giving a weak testimonial represents everything wrong with the company

"there is going to be a small window by which some of these people over at stern pinball should be looking for their next gig"

Talented Stern employees like Jack Danger and Keith Elwin should look for jobs elsewhere

"21 years later all of their knowledge everything they have all the resources all the money all the facilities all the talent 21 years later they make this crappy star wars"

Stern Pinball has declined dramatically from their peak 21 years ago with Lord of the Rings

"when i went over there a year ago and i met with seth and i met with george and i met with gary and my speech to them was very from the heart"

Direct confrontation with Stern executives Gary, Seth, and George about company strategy

"this company needs a hard reset i shouldn't have to tell them this at five in the morning i'm about to go to the gym you guys need a hard reset"

"the last stern LE that was really a wow was ghostbusters i mean it was freaking ghostbusters godzilla LE wasn't a wow james bond wasn't a wow venom wasn't a wow dnd wasn't a wow"

The last truly exciting Stern LE was Ghostbusters, with recent releases being disappointing

"Why is Stern not remaking Ghostbusters right now? Look down at that game. Look at everything that's in it. It's so much more creative than Star Wars. It's so much cooler than Star Wars"

Stern should remake Ghostbusters instead of making new mediocre games

"Now I'm starting to get nervous for Stern Pinball. I don't think they've had three strikes in a row like this in a really long time"

Stern Pinball is in big trouble after three misses in a row - D&D, King Kong, Star Wars

"there's this misconception too that is out there in the pinball world that we're rooting for Stern to fail. Nobody wants Stern Pinball to fail. But nobody has done this to Stern other than themselves"

Nobody wants Stern to fail but they need a hard reset - misconception that community is rooting against them

"And this is Stern's big problem now is Dune, Evil Dead and Harry Potter. All three of those games look significantly nicer than what Stern is bringing to market."

Stern and JJP games look significantly better than current Stern offerings

"There is nobody now who looks like they have any common sense if they're buying these new unboxed games now from Stern."

Nobody should buy new unboxed Stern games right now - the entire hobby is on the same page about this

"Stern pinball is in big trouble. I've heard from sources in the industry that they've cut production of four days a week. That's not good. And the tragic part is the next move by them is they need to raise prices."

Stern is in big trouble - cut to 4 days production and facing waning demand with need to raise prices

"What Stern needs to do is they need to lower the price of the LE to $11,000. We all know the bomb on an LE Stern. We all know it's four grand gang."

Stern should lower LE prices to $11,000 because their BOM is only around $4,000

"they still continue to avoid having the conversation with us with you and me guys and gals on Kaneda's pinball podcast community they don't want to talk to us the enthusiast pinhead is not who they are focused on they are afraid of us"

Stern avoids engaging with enthusiast community and home collectors

"Stern Pinball has now gone 0 for 3. I mean, seriously, they have three cornerstone games a year. And we now have what is turning out to be three cornerstone kind of misses in a row."

Stern Pinball has gone 0 for 3 with their cornerstone releases and Star Wars is embarrassingly bad

"I think most of us would rather Stern Pinball instead of bringing out D&D, King Kong, and this new Star Wars, would have much rather have seen Lord of the Rings brought back, Tron brought back, and Ghostbusters brought back."

Stern should have remade Lord of the Rings, Tron, and Ghostbusters instead of new titles

"I still think the biggest problem at stern pinball right now is that the price tag and the product don't sync up. The L.E.s are kind of dead and they need to really reevaluate all of this."

Stern's pricing and product quality don't match up, LEs are dead

"I used to think they were the way to go. I just think they've now become to me a company that is cutting corners and not pushing the creative envelope enough."

Opinion reversal on Stern as a pinball manufacturer: was "They were the way to go for pinball", now "They're cutting corners and not pushing the creative envelope enough"

"I don't think anybody wants stern to have their dream theme now I don't I really don't I used to think They were the way to go I just think they've now become to me A company that is cutting corners and not pushing the creative envelope enough"

Opinion reversal on Stern as a pinball manufacturer: was "They were the way to go for pinball licenses and manufacturing", now "They've become a company that cuts corners and doesn't push creative envelope..."

"I don't think anybody wants stern to have their dream theme now"

Nobody wants Stern to have their dream theme anymore because they would probably make it a disaster

"So they literally have destroyed their three tier model. The significance of it. The significance of the LE"

Stern Pinball has destroyed the significance of their three-tier model and is not improving while other manufacturers are getting better

"I think stern pinball needs a hard reset. Everything about what this game is to me is like telegraphing. That stern pinball has sort of lost the narrative."

Stern Pinball needs a hard reset and has lost creativity

"They invited all the shills. I was looking at all the people at the media day. You won't recognize any of them. They are not pinball media."

Stern invited shills instead of real pinball media to the reveal

"I have not felt the desire to really want a Stern LE in about five years. They have absolutely destroyed it."

The LE pricing model is broken and worthless

"If Stern Pinball makes fallout with Keith Elwin, that game is going to be dead on arrival. There is not the nostalgia for fallout within this community. They don't get who buys their product."

If Stern makes Fallout with Keith Elwin, that game will be dead on arrival - they don't understand their customer base

"if we look at the most recent Stern people, we're not seeing a lot of mechanical wow, we're not seeing a lot of innovation in the mechanical area, so I think they're going to play it safe"

Recent Stern games lack mechanical innovation and wow factor

"From what I've heard, like, Stern doesn't even have like a full artwork game rolling around the joint there. Like they're keeping it very under wraps. But I continue to hear more and more information on the game from people that have played it... just feels like the same old story. Stuff was yanked out of the game. And the game is just, I'm hearing, it's not gonna blow us away."

Stern Star Wars is mediocre and Stern knows it

"They still see themselves as a company whose target audience are the distributors, not the customers, not the collectors. And this has been Stern's real problem over the last five years... They continue to not understand who is the actual target for their marketing, for their themes, everything"

Stern's marketing focuses on distributors instead of consumers