# John Wick Pinball has NO Guns?!! I'm Pissed. (no edits) **Source:** Cary Hardy **Type:** video **Published:** 2024-05-07 **Duration:** 13m 10s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5WNwvlM1es --- ## Analysis Cary Hardy expresses strong frustration over John Wick Pinball's absence of gun imagery on the playfield and art package, viewing it as a fundamental betrayal of the character's core identity across four films. He argues this is a licensing/brand-protection compromise by Stern (likely driven by Disney and other stakeholders) and calls for community boycott as the only way to send a message to manufacturers about quality and character authenticity. Hardy states he will not purchase the game on principle despite acknowledging it may play well. ### Key Claims - [MEDIUM] John Wick has guns in approximately 40% of each of the four films — _Hardy's estimate of thematic prevalence in the film series_ - [MEDIUM] The absence of guns is a licensing/brand-protection decision driven by Disney and other major license holders — _Hardy's speculation about Stern's constraints with multiple IP holders_ - [MEDIUM] Stern has pre-sold game allotments to distributors, buffering sales impact from poor reception — _Hardy's explanation of distributor economics and how it insulates Stern from market feedback_ - [LOW] Randy Martinez (artist) had the capability to include guns in the art but did not — _Hardy's assumption about artist capability vs. execution; assumes constraint was mandated, not chosen_ - [LOW] Jersey Jack may be planning a Matrix pinball without guns — _Hardy's speculation extrapolating the licensing constraint pattern to other manufacturers_ ### Notable Quotes > "By purchasing this game you are telling Stern that you completely fine with this. You okay. Keep pumping out these games that are subpar, that completely neuter these characters." > — **Cary Hardy**, ~mid-video > _Core argument for consumer boycott as market signal_ > "The only way that a company will listen is when it hurts their bottom line." > — **Cary Hardy**, ~mid-video > _Economic philosophy underpinning his boycott stance_ > "If you look at this and go, eh, I can do without guns being in the game, then you're not a John Wick fan. Not a true one, at least." > — **Cary Hardy**, ~mid-video > _Gatekeeping claim about authentic fandom based on licensing expectations_ > "It is a part, an extension of this character to incorporate guns. And you have taken it completely out of the game." > — **Cary Hardy**, ~early-mid-video > _Articulates core complaint about character neutering_ > "There's no sense even doing the theme and doing this license if we can't be true to the license and true to the character." > — **Cary Hardy**, ~end-video > _Ultimatum about licensing authenticity standards_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Cary Hardy | person | Pinball content creator with YouTube presence; expresses strong opinions on game design and purchasing decisions | | John Wick Pinball | game | Stern pinball machine based on John Wick film franchise; subject of boycott due to missing gun imagery | | Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of John Wick Pinball; criticized for licensing constraints and character compromise | | Randy Martinez | person | Artist credited on John Wick Pinball artwork; Hardy assumes had capability to include guns but did not | | Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Competitor manufacturer; Hardy speculates about potential Matrix game without guns | | Disney | company | Major IP stakeholder Hardy believes influenced gun removal for brand protection across multiple Stern licenses | | Lionsgate Films | company | John Wick license holder; Hardy doubts they mandated gun removal | | Matrix | game | Speculated/rumored Jersey Jack project; Hardy warns against same gun-removal pattern | | The John Wick films | product | Film franchise spanning four movies; Hardy emphasizes gun prevalence throughout series | | Keanu Reeves | person | Actor in John Wick films; associated with 'Guns. Lots of guns.' line referenced by Hardy | ### Topics - **Primary:** Licensing constraints and character authenticity, Consumer boycott as market signal, Stern Pinball design philosophy and IP adaptation, John Wick Pinball post-launch reception - **Secondary:** Distributor economics and sales insulation, Video content creator influence on community sentiment, Industry-wide pattern of gun imagery removal, Brand protection vs. creative authenticity tension ### Sentiment **Negative** (-0.85) — Hardy expresses intense frustration and anger throughout, using strong profanity and declaring a personal boycott. While he acknowledges the game may play well mechanically, the missing gun imagery has made the lack of authenticity a dealbreaker on principle. He frames this as broader industry problem, not isolated incident. ### Signals - **[business_signal]** Distributor pre-allocation model insulates Stern from direct sales impact, reducing incentive to respond to community feedback on design choices (confidence: medium) — Hardy explains distros 'guaranteed an allotment' and 'fork up the cash first,' buffering Stern's exposure - **[community_signal]** John Wick Pinball gun imagery absence emerging as significant community flashpoint, potentially affecting sales perception and manufacturer reputation (confidence: high) — Hardy reports growing awareness among players he's spoken to; expects wider community realization once game ships - **[sentiment_shift]** Content creator with significant platform actively discouraging community purchases and calling for boycott based on licensing/authenticity grounds (confidence: high) — Hardy explicitly states he will not buy, calls it 'principle of the matter,' reports others he's spoken to share boycott stance - **[design_philosophy]** John Wick Pinball criticized for absence of gun imagery on playfield and art package despite guns being central to character identity across four films (confidence: high) — Hardy's extended rant focusing on gun absence as fundamental character betrayal; references approximately 40% gun prevalence in films - **[market_signal]** Pattern narrative forming around licensing-driven character 'neutering' potentially affecting multiple manufacturer releases (John Wick, speculated Matrix) (confidence: low) — Hardy warns Jersey Jack about potential Matrix gun removal and positions as systemic trend - **[licensing_signal]** Licensing constraints appear to have mandated removal of gun imagery from John Wick Pinball, potentially driven by Disney and other major IP stakeholder brand-protection requirements (confidence: medium) — Hardy speculates Disney involvement as licensor protection mechanism; doubts Lionsgate mandated removal - **[community_signal]** Content creator transitioning from potential buyer to active boycotter/critic based on licensing decision (confidence: high) — Hardy reports prior Patreon video expressing interest; now explicitly refusing purchase despite acknowledging gameplay quality - **[market_signal]** Implicit criticism of game pricing relative to perceived value loss from missing character elements (confidence: medium) — Hardy questions whether game 'is worth the money' despite good mechanical play --- ## Transcript look i literally just walked into the door got the mcgames on and uh as you can see i'm i literally just got back from the gym i've got my chipotle right here ready to eat but i'm gonna record this hopefully quick rant and I'm going to get cleaned up and then we're going to do a live session and we can talk about this. But this is something I think you guys goes a little bit deeper than not doing justice to a particular character. Okay? Let me fix this. This is... So, for those that don't know me and know... Look. I am pro Second Amendment. I've even got a lock on here for you pussies out there that don't want to see these kind of things. So this is the thing that really pisses me off. And I was hoping... Literally, guys, I have a Patreon video telling them my first quick thoughts about John Wick being released. And that I was really liking what I was seeing. And I even messaged my local distributor and wanted to know when I'd be able to play it. because I was honestly was like, man, I think this is a game I'm probably going to get, but I have to play it first. But now I don't give a fuck how it plays. Even though it could be completely amazing, it is merely the principle of the fucking matter now. By the way, I meant to tell, I'll put it at the beginning of the video. Do not allow your kids to watch this video because there is going to be language. evidently this video is going to be harder on you than the fucking John Wick pinball machine that's starting to side of this shit out for you today so you you have a character that has four movies and I'd say easily 40% of each of these movies this man has a fucking gun in his hand granted, John Wick can kill anybody with anything I mean, I would even find it funny if on the art package, instead of him holding nothing, he was holding a pencil. That would be funny. Still, it would be down to the fact that you have neutered this character by not allowing weapons onto the art. I don't even know if it's in the movie clips that are on the screen. I don't know. I haven't looked into it that far yet, but even if that is still the only place where you get to see guns is on the screen, it doesn't fucking matter anyways because I'm going to be looking at the play field majority of the damn time. At least on the footage that we've seen so far, you hear gunfire, but you never see it. The art package is for the games. You don't ever see a gun. when I'm at the range when I'm carrying my SIG right here when I with my family there always that part of me that going you know what I kind of feel like John Wick right now Whenever I shooting I like I feel like John Wick When I'm shooting my wife's little freaking gun that she's got, I feel like James Bond. Because these are characters that us as males bond with. We would like to be these characters. There's not a guy that goes, you know what, I wouldn't want to be James Bond. Oh, have a gun and drive fancy cars, beautiful women? Sounds awful. No. John Wick, total badass, can kill anybody with anything, especially a gun. Yes, we would like to be him. Now, there's definitely parts of the movies where we really wouldn't want to be him, but still. It is a part, an extension of this character to incorporate guns. And you have taken it completely out of the game. oh there's some probably in the chest I don't even know it's like I want to look inside the little weapons chest that you have on the playfield to see if there actually is something there and if there is it's so small you're probably not even going to notice it oh the mod makers will create something no mods shouldn't make a game what it's supposed to be at launch it shouldn't make a character what he actually is when have i ever told you guys to not purchase a game never it's always been up to you it's your money if you like it you want it go get it and i'm still to an extent telling you to do the same for this game if you want it if the guns aren't a big deal for you, whatever, but I'm going to say you're obviously not a John Wick fan. If you look at this and go, eh, I can do without guns being in the game, then you're not a John Wick fan. Not a true one, at least. And I want to say that I would hope that this is what they were marketing towards, was John Wick fan base. and it's it's troubling because i feel that definitely a part of this is because they need to make their other license holders happy particularly disney you know they are making other games with them in the future and you know they have to make their other license holders happy. They have to basically protect their brand. Their lifestyle brand that they keep wanting to shove down our fucking throats. Self-proclaimed lifestyle brand. But look, in regards to purchasing this game, no, I'm not. It's the principle of the fucking matter for me now. It's like, will a game shoot great? Probably. Does it look okay? Majority of it, yes. Is it worth the money? Subjective as hell. Should there be guns in it? Fuck yes, there should be. But here the thing guys By purchasing this game you are telling Stern that you completely fine with this You okay Keep pumping out these games that are subpar, that completely neuter these characters that we really have a passion behind. And by buying this game, you're saying, yes, please, please, sir, I want some more. Oh, does it hurt? I'm fine with it. I've gotten used to it over the years. No. And what sucks is that I hate telling people that I'm not buying it because of this and maybe you should feel the same way. No, you feel the way you want to, but I'm telling you the only way that we could come out by improving what they do next is by sending a message. And the only way we can send a message to a company or a business like this is to hurt their wallet. That is the only way that a company will listen is when it hurts their bottom line. And what sucks is that the distros are their buffer. Okay? So it doesn't matter if the games don't sell too well because they're pretty much guaranteed an allotment to all these distros that have to fork up the cash first. So I definitely – I apologize to my distro friends out there. The things that I'm saying and will say in upcoming content hurt your business. I don't want it to be that way because it sucks that the distros depend on Stern to bring out material that can make them money, that can feed their family. And then Stern's like, oh, here's your game. Here's your theme that we feel like is going to sell. Did we do the game justice? Did we do the characters justice? No, but they're going to take it anyways. They're still going to sell those LEs. And it's just, it's troubling. Because I really wanted to like this game. I really wanted to get behind it. Or in front of it, really. The only thing getting... No, I'm not going to go there. But I really wanted to play this game. And I still will play it. I will not buy it. On the principle. That's just how it is. And that is the only way that things are going to change, guys. If we don't like the prices, if we don't like what a company is doing, the only way they will listen or change is if we send a message. And that message has to be, we're not going to fucking take it anymore. And Jersey Jack, if you are in fact making the Matrix right now, and you think that putting out the Matrix without guns is going to be acceptable, fuck no, it's not either. Is it a coincidence that maybe the Matrix, Keanu Reeves says this line, and John Wick says the same line? Guns. Lots of guns. Lawrence Fishburne somebody get this man a gun if anything he definitely needs it in this pinball machine I don like going off like this I want to be more logical about things, guys. But like I said, it's the principle of the matter. I think this is definitely going deeper than them just not doing a theme justice. Like, oh, you know what? They didn't do good on the art. Or, you know what? They didn't incorporate movie scenes. This is the fact that they have essentially neutered a character that I enjoy watching. My wife hasn't seen a single John Wick movie, but I said, hey, the John Wick pinball machine doesn't have any guns. And even she was like, what? I've never even seen a movie, but I know it's a very prominent thing within the series. As well as a couple of other people that I've talked to. And what's funny is that there's still a lot of people that haven't noticed yet, and I think that's what Stern's probably banking on, hoping, is that people aren't going to really notice or really care that they didn't put guns in there. No. I won't tolerate it, and I don't think you guys should either. No. so I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna eat maybe after I eat and I get cleaned up I'll have a better mental state I may or may not delete this video in the future chances are with all the curse words and everything like that it's not gonna be monetized and I don't give a fuck about that either at this point it's it's the principle of the matter guys and if you buy this game You're telling Stern, please, sir, I want some more. But the people that I've talked to, even just now, yeah, another one right here informing me that they will not be buying this game because they have essentially killed the character. God, it's like so close. You guys were so close. It's like, how did this theme fall into your hands? And it's like, I doubt very seriously that Lionsgate Films was like, okay, we'll give you the license, we'll give you all these things, but you've got to take guns out of it. I fucking doubt it. And for anybody that worked on the game, I know that, I believe it was Martinez that did the art, I know he could have drawn guns. So it wasn't artists' fault. He could have easily put weapons into this damn art package. That's why I could not work for something like this, especially if I have a passion behind it. So let's just say, for instance, it's like, you know what? I'd really like to do John Wick. All right, Carrie, as your first design, you're going to do John Wick. All right. You know, we're going to have all these things in here, but we can't have guns. I would have been like, then let's not even do it. Let's not even fucking bother. there's no sense even doing the theme and doing this license if we can't be true to the license and true to the character I'm done alright guys I'll be live I'm going to eat some food hopefully I'll simmer down until next time peace out _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: dc135e6a-6a3b-46d2-b413-007454317d59*