Quoted from Frax:Do you, and the others, or is this just more "Everything Frax says is always negative regardless of anything, screw having a rational conversation" typical Pinside BS, as usual?
Do you guys not find it interesting that the industry has moved away from taking guys from other adjacent and more directly involved parts of the "amusement complex" to do this stuff, to streamers and players? When you look at all the old guys, they came from other things within the arcade industry, and had little to no experience designing a pinball machine or otherwise having anything to do with pinball at all.
Now, all the new hires come in with EXTENSIVE knowledge of pinball, whether that be community, electronics, or design. The manufacturers aren't having to have these guys effectively apprentice for years to get to a level where they can fly solo in their position. Not only that, most would argue they're doing a superior job. I don't think anyone could say that pinball wasn't in desperate need of this new blood. It's just coming from unexpected places, and it's a pretty big "sea change" that landing these positions is no longer limited to industry insiders. If you can prove you have the skills on a solo project, you stand a decent chance of being hired. That's pretty vastly different than even 10 years ago, and it's interesting to me. In that regard, the total 180 on how they're finding people to fill these jobs *IS* a "weird flex" because traditionally, they'd be a lot more conservative with laying out the money to people that they're so critically dependent on. They're getting double duty of talent acquisition AND marketing by hiring these guys with big names, and I personally think Gary Stern saw this trend coming long before anyone else did.
Also, I totally forgot about the Sharpes on my list! Sorry guys!
Even though I don't agree with all of your post, as I really like most of Borg's games.. ***EXACTLY THIS** is the crux. All of these guys, even the ones I don't personally like, are these guys, and more. The value these companies are getting by hiring these guys is nuts.
I did watch Jack's stream of the JP home pin. While I don't agree with the pricing that was set for it, what was done with the game is great. I'd certainly like to play one at some point just to see how it compares build-quality wise from Stern's prior attempts. Maybe there will be one at TPF? Looking forward to seeing some mechanical innovation from Jack. The T-Rex was just the start. Let's see what he does with a full budget!
No, I get it. But given the unique dynamics of the world today that weren't a thing even 10 years ago (Other than other serious tournament players, did anybody know who Keith or Bowen were? Was streaming pinball a thing 10 years ago?), these companies would be fools not to evolve and look at other candidate pools to hire talent from. And as you said, the value is twofold because they come with an established following, and proven years of experience and passion for the game. Is it just coincidence that ball players often times move on to management/coaching positions, or that actors move on to directing or production?
I used to play in weekly league with two current designers, one at JJP, and one at Stern; one was a minor streamer and semi-well known tournament player, who had a background in programming, who, as he's told us, literally asked Zach Sharpe about working there at a tournament one time, and Zach emailed him back; and the other, also did some minor streaming and made an awesome homebrew that obviously got noticed. But these guys were hardly "rockstars" in the hobby by any means, but rather they exhibited technical savviness and the actual desire to work for a pinball company.
Which leads me to my next point, these people have bonafide passion for the work, and understand the realities of working for one of these companies. There's a difference between being passionate about a hobby, and actually making a living in the industry that supports it behind the scenes. Assuming someone had the skills, but not the level of passion that all these folks have, would they want to uproot their lives/family, move to Chicago, and work 80+ hour weeks? My polling pool is small, but the two people I personally know that went all in, are some of the most passionate pinball people you'd ever meet. The industry is smart to hire people who are passionate about it, rather than someone just looking for a check.
And how cool is that? I've met tons of "industry celebrities or big wigs" in other lines of work, and the majority of them could care less about the products they design/market/manufacture, just as long as it puts a nice check in their pocket. It's just a job to a majority of them. But when someone is actually passionate about the product they make first, it ends up just being that much better.
Berlin, CT
