Shooting games get boring so quick. I'd spend the extra money on a new pin any day. These price increases do suck though. Glad I got my DP back in May for 5600 shipped to my door.

I just got mine on Sunday. I need to put more time on it before I finalize my opinion but to me it’s heading toward masterpiece territory. That game kicks some serious butt.

Why would that matter again?
Imagine some of those folks are your customers.

Speaking of price increases:

From Replay Magazine: Stern to charge monthly fee for code and features associated with online platform.

Quote:

All-Access Connected is a subscription version of the experience, focused on providing additional player features along with behind-the-scenes development stuff, early access, special events and quests. In the future, we intend to create exclusive game extensions, such as special access to new modes or new rules and features to increase the All-Access Connected value.

https://www.replaymag.com/stern-pinball-insider-connected-0921/

Oohh, damn, that sucks balls

Yes, but I don’t believe we will be charged for all code updates.

The real comparison there is Wonka LE and GNR LE versus Godzilla LE, those are the comparable models due to the extra LE features from both companies.

Godzilla LE and GNR LE are now about the same price. I would say Stern with Godzilla LE has matched GNR LE in terms of features on the playfield. However, will Godzilla have the same animation, lighting, more choreography, and sound quality as JJP games? No, not in my opinion. The bigger question is will Stern now offer Godzilla premium / LE like amount of features in all games moving forward? At these insane prices I hope so but maybe not, look at Ghostbusters premium / LE and some of the more empty games that followed despite being the same price.

Why do all Stern's cost the same when some clearly have more features then others? If Godzilla Premium is $9k then LZ Premium should remain at $7700 due to one game clearly having more in it then the other. There's no reason for all Stern's to be priced the same when some are far more loaded then others.

You must be a low or middle level public-sector worker (get shit on when the chips are down, but no calls for any increases during the “good times”).

Get big buck Hunter. Very addictive and competitive.

No. Think topper modes.

The arcade.

Lol if this release was an infommercial it would something like:

But wait! There is more…

And the whole proposition just keeps on getting worse and worse the longer I watch it…

Dial Now!

aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I see what happened now. People here inferred "big companies" implied Stern and the downvotes rained in. That's cute.

If wages went up as much as inflation does and wages kept up with the GDP and we could better keep up with the price increases, there would be far less complaining. I'd pay more if I'm making more.

During the web session yesterday Gary was asked about if Connected would become a monthly subscription service. I have to say, I absolutely loved his answer. It was something along the lines of "Well, not right away, but we won't worry about that until we get everyone connected".

So nothing gameplay related?

Nope

The topper modes are gameplay related and you have to pay for the topper to unlock them.

Costs have to be paid by someone but who do you think is increasing demand? Its hard not to sound like an asshole responding to this but this is basic math. Businesses sole responsibility is to turn profits for investors, if wage increases are forced onto them then you can be sure that cost will be past on to the customer. It is not smart for a business to not pass some or all of those costs. If you think this is sudden then you havent been paying attention to the rest of the world over the past 21 months.

The cost of shipping has gone up a factor of 1000%, demand for chips have caused car shortages and used cars sell for the price of new cars, cost of groceries have gone up.

Yep. Steps written on a whiteboard somewhere at Stern:

1) Make people pay for the hardware to connect to our platform. Let's add $200.00 to the BOM whether people want it or not and put it on all future machines. ($. Gets the system in their home, even make a small profit).

2) Require a free Insider account so people can connect and download updates and get fun things like achievements. (No $ yet, but slowly getting them accustomed to the system. See, not scary pinheads! Fun! And what the heck, you already bought the machine for our new high prices, and it comes with the Connect system! It's like we gave it to you for free!!!).

3) Release new gameplay modes locked behind our "full access" paywall. Modest yearly or monthly fee ($$. Beginning of the subscription revenue, looks great on a balance sheet, pull people in a little more, its not that much right?).

4) Slowly jack up the price on the fee to the point where people are paying more than they do for Netflix so they can have "Super Secret Godzilla Stomps A New City" mode. ($$$$$$$. If people bail at this point they lose access to modes they already like! Sucks to be them!)

Great for Stern, maybe okay for operators, blows for home buyers. Whaddya going to do though, the writing is on the wall and has been since they introduced topper DLC.

I asked that question at the stern army meeting on tuesday. and tbh its a pipe dream to think that they wont be charging for this service. I already knew the answer to this. This is a smart business move by stern. It allows them to make money on older titles with no cost of physical goods. If its done correctly then operators will see increased earning from older spike 2 games. I am excited to see new ways to play older titles that keep them fresh.

However, this looks like it might head is the age of "Pinball as a Service" and games will no longer be feature complete. DLC might only be available for pass holders no different than Golden Tee.

Welcome to the age of not truly owning your pinball machine.

PS you might have missed the part earlier when Gary said that the consumer side of insider connected will have a free and paid tier.

Keywords here are “take advantage “. Sad, I can’t justify nib anymore, especially on a stern.

Agree, but current leadership has not really done anything to make it better
The printing of money and paying people to stay home is actually making it worse

I don't know why so many people think Stern will just do everything they can to kick themselves in the balls when it comes to connected. The road map of what to do and what not to do has been well documented. I don't know where you guys are getting your info but the amount of fear mongering is silly.

only people posting on pinside thinks they are kicking themselves in the balls. As a business this will do very well for them. Gary said this at the stern army meeting yesterday so whats where the info comes from.

At the end of the day - work harder and make more money - or find a better paying job.
We are in an employee's market - ask your boss for a raise or go out and find a higher paying job.
You may be surprised at what your boss is willing to pay to keep you or what you are worth to another company.

and when all those jobs are gone due to automation hopefully you have a degree in a field that wont be replaced by automation anytime soon. The automat is seeing a revival in NYC thanks to this.

Please. This is the most dramatic thing ever. These are toys. No one is taking advantage of anyone. They are offering a product for a price. They are doing nothing wrong. Buy or don’t buy.

TBH next to the cost of Elvira Premium this year Godzilla Premium makes me want a refund on the lack of toys house of horrors had.

Yes, I'm sure some are my customers (including you) and I appreciate them for that. I just don't understand the complaining coming from people with huge amounts of disposable income - does it really matter if the price of a toy increases by 10-20%? I won't always agree with my customers or others on Pinside, nor do I think I should have to in order to run a successful small business.

Not sure where you've been but the cost of everything is up.

You can't even buy a new truck anymore.....

I wish the price of gas was only up 10-20%

If you want a lesson in free-market economics, you can be rest-assured that plenty of Pinsiders will be more than happy to provide one. The irony is that a LACK of free market has brought prices of pinball machines (and everything else) to where they are now.

LOL this is what it has come to...

How so? There is a multiple thousand game back log and LEs will be made in two weeks.

Years ago it was about25¢ for each 2K worth of game. So $1 is about right in comparison.

LTG : )

Well, I don't think Stern is worried about losing sales because of the price increase. Looks like most of the 1000 LEs are sold and most of them at over MRSP by distros. I would love to see a list of distros selling thier LE allotment at $13-14k.

Masterpiece territory? Seriously?! EHOH I’m that territory, but LZ? Come on. How is it a masterpiece? I am a huge LZ fan but no way in hell does it even come close to sniffing masterpiece territory.

high prices?

a pro in the UK is $8,183 thats before_ sales tax of 20%

Godzilla likely my last LE as now LE's more than £10K which is my self imposed limit....

Neil.

Bet it’s not.

Probably take him about 40 fortnights to come back around.

I operate and have been waiting for a node board from stern to fix my new and under warranty Turtles. Love how the price is going up and making it hard for operators to get any return on investing in pinball games for location. I just ordered a HotWheels instead of going NIB stern this time.

Soooo...are games being released with complete code now? Did I miss that one? Or...does it still take a year or so for games to be feature complete/bug free?

Will modes/rules now be intentionally left out so subscription buyers are paying for what should just be in the complete game?

Pre-emptive cheers to the hackers, who will hopefully figure out how to circumvent this & unlock all of the features in the games we've paid $10k for!

You started this thread by saying "F you stern and your price increase"?

Shock denial anger acceptance