Lol. Some good shit right here.

Really glad you saw the light. Arecade1ups are shit. Unless you absolutely need a star wars, tron, dig dug, simpsons etc. it’s a waste. I’m truly fascinated why youtubers and younger collectors drool on these when having the real thing is no comparison..and pinball is the real drug, that’s for damned sure. (Not virtual lol).

You’re gonna need a bigger boat..wait, correction. bigger wallet.

As someone who is not a very good player, I played several games on Jaws Premium at CES; I made it to the upper playfield several times. More hits than misses.....

No concern of mine after seeing it and playing it. The target is thin and the ball never seemed to "jump or bump".

To me jaws just looks extremely stripped down and the shark looks stupid I mean how many people on here love the brain bug in starship troopers because it’s essentially the same thing and not even as cool because the BRAINS BUG in SST SHAKES

Dear Negative Nellies,

Stern has 15 titles in active production, some with more than one model. It’s okay if not everyone of them is your dream game. For many Pinsiders, this is the big one. Good for them. Let them enjoy it.

Alright Vanilla!

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Yea. I got from Amazon.ca tho

3 Pack Red Blue 3D Glasses Movie Game Glasses 3D Viewing Glasses for Anaglyph Projector Glasses-Light Simple Design https://a.co/d/i1T2XfX

I bet game comes with 'nicer' 3D glasses already, probably same ones Elwin had on. Although potentially the cheap paper kind.

Glasses are cheap, but will hold off til get game. Though might need your own 3Ds for locations.

Was hoping 3D mode might be like shark jumping out at you like in BTTF 2.

he literally said in the stream you don't get those. At most you will get the cheap cardboard.

Probably right. God forbid they include the premium $7 plastic glasses

I had a weird vibe from the CES interview with that Stern parts manager or whatever he does. He stated something new coming. He emphasized the software portion of the game, saying you can create new software to create different games, etc. Watch this game become the first DLC pinball machine.

They do have access to all the 4 movies but in all the clips I've seen it's all been Jaws 1. Where's the rest of it?

Wanna play as the shark? Buy our "Bruce Special Edition" version for only 499$!!!

Wanna play movie #2? #3? #4? Those are all extra downloads for the low-low price of $399!!

His interview was odd. I hope I am wrong.

It's this one:

I’m torn between jaws LE or getting an original Elvira LE

Joke, Neil

That was the point/joke

I have the same predicament but a AFMLE.

He also says Foo’s topper is coming with progressive modes. This while us owners are waiting almost a year for the original code to get fleshed out. I’m like a stirring volcano right now, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. The premium price tag should read $9599….for starters. We shall see.

The super nice 3d glasses cost about $.25 cents more on Amazon than the paper ones stern gives.

First off stern, WTF? Can you raise the bom in the next game by 25 cents? That sure will win over the community and show that you really care about your collectors! Or just for the LE clients give them 3d glasses with Stern logo and Jaws logo.

Distributors, this concept will not cost you much at all but will likely help with main exposure in the community. For every person that buys a jaws from you send them a couple custom 3-D glasses with your company information on it. I can put you in touch. If I was a distributor, I’d be mass mailing 3-D glasses to all the Jaws fanatics find are not into pinball.

Locations operating this machine can provide 3-D glasses as well with your logo information on it saying play the new job pinball machine at our location! Or maybe offer something different, bring your 3-D glasses for 1 free shot/drink or some shit.

At the shows have a ton of these made up as these are great giveaways, and great exposure.

To be fair, that is my take and expectation. We know you don't get the ones Elwin had, but it doesn't mean they won't be nicer than the cardboard ones.

It would be nice if they were a sturdy pair that could be chained to the machine so they are right there to grab when needed. In reality, it's probably only going to get used a couple times in home -- and probably mostly forgotten about on location if even turned on.

There are multiple clips from Jaws 2&3 in Keith’s video.

I mean honestly it’s a $.25 difference, you think they’re gonna go for the in-between version to save .15 cents more! The first reveal of the game showing Elwin wearing cheap plastic 3d glasses he mentions right away that your game won’t come with these much nicer 3d glasses, your $13,000 game will come with something more basic. Makes Stern look stingy.

Just my take

Yes, I definitely saw the waterski boat from Jaws 2 in one of the clips.

Wouldn’t it be weird if the majority ever bought something, especially an entertainment or luxury good?

The majority of people who listen to any kind of music don’t buy Taylor Swift’s new album releases. She’s still arguably the most popular touring musical artist in the Western hemisphere and a new billionaire.

The majority of people who buy new cars don’t buy Tesla’s. Tesla’s market cap still dwarfs every other auto manufacturer.

The point being it’s extraordinarily rare for a majority to ever purchase the same product in this kind of category. That’s likely even more true in pinball moving forward with JJP and Spooky increasing their new release frequency and BOF entering the scene.

Edit: Not trying to defend Kaneda or what’s undoubtedly a highly biased poll anyway. I just noticed a lot folks are understandably surprised when a poll says the majority don’t plan to buy [insert name here] pinball machine, but really we should be surprised when the opposite is true.

I think Stern is going to use Insider Connected to start selling DLC for their games. Like, the game ships with factory code that gets updates. However they will write NEW code that you can download and load with insider connected that changes all the rules and entire game completely.. like an expansion. They'll charge like $100 for the code and allow customers to flip between code versions.

I don't think that will be Spike 2 though. Almost certainly this would be a Spike 3 technology. They've got us all hooked on IC now, next step is to feather in some capitalized DLC, one time payment options. They'll need some time to stack DLC options across many pins, so this may take several years but.. End goal is to get us all on the OpEx drip and paying monthly/yearly for a subscription to IC where we get access to DLC code unlimited, other locked features and what not.

The real money is in OpEx subscriptions. This would cut out disti and allow Stern subscription-based direct consumer revenue. And because it 100% software, its 80%+ margin. OpEx income will offset OpEx payroll expenses and allow Stern to hold on to cash to wade tough economic times and also increase EBITA and show more value on the books. This is how Stern will grow the business in the future. At least, this is how a CEO from Disney who has an MBA would run any company successfully in 2024.

Eventually Stern will get bought as a result, people will get paid and retire out. Am I saying the quiet part outloud? lol

People are hooked on IC? I don’t even use it, what’s really the point? I know what I’ve accomplished and what’s left to be accomplished on games. Why do I need an app to track it for me?

Also..the day that Stern starts holding back code and making us pay extra for it is the day I stop buying their products. That’s the nail in the coffin for me.

Totally a fair assessment, I think it'll take several more years for this to slow drip into the community. And even then, not everyone and not the OGs. But my short reply is... "yet". Eventually they're going to make IC and some kind of content/subscription so enticing most pinheads will be wanting to pay for it.

A perfect example is Xbox Game Pass. Hated at first, but beloved now and an incredible value for consumers. Its feature-rich and absolutely worth the value for many people. On the flip, Microsoft is netting hundreds of millions a year. Never forget that we are all getting older, and as consumers we will be replaced by younger consumers who grew up in the digital age. They will latch to these services unlike some older consumers may resist. Companies are in business to grow, generate revenue and survive. They are not in business to satisfy the needs of a niche, aging and particular crowd. The future of pinball relies on our children and clever innovation to pull them in.

I just think its coming either way and nothing will stop it. Without getting into too many details I work in technology and I sell solutions to quite literally every vertical across the US and everyone is moving in this direction. Every.single.company. If they aren't, they won't be in business eventually. *shrug*

Its seems very popular especially on location.

Great, I can’t wait to hear all the complaints from serious guests about how “ I didn’t buy the new DLC and they didn’t know that I didn’t buy it and they wasted blah blah dollars trying to get to a mode that isn’t in the game”

Thanks Stern, you could have just continued to program games that people pay shitloads for…gratis. But you haaaad to squeeze out even more.

That’s because most locations are just a full lineup of nothing special spike 2’s instead of a blend of interesting games across multiple manufacturers. IC is goofy, it’s pointless and it has little to do with pinball. I have received no complaints about my 4 spike 2’s that pre-dated IC. Now…if they do something COOL with it eventually that is FREE, I’m all ears.

Like…with Pokemon. Each game has a unique Pokemon to catch orrrr each game has a local network that you can catch unique monsters in your area on orrr an avatar system that you can create a trainer profile and you can challenge other trainers yadda yadda

Until the masses get subscription fatigue after realizing trips to the grocery store cost over $100 and they start prioritizing what’s necessary. Every recurring monthly payment adds up. Non essentials will get the ax.

It's like people are just realizing Stern is cheap, you'd think the failing coil stops, noisy power supplies, switch under the backbox or shrinky dink plastics on pros would have clued them in by now.

I think DLC might be the point where Stern may fall from it's glory days as the top seller. Look at the themes they're selling. Jaws is how old? Godzilla? These don't scream new generation video game enthusiast themes.

Who knows though. After insane price increases, they can still sell saturated numbers of LEs after straight up telling everyone they're going to sell everything that differentiates the LEs. Seems like they could sell a polished turd at this point.

Fixed that for you...

In all seriousness I don't personally mind DLC as long as it adds value. But what a pinball machine can do via software is actually pretty limited IMO past a certain point. And based upon their track record of ripping things out of Pro models I don't think they will get the balance right. So people will rebel against what they charge you to add once standard features back in.

Jesus fellas. You’re all now making stuff up to complain about.
Get a life.

We have reached the bottom of the chum bucket.

Kind of hard the read. Been hanging in the game room for over 20 yrs.

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Biggest perk of IC (besides getting remote software updates/patches) is the ability for Stern to collect metrics across their entire fleet of games. They must have incredible data on what works, what doesn't work, what scores too much, what doesn't score enough, etc. I appreciate how in theory, this could lead to them making better games, and tweaking existing games when needed.

I will reserve my DLC outrage for when that shoe drops; no point in raising your blood pressure over something that hasn't (yet) happened.

I'm sure IC is info can be used to enhance games, but that's not the primary reason it exists.

https://sternpinball.com/privacy-policy/

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You are not wrong, pinball will always be fun as it exists today because it's physical and can't be replicated, people love physical games, but at current pricing pinball is not sustainable to the younger crowd, gen z and gen alpha seem to be very frugal with luxuries there's not enough in modern pinball to sustain their interest let alone to justify the price, even the older crowd are getting priced out.

DLC and P3 type systems will be the future for the generations below to hold their interest and keep sales flowing.

No ball eating shark and now cheap .25 cent 3D glasses. wtf is the pinball world coming to Rick!

I think people get too hung up on trying to justify their purchases. Folks don’t need to dump on other pins/manufacturers to make themselves feel better.

If so, you are buying for the wrong reasons.

Well, “this new Stern Elwin game kicks ass no matter what because he’s the best and Spooky and JJP games suck”….

While there certainly are differences, the degrees of separation today just isn’t that much.

Theme is king these days.

You aren’t getting some kind of “collectible”.

Buy what you love and fuggetaboutit.

That idea doesn’t work for flippers/Distros but hey, we the consumer win as a result, so many choices.

Doesn't DLC work for software games that sell in the millions? I don't think pinball machines sell in those numbers. It works because it's a few bucks. It's through a software medium that has no physical proporties. I don't think pinball machines work this way.

So why would pinball manufacturers bother trying to collect scant revenue this way? I think some are worried over nothing.

What I can see are unlockable modes being made available and tied to high dollar items, like sophisticated toppers. Toppers have become expensive, ahem ...Mandalorian. So maybe it could work for pinball manufacturers as an avenue to increase add on sales that way?

Yeah? We’ll see about that. Will check in when the paid DLC’s drop and pinside goes FULL meltdown lol

Stern (and now Spooky) already lock game modes behind toppers. With Stern they do seem to make them available with IC though.

As superNoid said, the big change will be when/if they introduce a paid monthly subscription. They already have a yearly paid one, this is from Stern's website:

ALL ACCESS

Includes everything in Basic Access plus:

Sneak Peaks into the world of Stern Pinball.
Access to Behind the Scenes content.
Access to exclusive limited edition merchandise.
Limited access to purchase Limited Edition pinball machines.
Coming Soon - access to special game related content.

Don't know if "access to special game related content" means DLC, it is intentionally vague, but the seeds of recurring subscription revenue are there and if they at least haven't been seriously discussed behind closed doors at Stern I would be very surprised.

Stern's "All Access" is just a Loyalty Club.

You're right, "Coming Soon - access to special game related content" is rather vague. But that could be a back story on a theme you get special access to from their website, how to play to get game specific higher scores, instructional videos on how to trigger pinball moments in a game...etc.

Time will tell but I don't think withholding parts of a game has good optics for sales potential based amongst $10,000 toys.

Was going to say. Bunch of people bemoaning the Stern downfall that hasn't happened caused by something Stern hasn't done.

Glass cover and standing mat in the house...

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