# This Proves the Pinball Market has Shifted...

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2023-11-14  
**Duration:** 6m 48s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df87faqAlFY

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## Analysis

Cary Hardy analyzes Stern's November 14, 2023 code update across Insider Connected machines, which includes in-game commercials promoting home pinball purchases. He interprets this as evidence of declining market demand, since Stern is now actively converting arcade casuals to home buyers—a shift in strategy that he views as potentially harmful to location operators and a sign of broader market softness.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Stern released code updates for all Insider Connected machines on November 14, 2023 with embedded commercials promoting home game purchases — _Direct observation of update; Cary shows readme file documentation_
- [HIGH] The commercials are targeted at casual arcade players unaware that pinball machines can be purchased for home use — _Cary's reasoning: 'home buyers already know they can buy these games, so the target is casual arcade players'_
- [MEDIUM] This commercial strategy is evidence of a market demand shift—demand is lower than it was a year ago — _Cary's interpretation: 'If demand was still as high as a year ago, they wouldn't need to push home sales via in-game ads'_
- [HIGH] The ads can be disabled via service menu (Display Message of the Day setting, #55) — _Cary demonstrates the disable procedure step-by-step_
- [MEDIUM] Promoting home purchases to arcade casuals could hurt location operators — _Cary's analysis and direct question to operators in closing_

### Notable Quotes

> "Why would they put a commercial in the game to inform us homebuyers that you can buy these games for your home? We already know that. So that pretty much narrows down the target audience for these commercials to the very casuals that go to the arcades and are unaware that these games can be purchased for your home."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~2:00-2:30
> _Core interpretive logic: Stern is targeting casual arcade players, not existing home collectors_

> "Do you think if the demand was still as high as it was a year ago, that they'd be like, hey, let's put some commercials to inform people that they can buy these games for their home? No. Quite obviously, this is a giant indicator that there has been a shift."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~4:00-4:30
> _Main claim: commercials are evidence of declining demand_

> "This is once again just turning that water temperature up just a little bit more guys i'm telling you this is just the beginning of what they're gonna be forcing on us in the future"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~6:45-7:00
> _Escalation concern: views this as the start of more aggressive monetization/advertising tactics_

> "In particular, I want to hear from you operators out there if you think it's a good idea for Stern to be encouraging the casual market to buy for home use. Which basically would hurt the arcades."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~7:30-7:45
> _Frames the core tension: Stern's home promotion strategy vs. operator interests_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Stern Pinball | company | Released code update with embedded commercials; manufacturer being critiqued for market strategy shift |
| Insider Connected | product | Stern's digital ecosystem platform; all connected machines received the update with ads |
| Cary Hardy | person | YouTube content creator and pinball enthusiast; owns Foo Fighters Premium; analyzing market trends and Stern's strategy |
| Deadpool | game | Stern pinball machine mentioned as example of older title receiving update with minimal bug fixes |
| Foo Fighters | game | Premium Stern machine owned by Cary Hardy; used as example to show readme file update details |
| Last Action Hero | game | Data East machine cited as historical precedent for in-game promotion (promotes Tales from the Crypt) |
| Tales from the Crypt | game | Data East machine promoted within Last Action Hero; example of cross-game promotion in pinball history |
| Spike 2 | product | Stern's control platform; Cary notes in-game commercials haven't been seen in Spike 2 before now |
| Data East | company | Historical pinball manufacturer; machines (Last Action Hero) featured cross-game promotions |

### Topics

- **Primary:** In-game advertising and monetization, Market demand shift and industry softening, Location operator vs. home collector tensions
- **Secondary:** Stern strategy and product roadmap, Code updates and maintenance, Insider Connected platform capabilities

### Sentiment

**Negative** (-0.65) — Cary is critical of Stern's strategy, viewing it as a concerning sign of market weakness and the start of aggressive monetization tactics. However, his tone is analytical rather than hostile; he's using the ad as evidence for a larger thesis. He acknowledges the ads are disableable, which slightly moderates the negativity.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Location operators may be negatively impacted by Stern's home sales promotion strategy targeting casual arcade players (confidence: medium) — Cary directly questions operators: 'do you think it's a good idea for Stern to be encouraging the casual market to buy for home use... basically would hurt the arcades'
- **[community_signal]** Community friction between location operators and home buyers; Stern's ads escalate this tension (confidence: medium) — Cary explicitly frames the conflict in closing: ads encourage home purchases which 'hurt the arcades'; calls for operator perspectives
- **[market_signal]** Stern embedding in-game commercials promoting home game sales in Insider Connected machines as of November 14, 2023 (confidence: high) — Cary demonstrates the update across multiple machines and shows the readme file documentation; describes ads as 'system update' buried in 'behind the scenes improvements'
- **[product_strategy]** Stern's Insider Connected ecosystem expanding monetization and advertising capabilities via in-game messaging (confidence: medium) — Cary warns: 'this is just the beginning of what they're gonna be forcing on us in the future'; treating ad insertion as proof of platform evolution toward more aggressive tactics
- **[sentiment_shift]** Market demand appears to be declining; Stern is shifting strategy to actively convert casual arcade players to home buyers (confidence: medium) — Cary's interpretation: 'If demand was still as high as a year ago, they wouldn't need in-game ads to push home sales'; described as 'giant indicator that there has been a shift'

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## Transcript

Stern has released new code for pretty much every machine that has Insider connected. We've got bug fixes, we've got performance enhancers, and we've also got... What? You're watching America's original shop-at-home television service, bringing you 24 hours of savings, fun, and excitement every day. A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch. what's up guys and welcome back to my channel where i talk and do everything pinball and a special thank you to the over 8600 of you down there that have hit the subscribe button that's right stern has released as of today november 14th 2023 a update for all other games on the insider connected platform and now a lot of these updates are legitimate and have some performance enhancements and some bug fixes but for a lot of these games like the older ones and including like deadpool and stuff like that there wasn't much bug fixes as they decided to sneak in a little bit of a commercial now what kind of commercial it's basically just showing off all the other games and Stern's library and showing individuals playing the game having fun and then also letting you know that hey you can purchase these games for your home now it kind of weird why would they do that I mean it quite obvious that we know that we can buy these for our home Why would they put a commercial in the game to inform us homebuyers that you can buy these games for your home We already know that. So that pretty much narrows down the target audience for these commercials to the very casuals that go to the arcades and are unaware that these games can be purchased for your home. Now there's pros and cons to this. like you do, but it's just a little weird to me because I see the multiple directions that this goes. One, you're sending us a patch update that already has this enabled. That's what I don't really care about it is that it's already enabled on the newest code, okay? And then this is also going out to arcades which you are advocates for stern you are like backing these arcades up like yes you should go to locations and play but now you're also informing these people that you know don't know any better or don't know that hey you know playing in arcades pretty fun and everything but what if you could take one home that's right guys if you're tired of going to locations just buy you a machine and keep it at your house is what they seem to be kind of putting out there now this isn't uncommon for pinball machines to be promoting other games this has been going on for years we just haven't seen it in stern's spike 2 system i mean i definitely know that if you look on your data east machines you always see hey this is our next game coming up for For instance Last Action Hero promotes Tales from the Crypt So there you go on that But with Stern being online with Insider Connected and a bright shiny LCD screen this gives them a lot more options. If anything, this kind of highlights even further that there is a shift in the market when it comes to demand. I mean, do you think if the demand was still as high as it was a year ago, that they'd be like, hey, let's put some commercials to inform people that they can buy these games for their home? No. Quite obviously, this is a giant indicator that there has been a shift. Now, what's funny is if you look at the readme file for these code updates, let me just show you the Foo Fighters Premium, because that's obviously a game that I own. So scrolling through this, I can see all the different types of updates and bug fixes are all right here. But what you really want to look at is the system update. So this is where they basically have changed everything on the machine for all games. And they basically updated the pricing table for all these areas right here. And then they did this particular update, this particular update and adjustment. and this is the one right here that is funny various behind the scenes improvements for correctness and performance so this improvement behind the scenes improvement is more than likely the commercial that they have added now luckily you can disable this though and i going to show you how to do that now all right so if you don want that open up your game go into service menu go into adjustments by using your buttons down here go to the standard adjustments, and then go all the way to number 55, display message of the day turn that to no and then just exit out of it and then close your game back up no more ad so there you go as long as it's an option then it's not that bad the bad part is is that it's installed and you cannot say no to it but it's on your system and then it's automatically activated and you have to go in and disable it a lot of people won't be bothered by this that's fine but a lot of you will be so at least we have the option to disable it for now this is once again just turning that water temperature up just a little bit more guys i'm telling you this is just the beginning of what they're gonna be forcing on us in the future So is this merely a minor inconvenience or is this a step in the wrong direction on Stern's part? I'd like to know what you think about it in the comments section down below. In particular, I want to hear from you operators out there if you think it's a good idea for Stern to be encouraging the casual market to buy for home use. Which basically would hurt the arcades. A lot more is coming guys, so stay tuned. Peace!

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: eca25748-bba6-4875-be54-7a6a6904d6c6*