There is no evidence that Stern did anything to Cary. Just his self important paranoid theory. Which he included pinside in until the owner told him wasn’t true to which he had to make another video to walk back that implication. He’s just self aggrandizing and it’s certainly working.

If they were a part of a company conglomerate that had commercial buissness with Youtube. They Could for sure.
Maybe they can call his employer?

I never heard him mention Pinside, I don't remember it word for word but I thought he intentionally did not mention the place or any website by name. For exact purpose of getting more information before he voiced his opinion.

I know he bought one, that's why I listed it as an option. So why is he bitching about being "shut down?" He can make all the videos he wants on his shiny new machine?

Or does he feel he has the right to go into someone else's business and shit on their games with no consequences?

Oh I didn't realize we were still in the 1980s. The internet exist and companies have to get on board. Your going to argue about what "content creator" means on you tube. Again its impossible to have discussions when you have no understanding of what modern content creators and influencers are.

There is no evidence they are trying to support him and improve their marketing and influence. Either way they are making very poor decisions.

I'm swedish and maybe a bit slow, but are you saying a food critic, shouldn't be allowed in restaurants, after giving a bad review?
Was ebert ever banned at cinema, and what would the appropriate reaction be if he was?

Hi.

Oh, hey Glenn!

I don't know anything about him, never heard of him before this thread. So I ask, what makes him entitled to their support? I understand supporting content creators and it seems like Stern does that some that, maybe not enough. But there is certainly no decree that they need to support all the content creators. Based on what people are saying in this thread it sounds like he may be pot-stirrer and may be giving negative options without all the facts. It has been mentioned that he has made more that one video correcting, apologizing for, are completely reversing things he said in a previous video. Why would Stern want to support that?

Food critics are absolutely not welcome back to restaurants that they give bad reviews.... because.... stay with me now.... it’s not good business to let someone come into your house and shit on it.....

I assume you work in the biz, since I don't know ANYONE who likes "influencers" except infuencers themselves and those who swallow that bullshit.

"Content creators" create meaningful content. Like movies, books, musical compositions, research papers, news stories, pinball machines, video games, etc. Some of that content is distributed over the internet and I agree that youtube does show some meaningful content. I do NOT consider "talking head" shows to be meaningful, at least none of the ones we're discussing here. Stern got along just fine without Cary and they'll continue to get along just fine regardless of what happens on youtube.

Anyway, doesn't Stern already sorta work with the deadflip dude? Even more reason for them to tell a competing talking head to go piss off...

Rofl.
I honestly Dont know How it works in the u. s. but in Sweden most restaurants hope the critics back as soon as possible hoping to change the tide.

Is that How you approach your customers, anybody expressing concerns get the boot?

If the restaurant owner knew who it was and thought the review was bullshit, sure.

If the bad review was actually legit, the owner will likely suffer loss of business but because of their bad food/service, not the review.
If the bad review was actually bullshit, the owner isn't out anything except hearing friends of the reviewer whine...

Depends... if the reviewer is respected, the owners will usually listen to them and adapt. Hence why Ebert didn't get booted from cinemas. If the reviewer is just some random schmoe and the owner feels the review is unjustified, here's the door...

Basically this. From a general glance at his videos and the clickbait thumb nails, he repeatedly shit on Stranger Things, shit on Heavy Metal, shit on the JP Topper, and from what i can tell has never bought any new Stern product. He is now saying he is buying a TMNT in a video which uploaded the same day as the video of him being "shunned" by the location (sounds a bit like an "okay im sorry, ill but from you dont hate me" type of thing. You can't repeatedly bash a company and then be shocked when you aren't invited to check out their newest product. This isn't censorship, its distancing yourself from a toxic personality.

Cary has a right to make the content he wants and bash who he wants, but can't be surprised when people don't want to be associated with him afterwards. In his last video he mentioned Cidercade, I guess he doesn't realize that Jared Guynes works as their social media person, and also works as Sterns social media person, so I highly doubt he will be allowed to film their either. He follows this up by saying he can always just go play at local collectors houses who have new games, and that is true, but that will deflate his "hot take/first impression" stuff if he has to wait for home buyers to get games as usually location gets first dibs.

Sounds like you have some great ideas for marketing products. You work for one of the largest video games companies in the world who seem to always be stirring up bad will/pissing off the gaming community. You should focus more on giving them these great ideas and less on telling other companies how to do things.

Don't think I was suggesting you were. Just that you should take things Kaneda says with a massive grain of salt, he's got a track record of blowing smoke.

Don't know anything about Cary, I found it hard to make it through the two videos referenced in this thread given the rambling and throat clearing before he gets to his point, but maybe he does better when he's actually talking pinball vs. "pinball industry controversy" or whatever. Regardless, I haven't seen anything in this thread to suggest he's lying about being disinvited from streaming TMNT at the mystery location. This one still seems potentially newsworthy.

By support all Stern should do, is do themselves a favour. Cary is going to post and have his say. If they were smart they would reach out provide him high resolution marketing material in return ask him not to post until this time on this day. Then he wouldn't be trying to make content on shitty leaked photos. You can't stop the internet. This is how you stop leaks of shit that make you look bad.

I’m not interested in pinball politics. Or podcasts and the ego of people that post or produce pinball content. It’s part of what ruined RGP long ago (remember when?) -

What I am interested in is the quality of the games Stern produces. That and an honest review of the game, preferably early in the release cycle. I’ve bought Stern games NIB, and I need to know what I’m getting. I bought Ironman ‘Pro’ in the first run (2010) after I played it in a tourney at a show. That game was fine, no issues at all. Even better after a few Lyman code updates. The other game I bought NIB was LOTR LE which I knew well. Night and day. That ‘re-release’ as an LE was a nightmare. ‘Gold‘ finish which tarnished badly the first month, a wiring harness that had colors which didn’t match the photocopied original manual they supplied. Fuses blowing on the magnet in the Ring at a crucial moment in the game. The manual problem was bad enough that you could blow up game boards troubleshooting if you weren’t really careful. I did. My thought was that an LE should be better than the original game release given the extra price you pay. That experience really put me off Stern for a long time, but I think they got better with the Pro vs LE after that situation.

If Stern’s marketing tactics prevent the dissemination of honest information early in the release cycle, I’m not happy about it. But hey- they are a business and don’t want reviews that impact sales.

The location knows what works for them, and what doesn't.

And have the right to deny service to anyone. So if it really hurts their business. They have to do what is best for their business.

There isn't a huge profit margin in coin op. Especially during these days. You need to keep up with that is good for your business and what isn't. Short term and long term.

LTG : )

^^ This. Well said Lloyd

If I decided to start a channel and review games, should Stern and JJP and others include me in sending out their marketing material? What if everyone in this thread decided to start a channel, should we all be included? What puts him on the list of people that Stern should be catering too?

What you are missing is that it's not The restaurants owners that is to decide if it's Bull or not, it's the paying customers.
Demanding all reviewers beeing positive about shite like selling 30 dollar topper for 600, will make all reviewing completely pointless.
If I want commercials, there are plenty of that.
It also make the review er loose all credibility, as it does if the review er says all is crap, but once again it's for the consumer to decide, not companies.

Jesus christ i feel like I explain things to ten year olds, and I thought i was slow.

Again, what many of us are saying is there is no proof this is happening. That is speculation without facts.

They put him on the list by trying to stop him. Clearly he has influence and is on the rise. Stern should be reaching out to everyone they can. The whole point is to get your marketing out there. This is all information they want to make public, this is not trade secrets.

Agreed.
I was merely arguing the really odd defense, some put out if it happened.

There is no evidence that stern did anything to Cary. A location that he made a video trashing stranger things asked him not to film turtles because they weren’t happy with him trashing a game they just spent 6k on. The rest is made up in Cary’s paranoid head.

So your argument is that Stern should say to themselves: "Hey, this guy is bad for our business. He is leaking our content, creating videos about it, and spreading incomplete and/or false information. We should promote this guys channel and help him out."

I’ve been in the bar and restaurant industry for 20 years. You don’t know what you’re talking about. There are very few critics that any restaurant gives a shit about and we are talking high end fine dining restaurants. The rest of us serve the people who enjoy what we provide and ignore the self important “critics” who are looking to be giving special treatment. Let me guess. You think restaurants like yelp too. Lol.

Does anyone buy a game based on what someone ( usually who can't play pinball very well ) says in a podcast??!

The only video content that influences me is watching top class players playing a game and knowing what they are doing.

Cue Deadflip, Bowen and Keith of course.

This should mean that locations want honest reviews and not just favorable reviews.
This should mean that location owners should care for reviewers with different views and aspects presented, in order to make up their mind.

Nobody concerned making a 7k investment if the only reviewer available is yelling Buy, Buy, Buy, whatever the game is?

I Do like to say ilove the sdtm reviews. They are great.
As a private customer i Do like some good vs bad feedback aswell.

You can't truly be this dense, Cary wanted to make a video of his excitement and first play of TMNT. Someone decided to stop him from doing that. So instead of him posting how much he loved it, dropping his money down and influencing others to buy one, we got this thread. Is it that hard to see that maybe it would have been better to invite the guy in show your machine in the best light. Explain the decisions you made on your product. What Stern has yet to figure out is Cary is a hardcore pinball fan, and little effort would go a long way.

Actually, they can.. and did. Hence the whining

Ignoring all critics and giving them the boot.
I guess with that condescending tone, you're not in the self improvment buissness.

Why would a location care about how people decide to buy a game for home use? The location wants people to come spend money at their location (playing games and/or buying food and drink).

I didn't say/mean that.
My point was, that they should care if the game is fun, so it can bare it's investment cost

Where exactly did I said anything like that? Jesus Christ, pay attention man.. it's like I'm dealing with children here!

I wish I could watch video of the cool places with new machines recommended by the people I follow on youtube, oh wait they wouldn't let him create content. I'm a long way from Texas but you get the point.

No. There is no reason for Stern to support this guy. I haven't watched all his videos so I can't speak in depth here, but I do know he made a 30 minute video showing and discussing leaked images. In the video he talked about how the art was going to be divisive and that he didn't think he liked it. The very next day he posted a new video (the only time he should have released a video because that is when Stern actually released their stuff), completely recanting what he said the day before. He is not entitled by fiat to get help and support from Stern. And his actions at least in this case make the argument that he is not someone they should work with.

Just because he likes pinball and some people like him doesn't make him a journalist, an expert, or an anything at all deserving of being propped up by Stern.

And then what happens when the next "influencer" wanders along... is Stern supposed to coddle that one as well? And the next, and next, and next??

Influencers are leeches, nothing more. Respond to one and suddenly you have dozens all trying to "review" your stuff. Stern was 100% correct in kicking this dude to the curb. I mean, what does he bring to the table besides a camera and a mouth? Is he a world-class player demonstrating skills and intricate game strategy? No. Is he an industry veteran with lots of insight and experience on the development of the game? No. He's just some dude with an opinion and a camera.

I should know better, it just pointless trying to discuss things like this. You guys have your opinion and all the power too you. Unfortunately just because you don't understand how modern marketing works when it comes to content creation and influence doesn't mean it doesn't work. I watch Cary because his restores are world class. I respect him for the effort and detail he puts into his content. Content creation is a skill, you don't have to be good at pinball to make great content for pinball consumers. His content may not be for you but clearly people feel he has influence.

You should elaborate what a „rumour“ is.

We have a lot of people saying what has happened to them, reading mails that they got or sharing screenshots.
They may be lieing (or just read too much into it) or tell the truth, both is not a rumour.
If you say it‘s a rumour you just avoid to call the other person a liar.

It has happened, propably far less ill willed then people make it seem, and it is whatevers right to do so.

I agree. An honest review or different view point can be educational for the location. I have no problem with those.

A negative, incorrect, totally BS one. Now that is different. Fortunately on a lot of reviews the location can give a response. And if a response can't be left. Then other measures need to be considered.

LTG : )

Well maybe he should stick to that type of content making, at least he wouldn't be making enemies that ways. What interesting about looking at his channel and his views per video is that his restoration content has the lowest views per video than any of this other content.

The fact the he is provoking is what makes it good content. He is not Kaneda that guy was garbage and would say anything for a click. I like the way he shoots and edits as well as the information he provides. Cary comes across as genuine to me. I enjoy that he says his piece and the reasons for it. When he was concerned about TMNT he was very clear that he wanted to see better pics. It was also very obvious that TMNT was probably going to be the machine that he was going to buy. I find my self in a similar position, I have wanted to buy NIB for a long time but there just hasn't been that combination of, theme, art and fun. Seeing Cary take the plunge gives me hope that maybe on the next one some one is going to get my money. Saying a game is not for him is not bad for the industry.

P.S. His content is something that influences my interest in the hobby as a consumer and that is good for the industry.

I remember that well though it seems really worked out great for Jeff in the long run with GiantBombs success.

After watching this all unfold, a great marketing idea would have been to use Kaneda and Cary.

Rather than wage war against an influencer, you hire them and have guys like this help launch your games without anyone knowing. The leaks could have been purposeful and calculated to build hype. Unfortunately, it didn't work that way.

I run a mid size company and could only dream of this scenario. It doesn't work in my industry, but done right, this was the perfect platform for some ingenious marketing tactics and strategies. Too bad...

The problem is Stern is a large, investor backed company. And it is very likely they don't want to be associated with a person like Kaneda. And it seems like Cary hasn't been acting in a way that would make Stern want to work with him either.

They are using influencers. Cary Hardy just isn’t one of them. Deadflip, SDTM, Bowen, all these guys get the treatment y’all are talking about because they aren’t toxic.

Stern already has hired guns - Jack Danger and the shill on The Pinball Show.

Thing is, they are never going to give an honest review like a Kaneda or Cary are willing to throw out there. You know the $600 topper that is a buy, buy, buy We need the Ying to the over the top Yang that you get from the sycophants to balance things out.

Look at how Kaneda helped build the hype train for the new JJP Guns N Roses before he got skewered. Now that was clever on JJP's part to give him a taste unlike what Stern is purportedly doing.

In the end we are all grown kids on here and need to make our own choices on what we purchase!!

Totally agree that we need the yin and the yang but expecting companies to support the negative and not just the positive is silly.