Stern Pinball

"There's no way they're hiking a pro by $2,000 guys. If they do game over for a stern, people are just done."

Stern pricing and business model concerns

"Don't you love it when companies do this? We cut corners, we passed on to our consumers something inferior, and now you have to pay to replace it."

Harsh criticism of Stern's new power supply as a cash grab

"So Stern Pinball is under so much pressure. Spooky Pinball, they can all rally around just one game a year... Jersey Jack Pinball, all the money in the world, all the resources in the world. They still focus it all on one game a year."

Stern Pinball is under too much pressure from their size and needs to sell too many games, unlike smaller companies that can focus on one game per year

"I think Stern needs to get a little bit better at making some more exciting videos... There's never any real hype. It's just like why we're talking to grown men. That's who buys these things. They need to get a little bit more Bruce Buffer"

Stern needs better marketing videos with more energy and hype

"there hasn't been a juggernaut IP that Stern has nailed in about five freaking years... That has been their biggest game in the last five years and Godzilla isn't even a massive, massive IP"

Stern hasn't had a juggernaut IP hit in five years, even Godzilla isn't massive

"It is the final frontier, I believe, in Stern's overall marketing strategy. Let's get hundreds of thousands of games online, get them all connected, all on the same hardware, all running the same system, and then we do it."

Stern will eventually do DLC and subscription model like Xbox Live

"They don't care about collectors anymore. Stern has made it quite clear that all of you people that collected Stern that kept them in business for the last decade they don't care about you"

Stern Pinball doesn't care about collectors anymore and only focuses on distributors

"Doesn't it sound a little bit like Stern's out of ideas? They are retreading some themes. How many Star Wars games have we had? They already did Transformers."

Stern Pinball is out of ideas and just retreading themes

"I really don't know what the way out is for Stern, because they're so big. I think the way out would have been two cornerstones a year and one remake. And they should be in their old factory. I think they're just too big now and they're going to struggle."

Stern should focus on fewer cornerstone titles instead of constant remakes

"I think Stern's in big trouble gang I think Stern's in big trouble I think they blew up their collector community and I think they're not gonna get it back"

Stern Pinball is in big trouble and has lost their collector community

"Stern's on the ropes baby, they had everything, they could have acquired all of their competitors, they could have acquired every theme and now they're on the ropes"

Stern needs a hit and is on the ropes

"I know for a fact, Stern was trying to find a buyer people, if you think that that was not the case, yes it was the case, there were very real conversations trying to find a buyer for Stern Pinball"

Stern Pinball was actively looking for a buyer

"I don't think anybody impulse purchases of $5,000 pinball machine that walking through Costco. That's the part that's weird to me. Is someone really like not aware that there is all these pinball companies in the world and they're just going to be walking down the aisle being like, honey, we need to get some more chips and sauce. So hey, look, there's a $5,000 pinball machine."

Stern's Costco machines are unlikely to succeed as impulse purchases

"when you see those two machines at night lit up, it's gorgeous, man. It is gorgeous. Stern, you need to get to where these guys are at when it comes to the presentation of Pinball"

Stern Pinball needs to improve visual presentation to match Jersey Jack Pinball's quality

"I'm worried about Stern Pinball. I just don't know where this company goes. I feel like they're at a crossroads... I'm not sure the next five years look amazing for Stern Pinball"

Stern Pinball is in serious trouble and at a crossroads, carrying too much weight with too many people and costs

"they're not over they are never over but they're in trouble people mark my words I think stern pinball is in more trouble than people realize again just because they're so big can they move that weight in the right direction that's the key everybody thank you for being a member of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast thank"

Prediction: Stern Pinball is in more trouble than people realize, despite their ability to punch back with major IPs like Star Wars, Batman, and Pokemon.

"I think Stern's in trouble I I really do I think the reason why I think Stern's in a little bit of trouble not a lot of trouble but just a little bit of trouble I just think Stern like they just seem like it seems like they're like stuck in their own process"

Stern is in trouble because they abandoned their successful formula

"If you put them next to each other and you told people this is six years later, six years of innovation going from this game to this game, they wouldn't even notice a difference. The only thing that's changed is the price tag."

Stern games lack innovation and look repetitive despite price increases

"Like, why shouldn't you if I bought a $13,000 pinball machine? Why am I not allowed if I liked the previous code? Why am I not allowed to get that from the manufacturer?"

Stern should allow players to use older code versions

"And if I'm the new CMO over at Stern, they need a reset. They need a hard reset on all of this. This isn't working anymore. The vibes amongst the community towards Stern. It's not great because they're not listening. They're not connected to what the home buyer wants."

Stern needs a hard reset and new CMO strategy for connecting with home buyers

"When you start highlighting a little hologram sticker as something special you're going to get. To me, that's like the ultimate moment. You've lost the narrative. They've completely lost the narrative on how to excite us. They don't really know what to say anymore."

Stern has completely lost the narrative on how to excite pinball buyers

"A damn pro shouldn't look great. It shouldn't. A pro is meant for location. It should just have the title of the game on the side... He didn't spend 13,000."

Pro versions should look worse than premium/LE versions to justify price difference

"They could release Jaws SLE 50th and sell it for 20 grand and sell every single one. And they haven't gone back to the SLE well in a really long time."

Stern should bring back Super Limited Editions with only 50 units at $20k

"I think they should give us all the bells and whistles on the anniversary edition. And just charge us more but make it look as spectacular as it can... Why don't you just make a $13,000 Jaws 50th. And just don't limit it."

Stern should make expensive anniversary editions with all features instead of limiting them

"For hundred dollars for a piece of flat plastic and about 12 little lights at most cost them three dollars each."

Stern's flat plastic toppers are overpriced at $400 and should be included with premium games

"They're moving so quickly that they are okay releasing games where the code is not even close to being complete. And also mechanically, it's clear that mechanically, this stuff is not being tested enough before it's being sold to you."

Stern is rushing games to market with incomplete code and inadequate testing

"Stern killed the Golden Goose. All their games are so overpriced. A Stern machine at $13,000 is so stupid."

Stern's pricing has killed the golden goose

"I think LE is in general, are dead. And I think Stern's LE model is like over. And everyone who's bought in LE recently just keeps losing money. The LE model only worked when your games went up in value."

Stern's LE model is dead and King Kong LEs won't be coveted

"Why can't Stern make their machines look as nice as Jersey Jack machines? It's literally just shinier decals, nicer screen, like the overall package just feels more solid."

Stern machines look cheap compared to Jersey Jack

"Stern pinball should have bought Bader years ago. You're the number one pinball company in the world. This company is making the best quality playfields in the entire world. Buy them"

Stern should buy Bader playfield company for quality improvements

"I think this theme would have been a better pick for stern to make it instead of John Wick instead of venom"

Predator theme would have been better for Stern than John Wick or Venom

"Again, we all know these games aren't play tested. They're not. Like they're rushed to customers before you know what the quality is on anything these days. You have paid in full. I mean, that's just the way it goes. And your warranty is not going to cover anything."

Stern games are not play-tested and rushed to customers with poor quality control

"I heard a number that has to be wrong. It was something like Stern has 17,000 unsold games sitting in boxes that dealers and distros did not order."

Stern Pinball has thousands of unsold games in inventory that need to be moved

"It makes Stern games look like a tinker toy. Stern's got some work to do"

Jersey Jack makes Stern games look like tinker toys

"I am absolutely shocked that they revealed to everybody in the world that Stern Pinball decided not to license the Empire State Building. Why would they in a million years ever say that to the Pinball buying community"

Stern is foolish for not licensing Empire State Building and revealing it publicly

"I think Stern Pinball needs to wake up and look at what Jersey Jack just did. They made the top of the line version of the game look so radically different from the other versions of the game and that is what people want."

Stern needs to copy Jersey Jack's CE artwork approach immediately

"Stern's got to figure something out. They let too many of the competitors eat away at the market share. They've had too many mediocre themes in a row."

Stern has had too many mediocre themes and lost market share to competitors

"I do think Stern has gas lit a lot of this community they have. They've been gaslighting you now that you're spending $15,000 on a fully option Stern. It's more than that even like gas lit put it next to a Jersey Jack is not even close yet more fun."

Stern has been gaslighting customers into overpaying for inferior products

"I think there's like a level of respect there. Like if this was like a stern game, we would have leaked it instantly. There would have been no respect for Stern on this on this notion."

Content creators showing respect to Jersey Jack by not leaking Harry Potter images, unlike how they would treat Stern

"It's like once again, early Stern buyers are guinea pigs for issues with the game. And then you spend all this money and you got to wait six months for the code to be done. And by the time that happens, you've been the guinea pig and later builds are going to be built better than your day one L.E.'s."

Stern buyers are guinea pigs for incomplete games with quality issues

"There's a real pushback against Stern happening with the new inbox buyer community. And these people are now just they're just over it they're over getting burned... I think there's probably like a good. Three to 500 dudes that used to go in on everything that are now sitting on the sidelines"

Stern is experiencing a real pushback from buyers who are tired of getting burned on purchases

"And what the owners are being told is to put Mylar over the damage. That is Stern's official response to its customers. Look, you don't need me to tell you that that's not going to go over well."

Criticism of Stern's response to Dungeons & Dragons playfield issues

"The customer I have isn't the customer I want. What are you talking about George? You should never say this you should never feel this the people that support you should never hear this"

Stern should focus on existing customers instead of chasing young demographics

"You killed the golden goose, okay? Yeah, you killed it and the golden goose the golden egg was FOMO... What that jump as un is you've taken the golden goose that was FOMO and you've replaced it with Fuck you know we're fuck. Right went from fear of missing out to now having an entire buyer base that has a fear of commitment"

Stern has killed FOMO and replaced it with fear of commitment due to pricing

"what's done doesn't realize is the humongous damage to their brand stuff like two thousand dollar toppers has done the people stuff like LE is all losing three to four thousand... stuff like James Bond sixty of being greedily pressing. Being greedily priced at twenty grand stuff like walking away from back to the future all these things collectively add up to a company that has seemingly hit its peak and is significantly on the decline"

Stern has done huge damage to their brand and lost collectors due to overpricing and poor decisions

"if you're a Stern collector and you bought all these Stern Ali's over the last 3D 4 years 3 to 4 years if you bought them all you you got destroyed... if you collected spooky pinball machines at the beginning you lost money on everyone they're not desirable things have changed I think this is the new beginning of a shift of which companies collectors will look to to buy games from."

Stern collectors got destroyed buying LEs in recent years while Spooky collectors are now winning

"The Stern Army is coming at me, and the thing they're coming at me with is this whole notion that as a community and as people that love pinball, we're not allowed to question what these games cost."

Pinball pricing backlash - community pressure to accept high prices

"Stern and trouble guys the mighty Keith L. Win can't sell out of the model they need to sell out of not only that the mighty Keith L. and can't sell through these models."

Stern Pinball is in trouble and can't sell out Keith Elwin games

"When they started charging us $2,000 for flat plastic toppers, you gotta be kidding me. You're telling me this company is being fair to its customers."

Stern's $2,000 flat plastic toppers are greedy

"To me that moment for Stern is when they had an opportunity to make back to the future and they said no. I still can't understand it. I still can't comprehend it and it it's still telegraphs to me. Oh my gosh how out of touch they are with who buys their product"

Stern missed their seminal moment by passing on Back to the Future