I said it would "Out Sell". Not out earn.
Little 5yr olds dont count in the scale of pin sales and earnings.
The age range more appropriate to Pins is at least 8... more like 10 to adult.
1. Stern does do "external" testing on location
Not the testing I spoke of.
Non-final testing of 'whitewoods' , are done in-house. Most of the proto-art phase is
also done in-house. Imagine telling your boss that the game looked like butt, and played
like butt. It wont happen... so the resulting feedback will not be correct.
The test they do is more like a quality control check... to see how well the game
holds up. Not a customer feedback type of situation. Stern does not want nor
care about feedback.
2. Pinball is far worse off than it ever was in the '90s.
3. Home sales are nowhere near as big as location sales used to be
Where do you think all those Location pins are today? Yup... Home owners bought them.
Actually, there is more interest in Pinball today, than there ever was in the late 90s.
Not to play on location... but to own a real machine(s). All the Virtual pinball stuff
really getting people interested and hooked... looking for real machines that they
enjoy playing virtually.
Huge Demand for Pinball pretty much was during the EM days and the 80s.
After that, desire to play pinball pretty much faded away as Video games took over.
Arcades purchased a few pins for variety, but not really for earnings... cause they
didnt make squat comparatively, and they were a maintenance nightmare.
People talk about the Video Game Crash of the 80s.. but oddly, here in upstate
NY, in one small city, we had about 5 major arcades all going strong. The Fact was that
CA game MFG's were used to a much higher game turnover and purchase rates. They
were geared too high, and when interest went from Hype levels to Avg. playing levels...
they were left with too much surplus and lower order numbers. They also had
10x the competition by that time.
The industry really didnt have a grasp of what was happening, and couldnt
adapt proportionately. It was pretty much like that for Pinball. Should have failed
in the late 80s... but managed to keep going merely because of the Arcade
structure. Arcades made a killin on Pins before vids, and the MGT. probably
thought it would be bad to completely eliminate them... even if they were doing
poorly. Sorta like Skeeball, which takes up a ton of room... but does not make
that much money.
Once the Arcade infrastructure started to fall apart, orders for vids dropped... and
pins were rarely, if ever, purchased again. Pinball 2000 tried to Change pinball... but
it did so in a bad way... and players rarely put more than 2 games on the things.
Even though some Arcades bought them, many were satisifed to do without them,
knowing Pinball just wasnt profitable enough... especially when sales were sliding,
game prices rising.
There are very few arcades left, and few places that actually have room & desire to
put a pinball machine in. The Ops are almost completely shut down & retired, or hangin
on by a string. The only place left... is home / collector sales... or the few large locations
such as Amusement parks, who just buy whatever is new, without thinking about it.
Personally, I know about 12 locals here in my city who have more than one pin.
In fact, I know a few that have entire basements full of them. I know there are plenty
more out there as well, who I have not met. Theres one woman here who got
into Pinball recently, bought a pinball about every 2 years since being in the hobby.
4. Licensed titles have ALWAYS sold better than original themes...and it's not even close
To whom? It was Top Mgt. that ordered them. Not home buyers. Guess what?
Today is different. Its home buyers keeping Stern alive... and just like many of the
Licensed games tanked in earnings... Home buyers are not going to buy a pile
of poor quality Crap for +$3000.
In fact, I didnt even bring up License in the more recent posts. Batman, Spiderman,
etc... COULD be good games. But when Stern touches them.. they turn into 1st rate
Garbage. Very Sad to say, but Ive had more fun playing the OLD spiderman pin than
Sterns POS.
Of course, being that this is about Avatar... I guess it only fair to spit out how
stupid it is of a License choice. Much like how they chose WOF & Ripleys.
Stern just has Horrible taste, and makes the worst decisions. I wonder who else will
give that bumbling Idiot money to lose! lol
They should make a pinball called "Gary Stern". You would take the role of Stern, and
every time you hit a target, you would reduce the quality of the pinball machines you were
virtually making. In video mode, you must keep the Designers from adding features, and
get bonus points for cutting almost all the features of the game out. Video mode 2: When
people complain, you must press the volume button up so they become inaudible.
Wizard mode = you must convince an investor that you can make Massive sales from the
License of "Little house on the Prarie".
The game could be a cult classic. Conversations and Quotes from Stern could be
re-voiced over... such as when Steve Ritche told Stern people on the newsgroups were
complaining... and Stern said something like: "Cant you just shut the site down?".
5. No Fear is a licensed title, and a pretty poor and extremely dated license
I never really paid much attention, considering I dont follow any sports. But as said,
the game plays better than a lot of other games, such JD, and most all the new Sterns.
It did well in the Arcade on a consistent basis... unlike the other pins.
It creme's a theme like BBH by lightyears. Better sound track, fun & superior voice work.
Better looking playfield. Its also not a theme that will become Dated. "Extreme" is an
attitude, and it will always be in-style. Unlike WOF, Ripleys, CSI..etc.
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Topic: Avatar Pinball coming to a location near you (Read 16059 times)
