Future of pinball?
Sat at home last night reviewing JJP GnR comparing it to my current pins. Not a fan of the theme but couldn’t help but to compare it aesthetically to what the other companies are doing. My gut reaction was “wouldn’t ever own a GnR based on theme but Stern and the others have been put on notice”.
I hope the other companies wake up and see the depth license access, attention to detail and overall passion that went into GnR and start to follow suit. Better toys, better lighting, better licensing access all around has to evolve from this.
If LZ comes out and is anything like the past music pins, it will look like a McDonalds happy meal sitting next to a Ruth Chris steak when set up next to GnR.
I hope this leap forward by JJP pushes the industry forward with better assets, licensing and overall depth of theme ( AIQ Thanos gauntlet effort as the most recent example).
We wish for titles on here like Jaws, Matrix, Potter etc but with the current build do we want to squander these dream themes on low asset voiceovers etc or would a higher priced more evolved product be worth the money/wait?
Not taking a shot at Stern here but I think the people can ask for more complete and in-depth games now seeing what JJP has created with GnR.
I’d vote stern take a 12 month new game sabbatical and pump out a couple VEs to buy some time and reexamine the level of final product they deliver because the bar has been raised. If that means Stern needs to charge 2000$ more a game to get full licensing and deeper assets so be it. I want immersion for the coming games, not surface level interaction that we fall back on “but it shoots great”.