The reality is we don't actually want unlicensed games. We say we do, this is hardly the first thread like this, but it's not true.

We like the comfort of understanding things ahead of time. We like nostalgia. Every single "what's your dream theme?" thread is full of people naming their favorite movies etc.

I love unlicensed themes. If I was making my own pin it's what I would want to do. But the market speaks volumes on the matter. You're kind of a moron as a manufacturer to not use a license now. Just how it is. I don't blame Stern in the slightest.

It's a collective we. And it's simply true. I would love more unlicensed themes. Love, love, love. I think licensing is choking the creativity out of pinball, it's full of too many compromises. Companies are more strict about what they'll allow now, brand management has changed since the 90s.

But it doesn't matter what I think. Or what you think. The market has spoken, loudly, over and over. We want licenses.

And until someone manages to make a real go at a successful unlicensed title (and I mean mass production units, not limited affairs like AMH, or what Jpop lied that he was going to do) that's not going to change.

If JJP can get Pat Lawlor's next game out, and it's good and unlicensed as promised, then maybe we can talk about it again. Until then it's not going to change.

The real reality is that themes are themes. Some are great, some suck. And a half baked original theme is going to pale next to a great license. Just like a great licensed game is better than a mediocre original one, unless you buy games to just look at them.

In a perfect world you'd get a great game with a great theme, that was wholly original. And it's certainly possible. But it's just a ton of work. Take it from someone working with a license right now (Alien with Fox) it's not like working with a license is necessarily easy. You have to stick with the rules that come with it. But at the same time, you have this whole universe to play in. You're not sitting there for weeks sketching and trying to design cool looking bad guys, the xenomorphs are right there. Everyone knows them. When the beacons on the top of the game go off you're going to be remembering scenes from the films, there's extra memories and emotions triggered there.

It's tough to beat that now.

I just moved my Mystic inside the house, it's in my home office right next to me. Beautiful game, I love it. But if you made a modern title with the same art you'd have to have so much more. Callouts. Characters. Animations. Tons more music and sounds. We have a lot of expectations now. And that all has to be created from scratch. There's no license to give you assets, ideas, and frameworks.

If you're Stern, and you're paying for your employees' time, and you have to keep the line moving, you simply can't take a year off to noodle around with creating that stuff. They're on the clock, and under pressure to make every game count. A missed license (WWE) hurts, but an original game that gets ignored is probably way more painful.

Apologies, I think I stated my point in an unclear way. I meant if the game was a market failure.

Let's just say that WWE is a flop. We don't actually know that, but it does seem that way. Stern is out whatever up front money they gave WWE. And obviously all the design time etc. But in this case WWE provided the artwork (I think Stern actually said WWE did all the design for the cabinet and translite art in house actually, so more than provide assets). All the callouts and video (on the LE) and setups were there for the taking.

Now obviously they don't want it to flop. But if that's the case it's not a HUGE waste of resources.

Counter that with developing an original theme. Lots of time spent brainstorming, sketching, figuring out how it's going to work. Who are the protagonists? What does the game look like? Sound like. Blah blah. It's exciting work, it's the kind of thing I love doing. But it take a lot of time. And if the game flops you're out the same stuff as WWE, design time, parts, etc. But you're also having to flush all that time developing the theme from scratch. It's a bigger risk.

That's not even taking into consideration the name recognition factor. Let's face it, Kiss LE sold out so fast because it's Kiss. People were ready with cash before they played it. An original game will struggle to meet that same kind of demand.

I brought up Mystic earlier. Here's a great quote about that game:

At the 2004 Texas Pinball Festival, O'Connor stated he got the idea for the artwork for this game, delivered to him as a blank whitewood, because he was interested in and dabbling with magic at the time.

They just designed a cool layout, handed it to the artist, and said "make it look cool". You could get away with that back then. Games are too complicated now to pull off that same stunt.

Yeah, the art on Star Trek is blaaaahhh. Nothing worse than actor headshots all over the place, no thanks. Whole reason I made a new art package, I didn't want to stare at them. I love Greg Freres, designed some of my favorite pinball art packages, but Star Trek was a whiff. Licensed PR shots, lazy bevel/emboss grid, just not a looker at all, outside of the awesome light show. Premium/LE lighting was great. He was just getting his feet under him, and had to do 3 game packages, so I think he gets a pass. You'll notice that since he got settled there are a lot less differences between the art packs. Look at Kiss! Walking Dead Pro/LE used the same art for the translite/backglass, just tweaked.

Karl Urban voice recordings was a good idea in theory, not the license fault it failed.

As for the bands ... ACDC is unlovely at best. I own one, but not for the looks. I actually do like the stock Premium translite, I haven't swapped mine out for Helen. I really made that for other people though, I didn't even own the game when I did it.

Metallica and Kiss are excellent examples of how having a license with more freedom helps. Metallica especially. Kiss is pretty predicable. Giant Gene head, reprise of the old art (though it's a clever nod, I give Stern credit for it). But Metallica has original ideas. Sparky is a great toy, has a ton of personality. Sure, it's just an opto bash, but he talks back to you, he animates when you fry him, and he has awesome DMD animations all over the place. Battery CIU for example.

I haven't seen even a sneak peek of the Rob Zombie art yet, but I'm confident it's going to be awesome. It's a great license really, it's why I pitched the Rob Zombie idea a while ago. Lot of good art opportunities, and I'm hoping his callouts will rule.

No one reads my wall of text posts.

Dead on though, it's really a huge factor. It's ultimately cheaper/faster to license a ready made theme package vs rolling your own.