(Topic ID: 231901)

Why are licensed themes the rule, not the exception?

By holminone

5 years ago


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  • Latest reply 5 years ago by holminone
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    #9 5 years ago

    How well has Oktoberfest been recieved or how well has Houdini done? Is Houdini a licensed title? Oktoberfest? Did they have to get rights from the City of Munich or the estate of Harry Houdini? Total Nuclear Annihilation? If it is not a licensed theme it better have some kind of name recognition or innovative feature to draw you in. Historically, it all used to be unlicensed generic titles and themes, with the Brand/Title being the most important aspect since name recognition by manufacturer and loyalty to table makers (by operators and distributor) was higher in the old days. You played a Bally Wizard, or a Williams Flash and players cared just as much then for specific makers as they do now for Stern or JJP, or CGC, or Spooky, or API or the list goes on... The whole tie in with mainstream media was more due to Roger Sharpe than anyone or anything else, and the dance between the fact that although a license will not make the license owner a lot of money, a good license can make a pinball manufacturer a lot of profit by increasing sales even a moderate amount over a non licensed theme. I myself like non licensed titles (like Pinbot and his Bride), yet they are now licensed if you wanted to recreate them.

    #56 5 years ago

    @crazylevi, some of us old farts don’t need a time machine, just a good knock on the head or a great acid flashback... the mellinials seem to think they discovered modern day pinball, but I was doing what they are doing now 30 years ago...getting drunk/high and playing pinball, going to the shows and auctions, and wondering what the next machine was going to be and who made it and how much it was going to suck, just like they do now. Pinheads never change.

    #72 5 years ago

    @benheck, but if you go back only just a little in time from then, though, and the list of original unlicensed titles that were hits gets a lot longer a lot quicker... that I think we can agree on.

    #86 5 years ago

    Elon Musk: The Pinball Adventure

    Space toys, tunnels, Tesla toys... Elon's Lament... Elon Smokes weed Multiball...

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