Quoted from Bublehead:Here's a question or two that brings both the insider program and machine price hikes into focus...
Are the Stern price increases, that are putting machines further out of the hands of the common man, making on location play more lucrative to operators?
I would say the price increase might have a small effect, although probably not an appreciable amount. The "common man" demographic group doesn't own machines, so they likely have no idea what the price of the machine is, or the fact there was a 10% price increase. The home owners demographic group that also play on location will continue to do so, likely at the same rate/frequency.
Stern is still the cheapest of the new table manufacturers, and it's always been a requirement to "Keep up with the Joneses" for arcades.
Outside of COVID impacts, the price increase is likely very manageable from a location business perspective, like the bar+arcade trend. If a $600 increase is a make or break point on affordability, it's probably not wise to pick up a new machine even without the increase. They'd be better of investing that money on the existing core business and advertising.
I've seen the new hotness table at every pinball/arcade/gaming convention I've ever been to pick up 400-600 plays in two days. However, that's unusually specialized and ravenous traffic volumes that locations don't get all at once. I'm not a business owner though, so I can't say what profits are like with COVID right now and how much it would impact ROI.
Straight operators that split intake with location owners are going to feel a bigger ROI pinch since they don't have things like bar and restaurant income to supplement or compensate. It might mean an increase in new game prices to $1.25 or $1.50 per game in some locations. If competition in the area is low, having the newest tables right away or adding Insider kits to current machines will be way less important. Smart location owners and operators would use the newer tables as differentiating factors in areas with competition, or as a way to increase return business via the promotion system.
Quoted from Bublehead:...knowing that it makes it harder to own a machine and more likely the common man will seek out location play as their best bang for the buck?
To be specific, I don't believe there is any correlation between the "common man" demographic and location play vs. home ownership cost. The "common man" doesn't, and will likely never, own a pinball machine. It might tip the scales for home owners to buy Hot Wheels and just play Godzilla at the arcade, although I've talked to some owners that already take that stance. If the theme/game has a strong pull though, it likely won't matter. I own JP even though there are at least two on location in town.
Quoted from Bublehead:Does the Insider program help operators by making it easier for the common man to afford on location play by providing discounts or loyalty points that can offset the high on-location game pricing that is being used to offset the higher machine costs, or is it more a perception thing, where the player perceives he is getting something for next to nothing?
It's an incentive feature free to the customer which are VERY effective at driving repeat customers and building brand loyalty. It's exactly like club cards, flyer miles, hotel points, gas rewards, and any other loyalty program out there.
Let me paint a picture:
"I didn't really like LZ when they got it here since it felt kinda boring, and I'm not really a fan of their music. It's got the QR kit now though, and the app has instructions on what I need to do for these achievements. A lot of these seem pretty easy to pick up, and would bump up my XP leaderboard spot here at the arcade. I guess I could play a few games to try and unlock some of the achievements while Mando and Zilla still have longer lines."
Or another scenario:
"I've got JP at home already and opted not to get the QR kit since it was going to be $300 and felt like a waste at home. They've got it here though and it's a little while before league starts still. Hah! I'll go play a couple of games, try to hit Visitor Center, and knock out almost all these achievements. Even better, they're verified which I wouldn't get at home even if I had the kit."
Quoted from Bublehead:$40 bucks a year better get me at least 40 free games somewhere, or at least a fricken t-shirt (preferably one that fits, but most don't print anything bigger than a 3X) because even loot boxes have stuff worth some $$$ inside them. Just offering me "something to be named later", in that I have no idea what I am buying at the time of purchase, seems to be a growing market trend. Caveat Emptor or "buyer beware" is being replaced with "buyer don't care" and they argue the point by saying "it's only $39.95 a year, so why care?
It's a moot point since all-access essentially does nothing right now; all the announced features are available at the free Insider account level. It's a matter of Stern showing sufficient value before people buy all-access that don't already have it. I really don't see Stern making the poor decision of locking any significant gameplay to all-access beyond the scope/impact of what toppers provide.
It's a common saying that 80% of profits come from 20% of the users. I predict that all-access will add features that cater to whales and competitive crowds and will do things like profile picutre unlocks on the LCD display, have a username show up instead of initials, a special symbol or color change on high scores, longer initial limits, shows off completed achievements, that sort of thing. Features that are neat and flashy, but don't significantly impact the actual gameplay in any significant way. This is all a SWAG on whatever "special game related content" really turns into.
Stern implemented topper DLC though, so who knows? Maybe all-access will enable the topper DLC modes without actually requiring the topper. That would actually be a really smart thing for Stern to do. The code is already written on the tables, toppers are a limited commodity, and seems like a very low effort to implement once IC code rolls out to tables. Then, a $200-300 kit and $30/year nets you the same thing as a $600-2,000 topper, minus the actual topper, of course.
Quoted from Bublehead:One thing is absolutely certain in all of this- This is just another scheme of Stern's to put more of your dollars in their pocket, or the pockets of operators, and no offense to operators, but why would they drop $200 per machine unless it has some ROI?
Operators should be absolutely salivating over the thought of a digital loyalty program with added routing benefits and easier analytics. Unless Stern neuters the program out of the gate by charging per machine fees for Pro accounts, or operators have no competition in their area, they should be all over this. It doesn't even touch on other possible advantages like tournament reporting, Twitch/YouTube integration, linked competitive play...
Anaheim, CA
