With Stern, anything is possible. I'm not a fan of the afterthought LEs/SLEs (EHoH40, RRWoZ) as I see them as money grabs and a kick in the balls to those that paid a huge markup ($3.5k on BondLE) for exclusivity and value that gets diluted.

Gomez basically said that in his interview.

Goldfinger his favorite.

Yep. It’s coming. Prob Xmas 2023.

After my experience with Rush LE, I would not buy this ... event at 10K. The design looks meh. Gomez has produced several bad playfields over the years(Hulk). People will be selling NIB Bonds for under 11K and possibly under 10K in a year. Do not FOMO this title. Out of principle, no one should buy the Prem/LE (6k more).

So do we think every Stern release moving forward will be going up $400 - $1,000 until sales dry up
and they hit a ceiling? At this rate Pros will be close to 10k in 2-3 years.

So all premium games still being produced come 1/1/2023 will be priced just under 10k!

Wait that seller just joined today to instantly sell at a crazy price, that also instantly gets bought? This kind of feel like a flipper who is just trying to boost the perceived market amount.

Just because it wasn't then doesn't mean it's not a thing now. DLC is coming!

Do we know when Deadflip is going to stream Bond?

Funny thing.. Stern has the Pro pix on Facebook today and they are nice, however the video says 'partially muted due to copyright claim'. Seriously?

That seems very unlikely.

Would that be Orange County Pinball, Does Stern know they regularly Price Gouge SoCal customers on NIB games ??
They have James Bond LE at $16,999.00 on the website right now.

No one I know has ever bought from them, I assume they sell to Newbie Richie Rich types in Costa Mesa and the Like, that don't know any better.

Im also curious about this

This happens all the time to video game streamers. The music is licensed for use in the game, not rebroadcast. Usually, it's bots that catch it and then the video host, usually YouTube, mutes that section unless the OP agrees to monetize it on the behalf of the copyright holder of the music.

Sorry dupe.

I didn't know anything about them when I called and emailed them while hunting down an LE earlier in the week. Weird that they never got back to me even though they clearly have the LE still in stock. Anybody asking $4k above MSRP deserves to sit on it forever.

Also possibly a guy from this community not assuming he is flipping for a profit and don't want to be bash therefore creating a temporary account to flip a profit

It's one thing to provide effectively a 2.0 mode to the game. I think what would come first are "special assignments" that you need to be a paying insider connect account to get access too. Basically something that's already in the game/code that you have bought, but you need a subscription to unlock.

That being said, I wouldn't mind an expansion to Stranger Things to add episodes from season 3, 4 and soon to be 5. That would require them to re-up the license and cut a new deal. So that would cost money. But it also doesn't match the inserts on the playfield.

Rick and Morty is a game that at least opens up anything with the inserts. You basically have adventure punch card and dimensions. But their whole license got jacked since the R&M IP changed rights owners, so the spooky license is dead. I think all they can work with are adding things like new dimensions to the game and new modes.

What mods do people expect to see? Are we getting a Fabergé egg or ppk shooter rod?

I had quite a few ideas and for the Pro but not delivered to Australia until June 2023 at best and the prices are getting too high

You can't price gouge on a toy, sorry. I don't understand how people think you price gauge on luxury items lol. Plus its California of course you can get more money out of them people.

They are used to getting F Ed.

The market is already slowing and not reacting well to the price increase. I believe we have hit the ceiling for a long time. My prediction is price decreases in next 2-3 years

I thought pin manufacturers were all about trying to keep pinball alive.

Zax in Melbourne showing Dec 22 arrival for pros

It doesn't appear that anyone is dying anytime soon much less Stern.

This is an epic prediction!

You should see some of the prices on their pre-owned games. They've got a Whirlwind up over $8K right now, it's bonkers.

Probably not the egg since that was Roger Moore in Octopussy (one of my favorites).

Roger Moore with egg 1 (resized).jpg

I agree with this prediction. This is just a test from the manufacturers.
Ultimately the secondary market will dictate the rest but 9.5k premiums are quite ambitious yet attainable if you can afford 9k you also can 9.5 that said, I am curious what the ripple effect is.
I do suspect a contraction during 2023, if the secondary market is flooded then price drops will follow.

My next question:
So are premiums made first? i thought it was pros

I know a guy that got 7 le’s, sold a couple already. I get it but stern normally has address so has to be a way to limit one per address or something. Only fair. I could have gotten two. Spooky does it right they limit for a while to one then open it up later.

Thank God they did not go with the Anthony Newley version. He was also a co-author of the song.

We may see video next week as this was taken from the release article and pinball news write up

The game will receive its first public outing on 26th September in London at a special event at Christie’s celebrating the 60th Anniversary of James Bond films.

cheers mate, have sent them a email, strange that AMD don't have them until June - hopefully Zax's can help me out.

The demand is what it is.

At some point we hit “demand destruction” with pricing.

Whether it’s flippers or whomever, somebody has to pay the price until they don’t.

At that point, the jig is up.

We are heading into a Fed induced deep recession. Let’s see how that works out

I don’t blame Stern for grabbing all they can get while it lasts

You nailed it. Manufacturers do not want to invest in the number of employees required to truly offer large scale customer service. Distribution creates the buffer that you referenced. While Stern still has to have a department to handle customer service, their focus is on their distributors and not end users due to the smaller number to assist. If Stern only sold direct, they would have to have at least 5 x as many employees in customer service. Maybe more.

If the Elvira anniversary machine was 25K then the Bond anniversary machine will be at least that amount I would guess.

Come listen to us TPN folks chat about Bond

_On the AMD facebook page it said first shipment of Pro’s were sold out and the next one is due April 23.

Was able to get an LE delivered to my door for $14,500. Don’t like the price increase, but this was a theme I grew up with and had to have.

I had completely forgotten about this version, thanks a ton for reminding me

Fuk. Now I want Stewy from family guy to cover this.

yeah but hit them up a while back and they actually said April is when the games are made and they later around June-ish ????

As a guy with an LE paid for, I have zero issues with Stern making another run of Goldfinger LEs. I’d probably get one if I really liked the art package.
The vast majority of game buyers just want a great game to enjoy. If the exclusivity is diminished because 1k more people get a great game, then I’m happy for them.
Flippers and bots are nearly the size of the market people keep saying. There’s probably 2k people who wanted this LE, even at $14.5 out the door.
This may very well be GG’s last game designed and the theme is A+

Poor country mouse here: In for a Pro.

And Stern is probably saying good riddance to them.

This is the gentrification of pinball folks.

Does anyone at Lamborghini care that I can't afford 600K for a car?

No.

Here’s what’s happening. I see a lot of guys saying LEs are ridiculous and overpriced so I’m getting a premium. Here’s the problem - your premium will drop 1-2k bc it’s not limited. You know this so stop it. You just can’t buy one at msrp or an idiot.

Bond at 13k msrp won’t drop. Why? Bc I’ve already been asked to sell mine at higher than 13 and I won’t bc I want the game. I can flip this game in a heart beat so it’s a no loss situation.

Until LEs can’t be flipped, the price won’t stop increasing. Now take JJP for example. They raised the price to 15k and gave us nothing. As a result the market said hell no - and no one with any GD sense supported it (besides Zach and Greg but then again, livelihood so it’s complicated). JJP found that ceiling but not bc of price - they gave you nothing. I’m still not sold that if that game had toys it wouldn’t have sold. They were just so greedy and tried to Cronwell us but guess what -we didn’t fall for it.

Here’s the real question. Single level Stern but designed by their best and themed with one of their best - can they get 20k? That’s hard to guess but I’m going to say no. 200 yes 300 maybe but 500? I could be wrong but this 60th will really tell us where we are in this hobby.

If the 60th sells at 20k, the game is officially over and we’ve failed as a hobby. Period.

Rarified air up there. Much easier to sell a Pro.

From the looks of it, Stern is killing it either way, 7K for a bare playfield or 13K for a few extras.
I can't believe there is so much of a stretch but it looks like stern has become the scalper, and everyone is falling in line.

I have more money in the bank than I've ever had at any point in my life. I love pinballs (have 16 in my collection once Godzilla Prem arrives) but I'm not even tempted to buy pins now at these prices. Its just STUPID money and I simply can't justify it. Congrats to those getting one but easy pass for me.

You my friend feel just as I do! Utterly ridiculousness paying these prices. I’m out