I agree it was not a good day for Stern but this has been coming for some time. The only thing I disagree with is the Data East comparison.

The whole focus on barcades is Stern waving the white flag on a polished product. They are just conceding that they are going to build games that are good enough to earn and hold together for a while. Ghosting and and other "minor" defects are here to stay. I don't think your average operator cares. Same goes for code quality they are just not going to bother anymore. How important is quality code in a bar?

I was curious about this, how profitable are league nights for operators? I admit I don't know much about it as I avoid those nights because the machines are all in use and I'm not a tournament player. Does an operator get a cash payment because the games are on free play. Are those better nights or worse as far as profit. Seems like a good night for the bar but not so good for the pinball machines themselves.

As a video game developer I can with complete confidence tell you this is 100% false. This stuff used to happen when everyone and their dog was churning out crap but those days are long since over. It is just not the reality at any legit studio.

All games have bugs and many bugs are indeed delayed and patched intentionally. Games are not shipped with missing levels and only half the game available to be played. Comparing what Stern is pulling to a bug fix patch is laughable. There are thousands of KS (known shipable) bugs in a game. That just shows the quality of your testing.

The issue many people have with Star Wars is it's a point players machine. Many Star Wars fans are into the adventure, they are in to the whole In a galaxy far far away thing. They want to play through the story. If your a point player does the Star Wars theme really matter that much? Why waste that theme on that style of game. The audio and video are way below standard for 2017. I suspect the people that love it would love it just as much with a Fast and Furious skin on it.

I don't know what Stern is thinking banking on Barcades. That is still very old school way of thinking. If you want to grow pinball, they should be targeting shows, leagues, tournaments and online/streaming. At Vancouver Flip Out Stern had no presence of any kind. No new machines set up at all, no Star Wars,no Aerosmith nothing. JJP on the other hand was out with all their stuff. If Stern was smart they would do a home version of pins that lacks the coin mechs but have built in streaming. Pins should be online and they should have basic replay functionality. A camera that records a second our two when you start/complete a mode, hit a jackpot, start multiball... I should have those little videos of my friends blowing up their machines waiting when I fire mine up. Notifications everytime they post new high scores. You want to capture the new generation they need to watch pinball, just like the watch everything else on their phones. The online pinball shows are where Stern needs to focus.

Everything from Stern just boils down to the same issue they refuse to modernize the way they think. It seems they just follow the same old process. I'm not getting into the whole fanboy debate on who makes a better machine. I will say this JJP, seems to be using a modernized process. JJP PotC shows a modern approach to code, the reveal felt very modern, with all use pinheads scrambling and excited on line searching for leaks and watching the countdown. I really believe if Stern wants to survive as a modern company they need new blood basically everywhere, leadership, design, code, manufacturing, quality control, marketing you name it.

Where are all the dimpling is normal and that will smooth right out over time? That playfield should be replaced. No one would call that normal that actually owned a pin that look like that. I wonder what will happen long term I think it will completely break down.

I wish I was surprised that people still pretend all dimples are the same and completely normal. The denial on display here is just kind of sad. I have to go back and check out the Star Wars on route near me. I played it when it was a week old and the playfield was already showing signs it was going to be just like the one in this thread. There is clearly something wrong with playfields so far it seems pretty remote. Hopefully only a very small percentage got out like this and hopefully Stern will replace them. No way I could take the plunge on a NIB there is just always something.

Totally, like what product or company bothers with stupid thing like marketing these days. Oh wait... all of them and it’s proven to have a massive impact on sales. Stern continues to enjoy kicking themselves in the balls.

I agree Iron Maiden looks good, the point is Stern is in the dark ages when it comes to marketing. They have shown no ability to expand their market. They even manage to constantly piss off their most loyal audience. They continue to rely on their aging hard core market yet pull stunts like they did with this reveal. They let their ego get the better of them and they think they are big enough to drop a breathing Darth Vader teaser. That is great marketing when you have millions of grown up kids and your asking them for $20 and offering to let them relieve a moment of childhood. When you asking for $8000 and offering a band that they may not even remember, you need a whole lot more. They tried the teaser after the Super Bowl but had no teaser and no Super Bowl it was a marketing epic fail.

I don't think expensive commercials is the way to go either. I would have spent a few grand on lighting and sound. Set up a booth that looked like a stage with a bunch pins ready to play the music blasting, shot of a few flame canons, did the larger than life blow up Eddie. Had all the pinball streamers on board and ready to go live, glass off and beautiful. Started at Texas and then hit all the major shows. Maybe dropped a teaser video online a week or so before that focused on something big was coming get your tickets booked because its going to be hands on and a few lucky collectors are going to get a chance to own the super rare early release floor models of Sterns latest.

My point is they should be using marketing to grow. There is no doubt the hard core will buy. What have they done to convince pin heads that don’t know or don’t like the band? Why are they passing on the big shows? Does anyone disagree that the best way to sell pins is to play them? I’m not saying Stern doesn’t make a great pin. I’m saying they need to get out of the dark ages with their marketing and software. I agree they own the entry level market. What would happen if JJP pulled a Tesla and said we have done the Model X and S but now it’s time for our Model 3 and dropped a $6000 pin. Stern would shit their pants and be in serious trouble.