I would call that totally false. Most of the people who buy a pinball for a gameroom, do not know about pinside, do not know how many different pinball companies their are, they're just buying a pinball game for their basement.

Pinball is consider a retro thing, and many things old are new again, same for pinball. If someone goes into a high end game room store, they'll buy the games based on the theme, not the brand. A lot of people want WOZ over all other themes because its so well themed. A lot of people buy Ghostbusters because they love those movies from the 80's. They don't care about the code, they don't even know that pinball is a strategy game, they just think when the ball comes down you hit it.

Pinball is a retro item, and the mass majority of all pinball games available to buy where NOT made by Stern. Even though Stern is selling the most today, and have been for years, the most cherished games are still those not created by Stern:

AFM, MM, TZ, to even today its games like WOZ. Williams Bally hasn't made a game since I'm not even sure the 90's and they've created way more games than Stern ever has, same goes for other brands.

Reality is things change fast look at Apple they just stopped ITUNES! Blockbuster closed. Disney is essentially trying to put Netflix out of business. Amazon has closed several retail brands. Everything changes. Right now the most successful games are redemption based not pinball.

There is only so many pinball games that will be sold over the next 10 years, and I don't think any of the current pinball suppliers can say they will be the leader without any doubt in 10 years. There is a lot of innovation that can happen in pinball, and the company that embraces that could run away with loyalty. Sorry by Stern is not pushing this thing down the road, they're standing pat. We'll see if a company like Deep Root actually changes the game, even they do things can change fast. Looks like JJP will embrace standard games only, making more games than in the past, and getting into cheaper pricing. As they're figure out how to mass produce they could take it over... because Stern is getting worse with effort not better.

You want innovation, you want things to change to find new audiences. All things evolve doesn't mean the old ones are out of style. Look at muscle cars they're more popular today than ever, however a new Hellcat is a whole hell of a lot more fun to drive and it has power steering, air condition, and well the list goes on and on. There are more pinball games already made than will EVER be built new into the future combined.

So new pinball games can be different, feature more ways to connect with the game via technology. Nothing wrong with that.

Pinball doesn't have to be old school, and it wont. Pinball will evolve otherwise what's new again is always old again with the next generation.

Guys in their 50's grew up with Pac Man and Pinball, they're popular again today. When I was a kid a 55 Chevy was the hot collector car now no one talks about a 55 Chevy. What was old can be new again, and back to old with a change of the guard. Pinball has to find ways to embrace tech to compete with what is going on for young people.

Nothing wrong with that... consider even if 200 new games are between now and say 2075 it still won't compare to the hundreds and hundreds made prior. Pinball will never loose its old school, and new games nothing wrong with going new school.

I will say this because it's 110% FACT!!!!!!!!

There is not many more ways to build a playfield that hasn't already been done in some cases 10 times already. Look at Stern they seem to be coping everything they've done in the past over and over again.

Why not do something different? If you don't like it who cares there is only 2000 other pinball games for you to choose from

Does it really seem like in Stern's case they're even trying? When is the last time we've seen something fun happening inside the backglass like on NBA Fastbreak? Why doesn't Stern do that? I can tell you why they're not trying! What happened to the video modes why not bring those back? Stern doesn't care that would take to much effort and more money. Why not make games connect to wifi, bluetooth, would that be so hard? Why not an online gaming community for pinball, ouch that gives Stern a headache.

Just keep making games the same as they've always done until people stop buying the games. Black Knight is the perfect example of putting the least into the game, but asking the most ever for a game. This is going backwards.

I can't wait to see what Deep Root comes up with, and I hope JJP can get their company in the fast lane putting out games more than every two years.

Once these two companies get moving, you'll see brand loyalty to Stern die down fast, unless they embrace the concept of making their games more fun, more interactive, and adding more bells and whistles.