Pinball Mfg company competitive... What If curiosity regarding titles.

OK just a Curiosity no pole required. I have wondered with Several companies now competing for market share and increased secrecy (till "Pinside" gets wind lol) regarding future plans What would these manufacturers do if they found out one of the other guys was doing the Same title?? I can assume from concept to production must take Many months, crazy amounts of cash, and a ton of labor till it sees market. If say Stern was 3 months into design etc on a game and found out say Spooky (enter name doesn't matter) was doing the same would they Ramp up and blast it out to gamble on them backing down or would they pull the reigns back and say we're to late and not worth the gamble on lost market share if they hit it out of the park? We are talking serious cash for these projects and for many companies they only get 1 Maybe 2 swings at market per year. This curiosity hit me after watching a documentary on the toy manufacturers back in the day that would even pay spies to find out what the Other company was doing to beat them to market with a comparable product with hopes to overturn their ship. Barbie (Mattel I believe) was notorious for this. Not that I collect Barbies...There Not Mine! Just a curiosity put to post.

#2 6 years ago

PBP

PopBumperPete

Pinside+ Frequent

12y 103K 4,039 8

i dare say the licence agrement would prohibit a second company using the same title

also they could just retheme the game,
suposedly STTNG was going to be Under Siege, the last wrestling game originaly was Hunger Games

#3 6 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

11y 158K 58,796

I have a hard time believing they would compete for any of the titles that have come out lately. Or even any that are rumored to be in production.

But then again we are seeing the second go round of POTC.

#4 6 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside member

Sana'a

12y 169K 40,234 18

1 to 2 years before a title is released, an exclusive licensing agreement is signed.

You can have 2 KISSs or 4 Playboys - just not at the same time.

#5 6 years ago

DAD

Yelobird

Understood but say its an Unlicensed theme like Alice in wonderland, Gone with the wind, the Bible whatever? Even an obscure none theme like clowns or cell phones... What if god for bid Stern was hot to make an iPhone theme and got wind of Dialed in? Obscure I know but on the other side of the coin the days of a one horse race are Happily gone. Just crazy thoughts.

#6 6 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

11y 158K 58,796

OP
Quoted from Yelobird:
an obscure none theme like clowns or cell phones..

Funny how we got both Kiss and Dialed In at around the same time.

#7 6 years ago

LCP

ryanwanger

Comet Pinball

Boulder, CO

10y 100K 2,651 88

OP
Quoted from Yelobird:
Understood but say its an Unlicensed theme like Alice in wonderland, Gone with the wind, the Bible whatever?

We would need more companies making unlicensed themes.

Pinball Magic and Theater of Magic were released in the same year. Not sure how long Capcom's development cycle was, but they were 7 months late to the party on what is essentially the same theme.

Was there an attempt at secrecy back then? It would seem much less important back when few people were using the internet.

#8 6 years ago

LEW

Pinballlew

Pinside member

8y 116K 3,940 7

This situation did happen to Spooky with the walking dead. They were working on a zombie pinball, So they changed plans and made AMH. Just watched things that go bump in the night which tells the story.

#9 6 years ago

GUL

pinsanity

Pinside member

12y 75,350 1,559

Quoted from ryanwanger:
We would need more companies making unlicensed themes.
Pinball Magic and Theater of Magic were released in the same year. Not sure how long Capcom's development cycle was, but they were 7 months late to the party on what is essentially the same theme.
Was there an attempt at secrecy back then? It would seem much less important back when few people were using the internet.

TOM was initially David Copperfield (note cabinet art spelling) and with even more similarity to Pinball Magic early versions of TOM had a magic wand hand as well.

No doubt it is too much of a coincidence to suppose the two companies developed these two pins in a complete vacuum from each other.

Copperfieldcabartwork (resized).JPG

Theatremagicwand (resized).JPG

#10 6 years ago

JCS

jeffspinballpalace

JeffSPinballPalace

20y 242K 19,063 556

Blackwater 100 and Banzai Run come to my mind. Two non-licenced motorcycle themed games which competed against each other in 88/89. LTG might recall or could ask PL. Certainly one of them was created specifically as direct response after learning what else was being made. Both games are pretty different, and would hold different appeal to coin droppers. I don't know if it worked out or not, but back then buyers were Operators and Distributers, who tended to buy more with theme, deals, brand loyalty etc, rather than how good a game was expected to earn as sole criteria.

I think the theme was viewed with skepticism, as we've had exactly one motorcycle themed pin released since. Care to guess what that non-licensed title was? I believe Dialed-In has saturated the market for cell phone based pins, so if you are hoping for a Spint or AT&T pin, you may be disappointed. Still lots of room for more monsters, demons, ghouls, zombies.

#11 6 years ago

XAP

oropuro

Pinside member

11y 91,800 1,698 168

Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:
Blackwater 100 and Banzai Run come to my mind. Two non-licenced motorcycle themed games which competed against each other in 88. Certainly one of them was created specifically as direct response after learning what else was being made. Both games are pretty different, and would hold different appeal to coin droppers. I don't know if it worked out or not, but back then buyers were Operators and Distributers, who tend to buy more with theme, deals, etc rather than how good a game was.
I think the theme was viewed with skepticism, as we've had exactly one motorcycle themed pin released since. Care to guess what that non-licensed title was?

Full Throttle

#12 6 years ago

JCS

jeffspinballpalace

JeffSPinballPalace

20y 242K 19,063 556

Quoted from oropuro:
Full Throttle

Yep that's the one. To some extent other games have incorporated motorcycles like No Fear, which has an excellent jump ramp. But a motorcycle was not the main theme. Lots more dmd's have embraced racing in general and cars specifically which were usually licensed. Don't remember any dmd's using boats per se.

#13 6 years ago

DAD

Yelobird

Interesting points and all make sense. So what about on a lessor scale. What about a specific show stopping feature? As a what if example; AP made an Awsome game with the biggest primary wow (not patented) feature being the 22” ball throw. (Very cool and can’t wait to get mine). What if Stern or other said piss on that let’s do that in our next what ever theme and scoop that concept? Heck, we’ll even do a revolving stage (no patent) and call it a revolving box! Stern could surely beat a start up to production with there resources and majorly defuse interest in their offering as same old of sorts. Again, the scenarios are just what popped into my head not real nor of value! Love AP but just wonder if this industry would compete to such levels for $$$ domination.

#14 6 years ago

guss

Inactive member

Shinglehouse, PA

6y 69,300 894 4

Quoted from pinsanity:
TOM was initially David Copperfield (note cabinet art spelling) and with even more similarity to Pinball Magic early versions of TOM had a magic wand hand as well.
No doubt it is too much of a coincidence to suppose the two companies developed these two pins in a complete vacuum from each other.

Brian Hanson went to Williams and they said it couldn't be done. So he did the magic wand for Capcom.

5 months later

#15 5 years ago

DAD

Yelobird