I think they'd sell a zillion of these. I'm not a big fan fan of Harry Potter but my wife and son are so it would be a must purchase for sure.

Harry Potter is probably the best license for pinball. It has everything. So much you could do with this pin. When I saw the photos I thought please let this be a sign. I'm All in on a LE or Super LE. Just make the damn thing already. However if you do not get the movie rights voices or music I will NEVER forgive you STERN!

I am on the fence with Harry Potter, it is classic but also a little dated. I have always thought it would be cool to do the 'Lego' version of a franchise. The 'Lego' movies have been pretty entertaining recently. I would be interested in a Harry Potter if Stern loaded it up. I would like to see the use of subway ramps, cool toys and cool features. This theme would not be ideal for Stern to do a re-theme and tweak an already produced design. Something fresh and new and something that knocks my socks off.

Harry Potter Hype.jpg

Harry Potter..jpg

Vernon Dursley.png

I hope not

I get it and if done right they’ll sell a lot, but it’s not for me.

I hope so, even if I do not care for the theme I want Stern to be successful and thrive. This theme would sell a shit ton, I say go for it Stern-it will do well. It is a universally attractive theme, not many of those are left.

It makes more sense that they would purseue Fantastic Beasts as a theme. Same universe, new movie coming out. More current.

Ugh. They'll just make another Guardians - a fan layout with zero movie integration.

I think it would be a tragedy if stern got the license...... please don’t be true

Not a huge HP fan, but it beats the crap out of a Beatles pin and least moves it into the "maybe" realm for me ever buying one.

Really really wanted this to be a jjp . It has the potential to be the best world under glass of all time

At this point, I think anyone who is an actual fan of the franchise would genuinely hope that ANY PINBALL MANUFACTURER would be able to secure the license, as that would guarantee that this "holy grail" of licenses actually came to fruition, that has seemed to be impossible to secure in the past.

But, similar to Star Wars, and similar to what we're hearing about The Beatles (shhhhhhh!, don't want to start another "speculation" thread!!!) many know that this theme has both the source material and also a giant fan base to be a great pin. But with licensing and whatnot, I personally don't want this to be another SW Pro. Yes I just played a SW Pro for an hour tonight and still have a lot of fun with it, but there's been what now, 4-5 Star Wars pins now, and none of them can claim to be the outright best?

Harry Potter, if it ever becomes a pin, won't have that luxury to go through 4-5 iterations across 3-4 manufacturers. If there's any shot, the first shot needs to be the best (and probably only) shot... and for that, I personally hope Harry Potter doesn't go to Stern, and goes exclusively to JJP, even if that means I won't be able to own one NIB.

I'd rather this title get the pin it deserves, and maybe play it at a friend's house or on location, than be a stripped down title where the Pro has a wand on a spring that has a tip that lights up, and a "he-who-shall-not-be-named" as a stationary figure with a kickback coil underneath.

Sorry Stern, you've made a lot of pins I love to play, especially lately, but that's because they're real good shooters (*cough IMDN, SW, & AS cough*) but theme integration isn't your forte, and for the theme of all themes that deserves immersion, I hope JJP gets this one... but if you've somehow secured this one, can you please make the Premium not suck, and at least somewhat worth the cost???

Damn Yoko2una, you said that perfectly

I'd absolutely love to see this, but my best guess is that the Stern guys were out in California for some other business, decided to stop by Universal to check out Harry Potter for fun, and then decided to mess with us by posting the above. Hope I'm wrong, but it's not like Stern to drop hints like this for real.

EDIT: Although I haven't been the biggest JJP fan to date I'd also prefer they got the license to Stern - but I'd rather see a Stern machine than nothing at all.

No. That photo proves they are not.

What it does prove is a bunch of quirky guys in LA to negotiate terms for another movie license. And who could not resist the gimmick. Brilliant.

Remember Gary used to love posting photos of himself with My Little Pony.

Cue the usual "I'd rather see JJP get this" in 3....2.....1

Exactly. Stern wouldn't tease an actual game this way.

Considering JJP hit two home runs already with Warner (Hobbit) (WOZ) what would make anyone think they wouldn't have already discussed this with JJP. I'm sure without any doubt that they would want a fully themed game not some assembly line approach for Stern. The owner of the entire HP franchise is a billionaire I'm sure she could care less about making a few bucks off a pinball game. Now is she's seen how the game was approached from Hobbit by JJ she might want to do it simply based on the wow factor.

If you see a HP game I'm sure it will be JJ. I doubt ANYONE would want a HP gamee made by Stern. HP would be another high end collector style game. Look at Star Wars that game is a disaster, who wouldn't have wanted JJ to do that game?

I think everyone. Based on Warners success with JJ I'm sure HP was already discussed. Clearly they want to continue they got Willy Wonka.

Add in grails and worlds under glass and you've got it.

Yuck....hope nobody does this.

Yuck as in I hope nobody makes this title as I think the Harry Potter franchise sucks.
Not to be confused with me thinking jjp sucks because it is my opinion that they dont.

Edited for clarity on my statement.

TH has been far from a homerun. The licensor could care less what the game is. They just want the most money. Stern would easily sell more HP games just based on their ability to actually make them alone. You are just making up stuff.

You could do without the first sentence, why the animosity?

Home runs? Like that is your opinion man. WOZ is the rainbow show with no flow, and Hobbit has great art and looks cool, but is a dud when it comes to game play. Sorry JJP fans but I feel Stern would make a good pin and I would love to see Stern make it. It may not look like a museum piece but it will play well, which is all I care about. I would take Stern over JJP any day of the week.

Please not Harry Potter and the return of the specky bastards!

The films were terrible.

I suspect the license not cheap so either a price hike or a Star Wars like playfield with dumbledore on a spring.

When was the game released? When was that last code update that made the game so good?

TH isn't terrible by any means, it's layout is poor though and that's just really hard to over come. Still fun to play every once in a while though.

No one is tackling all 8 films in a game and doing it well. That's just too much content to have any sort of focus for a game. It would be an all over the place mess in my opinion. You couldn't even have toys that fit as some would be from when they were kids and next they are almost adults fighting a war. And how many years would we have to have to have all of that coded if JJP did try that? And what are you disagreeing with? That TH isn't a homerun?

That is a concern, if they are going to spend the rumored million dollars on rights, the BOM may suffer. They simply need to raise the bar without jacking up the price. This one will be based off volume sales for Pros/Premiums for ROI, not selling x amount of limited super LE's. The profits will be based on number of units produced during the franchise agreement period. They will sell a shit ton if they keep the pricing relative and don't cut corners on BOM. A good game sells itself.

For sure, but anyone that makes the game is going to try to charge as much as they possibly can for it not matter what the license costs or what the BOM is. All of these companies are going to keep trying the Super LE stuff as much as possible as they have seen with BM66 people will pay and you can make a killing.

And is it 3 or 4 years since TH reveal?

I'll pass on another 30+ mode JJP game. I know some people love games like that and I'm glad they have those options but I do not like that style of pinball. To each their own I guess.

Couple hours late. Read the thread before you react next time.

You don’t have to completely cover every moment of each film. You just have to hit every major note to make it feel complete.

That's the catch 22

I have thought about this, I think if pinball companies price their pins more competitively they will in turn sell more units. Profits come by negotiating better pricing from vendors by purchasing higher quantities of parts, etc. Base profit projections on volume sales, not limited numbered runs. Let's take Houdini as an example. I feel if American priced Houdini's at $4995 they may have sold considerably more-heck I would have bought one at that price. How many units would they have had to sell at $4995 vs $6995 to have the same ROI? Harry Potter will sell well if priced competitively and if it is a good playing game. Imagine if Stern reduced pricing for Pro's back down to $4995 in order to capture more volume sales-that would be awesome.

JJP could do it justice.

It's just a distraction so they "surprise" the market when they release their next Rock n Roll themed pin.

If this does come to fruition, I think they missed out on the Harry Potter hype by like 5 or more years if they wanted to appeal to the casual crowd, but with the Cursed Child being in theaters, there has been a resurgence in popularity.

Still, Harry Potter is basically a religion for some people, so regardless, it would likely be successful.

Let's hope whoever's get this license does it right. I sure as hell hope it has alot more theme/asset integration then JJPOTC and more Toys then a Star Wars Pro.

For the money we spend on these things you would think we could get a whole lot more.

Forgot to mention a coin door would be nice

If the game costs $4795 to make, and they sold 1,000 at $6995...
-- that would be $2,200 profit per machine
-- vs $200 profit per machine @ $4,995
---- Total profit @ $2200 = 2200 * 1000 = 2,200,000 ROI
---- 2,200,000 / 200 = 11,000

They would need to sell 11,000 games vs 1,000
-- caveat: there may be additional costs involved in the sale, storage and shipment of the additional 10,000 units

Very important note:
The Harry Potter park at Universal Hollywood is a dump compared to Harry Potter Orlando. If there making it, they went to the wrong park.
Wide body JJP would be a better choice. But I also see JJP with to much on there plate right now. Was hoping this was Pat's next title.

Yes and no. The original child readers of the HP books are now in their 30's (books started in 1997). This would be a good time to sell pins to them.

Well if it cost $3000 to produce that would be a $2000 profit for each machine instead of $4000. Also consider having to leave some profit for the distributor-$500-$1000?

2000 x $2000=$4,000,000
1000 x $4000=$4,000,000

Looks closer to 2 to 1 to me not 11 to 1-again a volume based approach instead of limited numbers.

Funny you say that-I was thinking the same exact thing. I dropped $800 for 21/2 hours last year at Universal California-what a waste of money. I did do the studio tour that was ok but other than Harry Potter, the park is lacking. Universal Florida is way better and I did not feel like I was getting ripped off. Night and day difference between the two.

I see what you’re saying. Personally, I’m an original child reader of the series who’s nearly 30 years old along with many/most of my peers. That being said, I don’t think too many of us are ready to actually purchase a NIB game. Demographically, we’re all too busy being swamped in student debt or saving up to buy a home, or busy having kids.

If the game were released 5 years ago or more, however, we all would’ve played the shit out of it on location. I think today, it wouldn’t have the location impact it would've had a little while ago.

But like I said, being that HP is essentially a religion (my Alma Mater literally has a quidditch team that competes against other Ivy League universities in the area), I do think it will still have widespread appeal, even if it is a few years too late.

Gary did exactly this with Ghostbusters.

The code for the Hobbit isn't the problem.

It's boring to play and shoot.

It doesn't matter how great the code and animations are, if the game is boring to shoot.