Source?

Ketchup

A reliable one. You can believe it or not.

It could make sense to stop production and move onto the next one if the game is too expensive to manufacture and there isn't enough margin for them. That's regardless on whether the game is better than the previous 3 or not

Kind of a shame to kill a Top 4 game while it’s barely getting off the ground! Glad I have mine.

I see you’re buying one, leaning towards believing. Does the source have any info on a price jump for the next game?

As you all know the guy who negotiated the POTC license without assets is gone, never again.
I think 1500 to 2000 POTC is a good run.
Move onto WOZYBR and Wonka, that's money in the bank

That's what will pay for the biggest license in Pinball, I will say no more

The Blues Brothers yes !!!! ( just Wishful Thinking )sounds like Harry Potter could be a go .

Harry Potter time! Sounds like Wonka, GNR, Toy Story and then possibly HP? Relessing two games a year would mean HP being announced at Expo 2020 for an early 2021 release.

Now I really don't know what to do in terms of buying my next pin. I just sold a Star Wars LE and I'm ready to buy another pin. I'm still leaning towards POTC next as it's an incredible pin even without actor audio and video.

There has to be something else going on. You don't just dump a great theme/game and move on to another one without a legitimate reason(something smells fishy to me). I am not sure it has to do with licensing, usually licensing is based on number of machines produced and is paid per machine. Leads me to believe that they have had too many mechanical issues, poor sales, and they are trying to play catch up with recent loses to appease the investor group. Or what if Disney only wants to have one open license at a time for pinball? Could it be Toy Story being a Disney franchise wishes not to compete with other license(POTC) in concurrency? Let the conspiracy theories start because I am not buying what JJP is selling or telling about the abrupt decision to eliminate POTC production.

I have no idea one why or another or how this agreement was structured.

Yes usually certain time frame and certain royalties per machine produced. So if renewing license is too expensive then obviously they are not selling well enough to justify renewing? For how much time and effort went into the design build-I am really surprised on what is going on(again smells fishy). Honestly it is sad and I feel for all the people involved in the making of POTC.

No, Pirates has sold very well from everything I've heard. LE's are sold out to distributors at this point as well. At the end of the day JJP can only produce X number of games at a time and spend so much on development, production, and licensing. I have no doubt that Pirates is one of JJP's most expensive games to produce to date.

Also, if JJP has gone after Willy Wonka, Toy Story and Harry Potter with the intent of securing licensed actor assets in the process I can see that contributing to not renewing the Pirates the license. There's only so much money a company is willing to spend on licensing.

Imagine if in a year or three they did a POTC re-jig and just re-released the game as a generic pirate theme vault edition? Is there anything really stopping that? If the original gains a huge following I would think that'd be amazing. No one would really miss the limited POTC assets.

Then why does JJP continue to renew WOZ license over and over again? Because it sells well enough to justify?

I have to agree, I think JJP probably would have sold more units and done better in terms of profitability if they just did a non-licensed Pirate's theme. Look at what Williams did back in the day: Monty Python-No too expensive let's just do Medieval Madness, Caddy Shack-no too expensive let's just do No Good Gopher's. Not sure if that is what really happened, but it does make me think.

I don't see it happening. The amount of work that has gone into the code, audio, and animations in Pirates is pretty remarkable. I can't see all of that work being recreated and a market for a $9500 generic Pirate themed pin. Even though licensed assets are limited in Pirates it still has drawn a lot of buyers to the game.

anyone know when they're going to reveal the next unknown game

I'm sure and the license agreement is also completely different as each are with different companies. It sounds like Disney can be rather difficult to work with when it comes to using their properties.

If Pirates sales were not great then LE's wouldn't be sold out to distributors. The game seems very well received and considered by many to be one of JJP's best pins to date. With JJP now having 4 titles under their belt and several on the way they are not going to be able to produce every one of them anymore. At some point assets (money and employees for development) need to be moved onto the next games.

Obviously because it sells well enough to justify. And I suspect licensing WOZ from Warner Brothers is a lot less expensive than licensing POTC from Disney.

Texas Pinball Festival March 22nd-24th.

It’s probably dirt cheap compared to super expensive Disney. And I’m pretty sure this last run of 250 will be it.

.. sound like if you were interested in buying one, you may have until the end of April to find one at a distributor. No rush but that’s eight weeks away.

Yep. Onward and upward! JJP smart move as we know what the "biggest license is" Biggest grand slam in pinball.

Really nothing else going on with POTC. It is what it is. And BIG titles are coming, including the biggest hopefully.

Well that's about right. Not sure which distros will keep stock, like Automated, but JJP is finally getting the "cadence" of new games rolling here.

Cool. I'm going to order an LE this week as well. I could wait for Wonka but then I could also wait for the next game, and the next game. Pirates is known today to be a great game and has everything I want in a pin. I'm also a fan of wide body pins and hearing that both Wonka and Toy Story are standard body games is a bit of a bummer. If Harry Potter is happening I'm sure it will be a wide body game.

I thought TPF was for WOZYBR. Not sure when the next unknown release will be revealed.

Whenever it’s ready to “release AND ship”

I’d say finish up POTC, get the line ready for Wonka and off we go!

My guess is May ish? Especially if two games are coming in 2019

Yeah, I was thinking that the only thing to be announced at TPF would be WOZYBR, and then we'd hear about Wonka in a month or 2 afterwards....then maybe October/November for GnR? Who knows...

You are right...I forgot about the eleventeenth version of WOZ coming first.

Maybe they will show what ever is next at the Tacoma (Northwest Pinball) show at the end of May. Fingers crossed!

I’ll disappointed if all we hear about at TPF is YBR. How different can it be? It’s not new; it’s still WOZ.

Prepare to be disappointed

It will be interesting to see how and when JJP reveals Wonka. Is there a show in May / June? Another idea is JJP doing a live stream directly from their office or even better have the entire reveal prerecorded Nintendo Direct style.

I am actually preparing to have a blast at TPF, mostly because I will be trying to play all the existing machines I have not played a lot of yet, or I have not played in a long time, as opposed to all the new machines I have never played before, don’t know how to play, and may end up walking away thinking, meh? Because thats what really happens at these shows... you get a couple or twenty games in on Oktoberfest and start wondering, why was the MBrLE so much more fun to play over at CGC’s booth? That was Expo for me last year. Now without 5 days of CheapSuit pinball, it should be a relaxing, fun filled show without too much drama... unless that is what people around here really want?!?

See post #983 from an hour ago

There is also Pinfest, which is right in their backyard!

There are few unknowns as upcoming pins are usually uncovered well before they're announced. So, probably...never?

In JJP probably.

TPF - no way.

Golden state is May 17-19
Tacoma show is end of May

wasnt calling his designs cookie cutter. i am really hoping its one of his best. you are correct!

Depends how you look at it. They of course play totally diff'rent but most are very similar.

No doubt, TPF will be a blast regardless.

It's logical to do it at a show and create another dark night for Stern.
Unless it's like Dialed in AKA the worst reveal in modern history.

Sooo no idea

And yet you speculate again.

They still have to complete the remainder of the POTC games and then get the line ready for Wonka. Lawlor won't allow it to be a shit show with his name on it.

I agree that they can't/won't make the same mistakes of the past, that's why Wonka won't be at TPF.

BUT, i bet they show a mini preview of the game!

That was one of those epic unforgettable WTF moments in pin history! Jaw dropper.

I don’t expect they will reveal Wonka at TPF but I think it would be a missed opportunity not to acknowledge it’s coming and do a preview.

I honestly believe there is no longer a benefit to the manufacturers playing their cards so close to the vest. Let everyone know what the short term release plans are going to be (planned order, not exact release dates) so ops and collectors can plan for which titles they will get. It could provide a competitive advantage by keeping cash on the sidelines that might otherwise go toward a competitor’s pin.

I can’t consider more than a game or two a year (for both money and space issues) and have to sell an established favorite to bring in a new game. If I know Toy Story is coming by early next year, Elvira 3 probably doesn’t get bought this fall.