I am going off of what Gomez said when he was a guest on multiple podcasts. Stern still has a massive backlog they need to get through. Think of all the poor people waiting for their Elvira and having to go through two price increases. Also they will be moving facilities so I cant imagine they would be going full steam ahead during the move. It will take a bit for them to get back on track. Hopefully the supply chain will get better. As well as the ability to find quality workers who will actually work. All of these factors I do not see them putting out more than 2 new releases this year.

Is Bond stream still on for end of this month? Hope so, unless some new wrinkle has developed. Any leaking lips got an update?

Why the heck is anyone talking about Foo Fighters? lol This is the list Stern or anyone should be using to decide the next music pin.

https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/best-selling-artists-of-all-time/

Sorry but next up is Drake (who I can't stand, but obviously I'm out of touch, as are, i assume, most of us here).
After that we skip Michael Jackson for obvious reasons and it's Rihanna, which would make a damn fine pinball theme.
Eminem, Madonna, and Justin Beiber to round out the top 10 (that haven't already had a pin).

Foo Fighter and Ozzy are small potatoes compared to these guys, sorry.

I think you are discounting the buying demographic for pinball machines. The target demographic is 40-60 year old men for most of the pinball machine buying market.

Rihanna, Justin Beiber and Drake are not popular properties with that demographic.

Madonna and Eminem would be viable as are the “dad rock” bands like Ozzy, etc.

Foo Fighters is actually one of the bands that are still relatively current but also have significant ties to the demographic from Grohl’s time with Nirvana. Nirvana would be a great theme but the issue of trying to deal with Courtney Love makes that one very difficult.

But I think that's exactly the attitude that keeps the demographics of pinball small and sheltered. There are plenty of millionaires who love Drake (gag) and would never consider pinball because all they see is Rush and Led Zepplin. If you want to expand the purchasing base you need to give them something new that actually interests them. Who knows how a Drake (gag) pinball machine might perform because the current companies haven't tried anything that ballsy and mainstream yet. Everything is either Dad rock, Pinball History, or SciFi/Fantasy/Comics. The only real contemporary, non-nostaligia themes I see in the top 50 are The Big Lewboski, Stranger Things, Rick and Morty, The Walking Dead, Dialed In and Toy Story; none of the music themed. Sooner or later one of these companies is going to have to go out on a limb and produce a hip-hop pin for the under 60 crowd.

Two thoughts:
1) Maybe they approached Drake, etc., and they weren't interested.
2) Maybe Drake, etc., was interested but wanted too much money. That's why there is no Prince pinball machine.

The few pinball companies that exist only put out 1-3 titles per year so they can't take huge risks with new themes. Stern could take a chance at this point (and maybe they are working on it) but probably not any other company.

I'm assuming they'd do the Studio 666 movie angle if Foo is actually real. But that bombed pretty hard, so I have a difficult time believing that's even a real angle, too.

I'll say it again, companies do market research, why would Stern produce something if they are unsure its going to sell? Stern is not being held hostage by us.

Taylor Swift

Only bands I can think of dropping 13k on an le is Ozzy and Muse. I like Foo fighters but now at 13k idk.

Not to be rude, but you can say it all you like; do you have any actual evidence or proof that Stern does market research beyond pinside and pinball gatherings?

Do you really think market research led them to decide Rush was the most desired musical themed pin they could produce? Or Sean Connery Bond for that matter? I suspect Grantman may be closer to the truth. A cheap license popular with the over 60 crowd seems the safe bet, no market research necessary.

Kicking out words of wisdom. What's up Jake?

Yes, Black Sabbath would sell like crazy. Bring it Stern!

I think it comes down to Stern's annual license budget.
They shift between cheap and expensive to try and balance costs. The expensive ones also don't get all the assets normally. Balance.

'19
Munsters = Cheap
BKSOR = Cheap
JP = Expensive, but cheaper than JW (and without assets)
EHOH = Cheap
STH = Expensive

'20
TMNT = Cheap
AIQ = Cheap
LZ = Expensive (Music Rights)

'21
Mando = Expensive
GZ = Cheap

'22
Rush = Cheapish (Music Rights)
JB = Expensive

Where does Stern get a lot of their ideas for a theme? At licensing shows. They find what's cheap, probably appeals to a good portion of players (or at least enough), and go with that. Never know what's going to be a hit and what's going to be a miss...... just grab whatever is convenient. Whenever they start out with an assumed instant blockbuster it's always a flop.

Essentially they buy themes on sale most of the time.

Looking forward to the next Rock Pin - I'd be happy with Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath or Motley Crue.

Nah, you are right. Stern, a multimillion dollar company, just wings it and hopes for the best. They should probably buy lottery tickets, seems the dart to the board while blind folded is working out well for them.

And yes, Stern said there are more Rush fans with $$$ than Foo Fighters fans with only$$ Just like they did with Zep, just like they will with Ozzy.

Stern does have a marketing dept, would that possibly entail market research?

https://sternpinball.com/2021/11/16/stern-pinball-enhances-sales-and-marketing-department/

My better half wants a boy band pin so bad. She said a mashup of Backstreet Boys and Nysnc is her dream theme

Journey would do great with men and women in the 40 to bracket.

MacGyver for the win. I could see plenty of cheap campy assets used like GZ. Shoot shot combos and such to make gizmos and gadgets to fight bad guys and solve puzzles. Timed wizard mode with precision shots to diffuse the bomb without triggering an explosion. (Stern, thank me later).

No, dude, you are just proving my point. Marketing is sales, (happens after the product is already developed). Market research is research and development (before the product is made). Fairly unrelated. No where in that guys job description does it mention market research. :-/ But again, if anyone has any proof Stern does real market research outside the all ready established pinball community, I'd love to see it.

But I think PinStalker has it right.

Why do you think that happens?

I'm not sure there are enough examples to make this conclusion. Are you thinking Avatar? IJ4? What else?

I do enjoy the fact that I can read pinside posts from my home… with the sheer amount of people talking out of their ass on here, I have to imagine the smell would be awful.

YES. Batman The Animated Series. That intro.. still, so good.

BMTAS.gif

What, no O-Town or 98 Degrees?

Happens almost every time.

Failed Blockbusters (I.E. Expensive Licenses that don't sell as well as "cheap" licenses and typically no interest after release)
Terminator 3
Austin Powers
Elvis
Sopranos
Shrek
POTC
IJ
Batman (2008)
Avatar
Transformers
GOT
STH
Beatles
LZ
Mando
JB (yeah it's early, but you can already tell.... no lasting wide interest in this game or it's variant)
*Note the license would be expensive at the time of production, not necessarily now*

Maybe I shouldn't have said always..... there are a few outliers with really expensive licenses...
Intended blockbusters with expensive licenses that succeeded right out of the gate:
Kiss
Metallica
JP
SW

Stern has a 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 batting average with expensive licenses (IMO).

Jody, I know you're lurking on Pinside and laughing right now.

I would rather see Macgruber.

BB5F6601-230C-4E05-B5FE-7CDD6AFD2868.gif

Yea, ESTABLISHED pinbuying community and it appears the pinbuying community is speaking, so its old man bands and marvel movies. And $20,000 pins to boot.

Do some of your own market research and prove Stern wrong, we all know pinball is easy...

Do you have Sterns production numbers to know all this info?

If the expensive themes aren't more profitable than the cheap themes, then I would stick with the cheap themes.

Come on, MST3K pinball...

You know it! Just watched an episode with my boy tonight. Never realized the Grey Ghost / Simon Trent character was voiced by Adam West, which then led us to watching the Batman Adam West show, which will now lead me to check out how much those pins are going for out of curiosity.

Misses the board entirely..hit's the Wall....PINK FLOYD for the win

So many rumors out there. Next Stern supposed to be music pin? Next release March? Next game Venom? Tron 2.0 LCD coming?, SAM game being remade? Foo Fighters(that may be a code name-can't imagine that can be real?). I am so confused

So confused (resized).jpg

I think "Foo Fighters" is a code name for Pokemon. I think it would be a dynamite license for Stern and something that Zombie Yeti would be able to come up with a killer artwork package for. I can't see him doing a traditional band pin, animated and comic book characters are what he's best at.

Without making an X-Files meme, I will just say the Truth is Out There.

These little teasers-C'mon Zach-jeesh

SAM game that was not well received...OK so all of them?

X-Files, Avaturd, IJ, Transformers, Rolling Stones? oh SAM I am with green eggs and ham .

I say bring back SAM all together(ditch node boards). After reading about Tigerlaws Dad's Aerosmith node board nightmare had me thinking about volatility of Spike in future. Blowing node boards is no Bueno.

I think the people who own the IPs. Need to let Stern do their own thing and create the world under glass. Im sure the people at James Bond were a pain in the ass to work with. These are some of the most ugly cabinets. Just copy and pasting movie posters all over the side. You really think that was Sterns idea when they have Franchi and Yeti. Stern will do a good job they want their games to sell so they wont butcher the IP

All the conversation about music pins made me curious about the data versus opinions. I started looking at album sales of Foo Fighters versus Black Sabbath but it's apples and oranges considering that people don't buy albums anymore, so I looked at Spotify data. Obviously, that would skew towards a younger band, so that's not fair either. But I went ahead and highlighted the artists that have machines in red, artists that have been rumored in green, and artists that have come up in the last week or so in this thread in purple.

Personally I would buy either Foo Fighters or Black Sabbath if they were as well done as Rush. I still don't really understand why Stern would choose to make a Venom machine but if it's Brian Eddy with Ozzy music then I will definitely put my order in.

Spotify Pinball (resized).jpg

The only opinion you should care about is your own when it comes to music. I couldn't care less who sold how many albums if I don't like their music

Foo-Fighters could be code for a Mr.T pin he is always fighting foos

16E7BC6F-E592-44C5-8700-AC97FE3D4711.jpeg

I’d love to see a new and innovative theme but here’s the reality:

Stern used to produce 4 cornerstones a year. Now it is 2 or three. Each one takes 12-18 months of development.

There is NO WAY they are going to spend that much time, money and effort on a theme they don’t think will be popular with their target audience. They simply can’t afford to have a theme that is a dud with only producing 2 or 3 titles a year.

They tried expanding the market with their home pin line, how’d that go?

Pinball is a niche market. It will continue to be a niche market. Stern will continue to produce machines that cater to that niche market.

Want a Drake machine? Home brew it.

Maybe the new Stern will be a Bond SSLE.