I'll tell ya, I'm enjoying the seeming hypocrisy that's going on in these TWD threads.

There are people that really want the LE to sell out immediately so Stern will offer a Premium. So you have people who want a Premium saying that the demand is huge and therefore Stern should release a Premium.

Then you have posters in the "TWD LE is Almost Sold Out" thread saying it's nothing but hype by the distributors trying to get people to get caught up in the frenzy and the idea that they are going to miss out, and there are plenty left and will be for a long time.

So...which is it?

There's no good reason for them to talk publicly about a product that doesn't exist. If they had announced premiums were a possibility, it would've hurt LE sales. Them not mentioning premiums at first made it pretty clear to me that they were leaving the door open. Surely you also considered that possibility? What they don't say speaks volumes. Hardly manipulative bullshit. Just good business practice.

Stern hasn't had a fixed lineup since before the pro/premium/LE lineup was introduced. Probably won't in the near future. Get used to it. If your going to be a 'premium guy', don't expect every title to get a premium model.

Has anyone called JJ or Trent or any of the other bigger distributors to see where they're sitting on their LE allotments? If they're indeed low or sold out I'm sure that would be an indicator as to whether Stern will make Premiums to meet demand.

Title of this thread says it all... Of course I would buy a Premium. Mid tear table for TWD would be perfect in my lineup. ACDC premium did just that!! ... Why would Stern leave a ton of money on the table without releasing the premium. Just my 2 cents. Time shall tell, bucking that patience is a virtue. I'm sure I'm not alone!!

Exactly, I am buying a Pro at launch and if I like it and the code develops I will buy a Premium...but I'm fairly sure that won't be announced until next year.

I think the last statement given by Stern is a good one and I have been very critical of them. They are simply saying they will produce the premium if demand warrants it which is all I wanted to hear them say. I believe there will be plenty of demand and so there will be no bitching from me from here on out! Thank you Stern for clarifying the premium situation.

As far as I know, as of so far, no premium plans.

Yes there is a premium setup, but no plans to roll until they see how well the Pro and LE demand will be.

So far most LE's are bought and paid for.

We won't truly know "the demand" until people start playing it. It could blow up and be as big a seller as ACDC, or be luke warm like X-Men. With Borg and Lyman I'm betting it's a home run.

yes i would ,my met is a premium , my star trek is a premium , i bought the LE for the walking dead , but would have gone premium if i could have .

The fact that they don't have plans set to roll with the premium is fine with me. I'm hoping that they're impressed with the sales and release a premium later than they would have normally.
I'm a TWD fan.... and I don't want to have a stripped down model.
Unfortunately, I've got other expenses bleeding my bank account faster than I can keep up with. Having a new teenage driver in the house can get expensive.... we now call her 'crash'.

Speaking of bleeding.... how much do they pay for plasma these days? Need to save up for a premium.

That's the part that will piss some people off if Stern announces a Premium version of TWD down the road, and not at the time of release. How many others bought the LE version of TWD simply because they didn't think a Premium version was going to be offered since Stern only announced a Pro and an LE?

It doesn't matter to me because I'm 90% sure that I would have gone LE on this title regardless of whether a Premium was offered, but I can sure see this upsetting a lot of buyers (including those who bought a Pro who would have bought a Premium if it was offered on release).

Well Underlord says they have a Premium setup.... so they are keeping it as an option.

Premiums are more rare than the LE, so the relative "collectible" aspect is questionable for most titles, especially if the art package is any good. It's just a marketing gimmick.

It's in mothballs. The standard build here on with Stern is Pro, LE, maybe premium or VE later based on sales.

No future planning other than that.

And any older title with a valid licensing agreement and available components can be a VE pin based on where Gary's dart lands on his dartboard.

Oh, that can't be. Premium doesn't come with a fancy piece of paper certificate. How could anyone want a premium over an LE, even if they didn't make as many? This is madness.

CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER..................MASS HYSTERIA!

Gotta admit, is kinda funny.

LE availability: 600.
Premium availability: 10.

Strange world sometimes.

i will be slightly pissed about it if they announce a premium down the road.

Why would you give a shit? You don't buy games based on value anyway? right? If your not buying for investment purposes, you should care less. You get different armor and different artwork over the premium. If you don't like that art package, maybe you should wait to see what the premium looks like. Since your buying your game based solely on looks anyway.

Prepare to be pissed if it's a big seller. At least you'll have the full version 6 months before the Premium is announced...right about when the code is close to being done

Miss the point much?

He didn't say a single word about value.

I'd say being upfront about all potential models before customers start forking over hard earned money is a damn good reason.

If you go back and read all my posts, you will see that I was one of the people who argued strongly that Stern could very well run a premium, despite there not being any mention of one at launch. I decided to order an LE anyway, since I'm a huge Walking Dead fan, but this news hardly comes as a surprise to me. Ever since Stern made Luci, I realized that all bets are off when it comes to what they will or won't run in the future. It's still disappointing to see them pull this kind of crap, though, and it will almost certainly make me hesitant to pre-order an LE in the future.

You just said it yourself that announcing the possibility of a premium would have hurt LE sales. Stern deliberately withheld information from it customers in an effort to move as many LEs as possible, as quickly as possible. It wasn't an oversight. It was cold and calculated. I'd say that's manipulative bullshit in its purest form.

^ Well said Brian!

All of this is making my head hurt.

I can't think of a single company or industry that would use this in their marketing strategy. Announce a new line of products while simultaneously announcing they may or may not build a similar model in the future (not kick starter funded). When apple announced the iphone6, they didn't say: 'Oh by the way, the iphone7 may or may not be out in 6 to 9 months...'. Can you think of another company that does this? Why should Stern be held to a higher standard?

i am happy for all you guys buying pros and les, i sincerely congratulate you on an amazing looking machine. if a premium is made please be happy for me and many more like myself as well. this is pinball for crying out loud

It's not that stern is purposely withholding info. Premiums are NOT in build timelines and if LE's sell out fast AND pros sell a lot, then maybe, just maybe, a VE or premium MAY be in the future.

Christ on a cracker there's no conspiracy guys. Do NOT buy a pro if you want all the features. Do NOT buy an LE if it's too rich for your blood. And DO NOT BUY A PIN TODAY WORRIED ABOUT FUTURE POTENTIAL RELEASES, IF THEY ARE EVEN MADE!

Everyone keeps talking about how they like the artwork on the Pro better than the LE. I guess I am the minority. I think the LE artwork is much better than the Pro. The LE artwork is more closely related to the walking dead graphic novels, while the Pro is just art of the AMC actors. I am very happy with the LE artwork. (Disclaimer: this post is from Jetspeedb's wife )

Agreed. LE art is fantastic. I don't like the off colored red on the pro and the backglass on the LE looks killer creepy! Safety glass broken compared to pro regular glass the zombies are breaking through.

So Stern should announce a Premium, then be forced to make them, even if it means that distributors will have to sit on them if the game doesn't do well?
Do you think they're happy to have made Mustang Premiums? What about StarTrek Premiums? Hell, Road Case Premiums for Metallica even?

Stern is out to make a buck and is putting their business on the line with every new pin being made.
As consumers, we enjoy the ability to dive in and buy a pin we like, or sit back and either pass on a title, or wait to see if it's any good. In turn, they have the right to market and produce as they see fit.

I said it when they first released the features matrix, and I'll say it again. All Stern had to do was list the premium with an asterisk next to it saying *pending demand. This would have allowed Stern the flexibility to build or not build a premium without any chance of upsetting the early pro and LE buyers.

premium being made would piss me off, going forward with pinball purchases.

When Stern released Avatar Pro and then announced the LE later it really ticked off customers. You would think they would learn to handle it all in the initial announcement before too many people slap money down with the condoned-but-not-sanctioned pre-order process.

Build to order and no one is forced to do anything against their will.

Thank you for posting this info - made my day!

It obviously didn't hurt sales of the following machines, so what should they learn?

That the pin-crowd is highly vocal but that this is mainly hot air with no consequences?

And Luci was manipulative and just plain wrong? I mean what the heck?

But nobody is boo-hooing about that.

IM VE weren't we told by the owner of the company they were not re-making the game?

The point is, just by saying one edition is the so called LE does not mean Stern can not re-package the game. It would make a lot of sense if they could sell another thousand units of the higher priced version.

My point, this LE is an artificial time to buy, I mean if you are ready today or next week fine but if you are ready next year and there are no LEs you just pass and maybe buy a game from Jack or maybe TBL or Spooky etc..

Stern had a good run with what game? AcDc? (yes I would say so) and probably Met. If all they had were AcDc pros (along with a few hundred LEs) then I would suspect there would be thousands less AcDc sold period. I have no interest in the acdc pro. Let Stern look at their bottom line and subtract out all the premiums sold and see if that's better or worse than if they had gone all LE only with the pros.

Stern would be wise to add the following disclaimer to the bottom of all future game announcements:

*Additional models may follow based on demand. These models may include various Premium models, alternate Pro models with added features and different translites, Vault Edition, Costco edition, "The Pin", or any other "new" model we think of. Rest assured that the LE version will be the only version with a numbered plaque, certificate and signed playfield.-unless we change our mind on that

They kind of did this with Avengers, at least they printed that it was coming but gave no date. My guess is that many people did not go LE out of the gate because they figured they would go for a Premium. Then Avengers was slammed by the community and sales dried up. Now they were stuck with LEs sitting at distributors and still having to fill an order of Premiums.

So from a business perspective, I think not announcing a Premium right away makes a large amount of sense. Getting all LEs sold is good for Stern, good for the distributors. If the game ends up being unpopular then they maximized the sales of the LEs. If it ends up being a hit and all LEs are sold through, they can then announce a Premium if there is enough demand from the distribs.

I agree it kind of sucks for collectors on the fence, but my strategy with TWD is to just assume there will be another version, Premium, Vault, whatever if it sells well and then decide how bad I want to get one right away.

Maybe not anymore, but at the time Luci definitely ruffled some feathers.

No, there are plenty of us who much prefer the artwork on the LE!

Like I've said before, one reason I prefer it is that it is a much more generic Zombie theme vs specifically a TWD theme. I think the LE will feel less dated years down the road when the show is long gone vs. the pro, which has the actors on the cabinet.

You must have missed those posts then.

my feathers were not ruffled one bit and i bought my premium 6 months before luci was made. i bought my premium to enjoy and play. imagine someone buying something because they want to actually ...enjoy it!

the feather rufflers are the whiners, why should stern cater to a whiner, they are a business not ones coddling mommy.

Hopefully what is happening is that as things level off and the hype trains go away Stern can make and sell to true demand. Its part of the old flipper problem.

Why?

TWD is still on the air!

I'll bet they could have said no and you would have heard yes. but I agree it sounds like a go if demand is there. Way to read the tea leaves.

Maybe, but that didn't stop Stern from making Luci, IM pro belly aching didn't stop Stern from re-making it, my point is Stern doesn't get paid by the boo-hoo-ers it gets paid by the people that buy IM VE and Luci and eventually TWD premium.

Well said. Money talks, Stern is in business to sell as many pins as possible, if they had made just 600 AcDc LEs they would have made 600 people happy, but by making premium and Luci they sold 6x as many or more of the higher trim games that's not hard to dispute.

I think anyone who buys an LE should get it because they want the LE. And be cool with knowing that Premium might come out if the game is hot and people are asking for it. When/if it does it will never be the LE. Personally I'd bet it would be Pro cab and trans, LE playfield.

Money talks though, forum polls don't mean much.

Nobody is arguing that they shouldn't make premiums. In fact, I've been saying just the opposite. I think Stern should be open to the possibility of making a premium for every single release. It's a good business decision. My main opposition with them potentially running a TWD premium is the way in which they went about it. It's Stern's lack of transparency that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I can understand maximizing profits, but if they have to resort to trickery in order to achieve them, then I think they need to seriously rethink their marketing strategies. Pinball is a small niche market, and Stern has flourished because of its dedicated customers. All I'm asking is that they treat those customers with the respect that they deserve by being open about their intentions.

stern leaves a sweet taste in mine...don't buy it then.

you call it trickery, i call it realizing they have a hit and letting more pinball fans enjoy pinball

if you feel disrespected that i may have a premium twd pinball machine some day is funny.

sour taste, lack of respect...sure sounds like a healthy approach to a really fun hobby