At expo Stern seminar.
Gary Stern just announced no more premium models as option from here on out on AC/DC.
Pro only .
(Topic ID: 106550)
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Yeah, which means they will create another LE model if demand is high..............Smaug LE etc.........
Albany, OR
Toronto, ON
Nail in coffin.
Making me buy a pin with incomplete code if I want the best version available is not cool.
Unless they're planning to release games with full code from now on? (Not bloody likely)
Edit: seems as though Gary was mis-quoted?
Hope so!
I think i missed that statement, didnt he say that there might be walking dead premiums in the q & a?
Having multiple models was too confusing.
From a production standpoint, it was probably fairly expensive to produce three different product lines.
I agree it's a bad for the consumer, but it makes sense. Having 3 (or more) SKUs for one game must be incredibly difficult to manage. Plus Premiums only cannibalize demand for LEs. This is a smart business move
This practically guarantees that the LE's will sell out right away then he can just crank pro's out... It will also simplify things on the assy line.
Yeah this sucks. They need to go to one playfield set up then. The LE should be strictly trim and not have extra game play. Boooooo is right.
Oh sure. Gary Gary Gary.
But if I say no preemies you guys never believe me! 
Long overdue drop of preemies according to stern.
The LE will continue to have added pf mechs and software, the pro will not.
Get what you pay for is the new business model.
Quoted from John_I:Yeah this sucks. They need to go to one playfield set up then. The LE should be strictly trim and not have extra game play. Boooooo is right.
Which is fine but then they better drop the price severely. I don't think people are going to pay an extra $3k for some trim and different art. So basically keep dreaming, not happening Stern's last goal is to make less money off LEs, if anything they want ways to make more.
One LE model and one pro model. No 'super LE' or 'deluxe Pro'. Buy what you will and stern will continue to list features you're paying for and mods for that title will be announced shortly after.
K.I.S.S. (Acronym, not the band)
This obviously means they don't sell enough of them to make it worth it.
Bad news for us.
Those who wanted fewer options and thought that would be a good thing got their wish.
I'm totally fine with this if we can get missing game features by buying mods. Keep some trim or non ball interactive toys exclusive to the LE, but please make the game play the same. Or at least give me the option to make it the same down the line.
Quoted from RobT:This obviously means they don't sell enough of them to make it worth it.
Bad news for us.
Those who wanted fewer options and thought that would be a good thing got their wish.
No Rob, they're selling. But stern is out of the triple tier market and will sell mods for the individual to make that pin their own.
If you want LE features pony up and buy one. Looks to be no financial shortcuts there. This is business strategy via sterns venture capital partner. Pinball is OUR passion but their business model.
Quoted from DCfoodfreak:Bad move . They will feel it soon. You can really tell the difference here at Expo.
How so?
Quoted from underlord:No Rob, they're selling. But stern is out of the triple tier market and will sell mods for the individual to make that pin their own.
So there won't be additional game play features on the LE playfield compared to the Pro? Did Gary say that??
Did he talk about anything new or interesting they might be developing? With all the other companies introducing new and innovative tech I was hoping he might show something interesting in development. Did they show TWD LE at least?
Quoted from underlord:No Rob, they're selling. But stern is out of the triple tier market and will sell mods for the individual to make that pin their own.
As long as those mods include the missing VUKs, kickbacks, magnets and the like, I'm down with that. I don't give a damn about the mods they just announced - purely cosmetic.
Good, maybe with premiums gone now they can focus on getting the completed code out with the pin when first released.
/end partial sarcasm.
Quoted from swampfire:As long as those mods include the missing VUKs, kickbacks, magnets and the like, I'm down with that. I don't give a damn about the mods they just announced - purely cosmetic.
Mods are and will be cosmetic. You can't buy a pro and pimp it out to make it an LE. 
Stern is putting value on the LE 'brand' and allowing the LE and pro owners to customize.
Luckily you can get LE features in a vault addition after that if you want a premium so to say in the future. Thank god for vault additions.
Quoted from Rob_G:I wish we just had 1 model, with all the nice features and reasonably complete code when released.
Rob
What is it, 1994?
It's not true.
Quoted from mnpinball:At expo Stern seminar.
Gary Stern just announced no more premium models as option from here on out.
Pro and LE only !
Get your facts straight then come back here and clarify. Please.
Quoted from TigerLaw:I think this is great news actually.
In what possible way is not having the option to buy a Premium version of a pin "great news"??
Quoted from DCfoodfreak:Bad move . They will feel it soon. You can really tell the difference here at Expo.
Do you mean the increased options are making people less interested in sterns?
Quoted from DCfoodfreak:Bad move . They will feel it soon. You can really tell the difference here at Expo.
lol
Quoted from Chrizg:He did not say that. He said it would depend on the game. Why spread bullshit rumors ?
Thanks for this. Kinda bullshit if you want to troll this type of stuff MN!
Yawn....as if we expected anything innovative from Stern other than higher prices.
I'm glad I have my collection pretty much where I want it. THLE let me down too. I'm just gonna stand pat with my current hand and enjoy it. One of two things will happen. Either the manufacturers will give us what we want or the prices of older games will climb. Stern can only make so many VE games (and HUO IMve games are already selling at a loss), and PPS can only remake certain games that they think they can rape the buyers on the price with.
Quoted from mnpinball:I was sitting in the seminar, Gary said it.
Maybe pinball news will post audio of the seminar.
No he didn't.
Quoted from RobT:This obviously means they don't sell enough of them to make it worth it.
Bad news for us.
Those who wanted fewer options and thought that would be a good thing got their wish.
So wait... the Premiums don't sell, not many sold, so does that make the ones that have the real LE's 
Quoted from dantebean:Thanks for this. Kinda bullshit if you want to troll this type of stuff MN!
Hate to say it Dantebean, but this will be sterns new tier model.
Gary isn't making the financial or marketing decisions much anymore.
So let's recap.
Moving to a huge warehouse and adding assembly lines to work on multiple projects to diversify at the same time.
Improving game code and letting designers make LE models without bom constraints.
Going to a two tier system per model instead of 3 or more.
Selling modifications directly from Stern now.
Building more than just pinball machines in the future.
Contracting work to boutique pinball manufacturers.
Stepping up software and rules implementation dramatically.
Quite a bit of strategy and some adaptation going on from what I'm seeing.
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