Wasn't he a contractor? It's semantics, but it's not really firing someone if they don't opt to renew the contract or accept the proposal for work.

That said, Franchi did good work for Stern and it stinks to lose work. But if you're not going to be professional with how you discuss your business partner, then you can't be surprised that they don't want to continue the relationship. Good artists are not hard to find, even if it's a small subset of artists who view pinball as a passion project.

That seems way too elaborate for such little payoff. Stern could just make a burner account here and make a post with some ideas if they wanted to gauge interest. (And probably have done so in the past and will do so again)

Yeah but Stern also stopped manufacturing the game very quickly. Seems odd for such a juggernaut license that was a huge seller, no?

I think the obvious reason they stopped production so relatively soon was because of the Trudeau crimes. People can say it's because of the code/layout or whatever, but it's the PR of selling a game by an alleged pedophile who did later plead guilty to assaulting a minor. (And I think Stern made the right choice)

Anyways, Franchi wasn't fired for not being "PC" or whatever (that term has no meaning anymore). It was simple poor professional form. You don't throw your business partners under the bus when you don't like how things went down.

Still being produced or they had some extra parts in their testing area? Stern has had Ghostbusters in the "archive" of their games on the website for at least a year now.

The Star Trek is a vault edition

They were still making Metallica and ACDC when Ghostbusters was mothballed. I'm pretty sure ST VE was announced after GB had stopped. I think many people are expecting another DMD VE to come out soonish.

Burn them bridges!

I like your style Chris, even if it's probably going to do more damage than help. I at least get a 20 min podcast to enjoy while I make clacky noises on my greasy work keyboard

If you drink enough to worry about the health effects of BPA, you got bigger issues to worry about.

I say this as a person who drinks beer, but also married a doctor who will regularly point out how bad alcohol is for me regardless of the container it was served in. (At least she loves pinball!)

I guess we can assume that game is dead as a potential theme then? (That movie as a license at least. The comic or another Superman film is still possible I suppose)

That’s not what it was and you should listen to the podcast for the details.

I agree and disagree. On the one hand, he was simply giving his perspective on events. On the other hand, you don't throw business partners under the bus even if you feel like they wasted a lot of your time. I do hope he is able to find more work in the industry, but it's hard to get involved with a guy who isn't going to have a professional filter.

I hope it's American Pinball. The art on the playfield and LCD is really the only major thing holding back Oktoberfest from being a solid B+ kinda game in my opinion. They seem competent enough to build games, have unique designs, and new ideas. But I've had zero desire for their games besides putting in a roll of quarters once or twice.

Therapy is great. I've only done a small handful of sessions in my life, but they definitely made me reevaluate some things I wasn't comfortable discussing by myself, let alone to anyone close to me. (And doing mushrooms every couple of years). It was also super helpful when my wife and I first got together and we went through those normal growing pains of cohabiting and bickering about stuff that we know didn't really matter.

Everyone should go to therapy on occasion. It's no different than a periodic visit to a medical doctor, optometrist, or dentist.

I guess it would depend on if they went out further than the back box does.

But it is a great idea for modders. The handles and maybe a steel plate to reinforce them and charge $300+ or something ridiculous.

I understand if you don't want to/can't answer, but I'm assuming your contract with Stern gives them exclusive rights to all the art you create for a project? Do you get anything extra if Stern were to sell prints or t-shirts with your commissioned art? What about translites that some people buy to frame? How exactly does it work when your art is of a separately licensed material? I assume Stern would have to renew/pay Disney if they wanted to slice up your art and sell a new Deadpool print?

Yeah I guess I was asking in a very roundabout way if you had negotiated for ongoing royalties or fees for the art to be placed on additional items for sale. Or maybe receive a bonus check if a game sells really well or if Stern sells a ton of t-shirts/translites/banners/etc