# John Wick Pinball Just Got More HYPE!

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2024-05-06  
**Duration:** 8m 18s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9hQ6aWld9c

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## Analysis

Cary Hardy analyzes Stern Pinball's John Wick storyline trailer released one day before the official May 7th reveal. He highlights the inclusion of actor Ian McShane's voice (playing Winston) in the trailer, speculates about full four-movie coverage and call-out voice acting, and discusses potential features like Expression lighting system availability across all tier levels. He also critiques Stern's confusing marketing schedule posting.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] The John Wick storyline trailer is 49 seconds long, with 45-46 seconds showing movie scenes and the final 3 seconds featuring Ian McShane's voice saying 'Saved by the bull' — _Cary Hardy directly watched and described the trailer content_
- [MEDIUM] Ian McShane plays the character Winston in the John Wick movies and is likely providing call-outs for the pinball game — _Cary speculates based on the trailer's inclusion of McShane's voice: 'I would hope that they, in fact, have this actor doing the call-outs'_
- [MEDIUM] The trailer hints at all four John Wick movies being included in the game based on showing scenes from multiple films — _Cary states: 'This tells us that hopefully we're getting all four movies inside of this pinball machine. That's what it should mean, but we shall see.'_
- [LOW] Rumors exist that John Wick might include the Expression Light system, though unconfirmed — _Cary states: 'I've also heard of rumors that this game might have the expression light system in it. That's not confirmed or anything like that. It's merely just rumors that I've heard or read on Facebook'_
- [HIGH] Stern's marketing schedule lists staggered release dates for photos and content from May 7-11, but the Facebook post states all information will be released on May 7th — _Cary directly cites Stern's Facebook post creating this contradiction_

### Notable Quotes

> "Saved by the bull, I see. And that is the actor Ian McShane."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~3:45
> _Identifies the voice actor in the trailer, a key detail about production quality and call-out casting_

> "And it's like – because every line that he speaks is just like poetry. It's just gold because his tone of voice and the way he articulates things is just – it's just peaceful to listen to."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~4:30
> _Explains why McShane's involvement would elevate the game's audio experience_

> "If they do, guys, I promise you it's going to add to the game."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~5:15
> _Cary's conviction that McShane as call-out voice actor would be a significant production value addition_

> "if you're gonna have expression lights on john wick please make it available on all tier levels for the people that get the pro as well"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~11:45
> _Consumer advocacy for feature parity across Pro/Premium/LE tiers, reflecting broader community concerns about pricing tiers_

> "I just don't agree with the name story trailer because there was no story in that trailer. It was basically the movies."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~8:30
> _Critique of Stern's marketing framing/terminology choices_

> "then why have a scheduled release when you're just going to release everything on the 7th anyways? That makes no sense. Sometimes your marketing team guys, I just would like to have a conversation."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~13:50
> _Direct criticism of Stern's marketing communication and planning transparency_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| John Wick | game | Stern Pinball's next cornerstone title, officially revealing May 7, 2024. Keanu Reeves film license. Designed by Elliot Eisman. |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer releasing John Wick game; subject of marketing strategy critique |
| Ian McShane | person | Actor who plays Winston in John Wick films; appears to provide voice work for John Wick pinball game call-outs |
| Cary Hardy | person | YouTube content creator analyzing John Wick trailer and Stern's marketing strategy |
| Lance Reddick | person | Actor from John Wick series (played Charon); deceased over a year ago; mentioned as alternative to Ian McShane for call-outs |
| Keanu Reeves | person | Star of John Wick films; Cary hopes he's featured in artwork and on-screen representation but doubts custom call-outs |
| Elliot Eisman | person | Designer of John Wick pinball game at Stern Pinball |
| Expression Light System | product | Stern's LED lighting upgrade system; rumors suggest it may be included on John Wick, Cary advocates for all-tier availability |

### Topics

- **Primary:** John Wick game reveal and marketing strategy, Voice acting and call-out casting in pinball games, Expression Light System feature availability across tier levels, Stern's marketing communication and schedule confusion
- **Secondary:** Movie-to-pinball adaptation scope (all four films vs. selective content), Pinball game design features and modes (nightclub scenes, strobes), Pricing tier differentiation and feature parity

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.62) — Cary is optimistic about John Wick's potential (Ian McShane casting, movie scope, design possibilities) but frustrated with Stern's marketing execution and tier-based feature restrictions. He expresses hope balanced with critical feedback.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Stern's tier-based feature distribution raises community concerns about feature parity; Expression Light cost-saving exclusion from Pro model criticized (confidence: medium) — Cary advocates: 'if you're gonna have expression lights on john wick please make it available on all tier levels for the people that get the pro as well'
- **[community_signal]** Rumors circulating on Facebook and community platforms about Expression Light System inclusion on John Wick, indicating grassroots speculation and wishful thinking (confidence: medium) — Cary states: 'I've also heard of rumors that this game might have the expression light system in it. It's merely just rumors that I've heard or read on Facebook'
- **[design_philosophy]** John Wick game appears designed to incorporate scenes from multiple films and potentially themed modes (nightclub scenes with strobes and techno music), suggesting comprehensive movie adaptation (confidence: medium) — Cary speculates about four-movie inclusion based on trailer montage and suggests nightclub mode with Expression lights would enhance experience
- **[market_signal]** Stern's trailer strategy emphasizes actor voice talent (Ian McShane) as marquee feature, signaling investment in premium production quality for call-outs (confidence: high) — Trailer's final 3 seconds feature Ian McShane voice saying 'Saved by the bull'; Cary emphasizes this as deliberate reveal
- **[market_signal]** Community sentiment suggests frustration with Stern's three-tier Pro/Premium/LE model creating feature fragmentation and value perception issues (confidence: medium) — Cary's plea for feature parity across tiers reflects broader concern about unsustainable pricing differentiation
- **[announcement]** Official John Wick pinball reveal scheduled for May 7, 2024 with staggered content release (game trailer, features video, LE pre-sale, model photos, gameplay premiere) (confidence: high) — Stern posted Facebook marketing schedule with confirmed dates May 5-11

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## Transcript

 Today is May 6th and we are one day away from Stern Pinball fully revealing their next cornerstone title, John Wick. So far they have released a teaser, they have released their marketing strategy, and they now have released a storyline trailer. What, you haven't seen it yet? Don't worry because you didn't miss sh- What's up guys and welcome back to the channel where I talk and do everything pinball. And a special thank you to the over 9,600 of you down there that have hit the subscribe button. So the 49 second storyline trailer was released, I don't know, a couple of hours ago now. And I wasn't going to do a video about it at first. I did a little short thing on my Patreon page in regards to my initial thoughts about it. But then I kind of like mustered over it a little bit while I was running errands, and I felt like maybe I do need to talk about this a little bit, so that's what I'm going to do now. So a majority of this trailer is like watching a John Wick trailer for a movie. It's just showing you 45, 46 seconds out of the 49 seconds of this trailer. It's just scenes from all the movies. But what does this tell us? This tells us that hopefully we're getting all four movies inside of this pinball machine. That's what it should mean, but we shall see. And the last three seconds of it, I believe, are what's most exciting for me. And you're like, why is that? And that's because it's not so much what John Youssi on screen, which is more than likely done by the Stern team visual effects to make a ball go against the mirrors and stuff like that. It's who's voicing it. Saved by the bull, I see. And that is the actor Ian McShane. He plays the character Winston For those that have not watched the John Wick series I going to call it because it four movies now Winston is probably if you haven seen it if you start watching it he will be one of if not your favorite character And it's like – because every line that he speaks is just like poetry. It's just gold because his tone of voice and the way he articulates things is just – it's just peaceful to listen to. And I just love his character in this movie – I say this movie, these movies. So, due to the fact that we get that one line in there in regards to Ball, I would hope that they, in fact, have this actor doing the call-outs. And if they do, guys, I promise you it's going to add to the game. And I don't know anything else about it, but I'm just saying that is a great move on Stern's part for putting him as call-outs, if that is what they're trying to tell us with the trailer that is. Miss Perkins, your membership to the Continental has been, by thine own hand, revoked. I know you believe you can keep this up, but I assure you... You know that I have the right to demand nothing. Nothing. You demand nothing of me, Mr. D'Antonio. This kingdom is mine and mine alone. If they couldn't get Ian McShane, then Lance Reddick would have been just as good. I don't know about just as good. But I'm hoping they're able to get some of the call-outs from him inside of this game. More particularly when we visit the Continental. I would like to hear this call-out. Welcome to the Continental. How may I help you? Sadly he passed away I think over a year ago now But Ian McShane I think is definitely the better of the two I mean we could say oh we would like Keanu to do call and stuff I doubt that he going to have any kind of special customized call If he does, great, obviously. My main thing on this is that it looks like we're going to get Keanu on screen, and I'm hoping that he is definitely featured in the art package. I'm okay as playing as John Wick, if that's how the story's going to go within the game. But I also would like to see John Wick represented on the play field, on the cabinet. And if you look a little closer, for those of us that have seen the movies, the very ending portion of that ball hitting the mirrors, I'm going to assume that's taken from the part two in the halls of reflection, where all the mirrors scene and stuff like that. That's just a little hint. I don't even want to say it's an Easter egg, but for those that are really paying attention, that's probably that particular scene. I've also heard of rumors that this game might have the expression light system in it. That's not confirmed or anything like that. It's merely just rumors that I've heard or read on Facebook and stuff. But I think if they do, that would be really cool, particularly for the nightclub scenes in the movie. if they have like a nightclub mode i think having the ability to do strobes and you better have some really good like techno music to go along with that particular mode i think that would be really cool as well but if you're gonna have expression lights on john wick please make it available on all tier levels for the people that get the pro as well i know why you didn't put it on the pro model dare jack for your foo fighters it was obviously cost savings but i think for this game If you have what I have in mind, at least, then make it across all tier levels for the Expression Light system to be eligible for it. Eligible? Eligible. That's the word I'm looking for. So now let look at what Stern posted on Facebook in regards to their release schedule and everything So 5 which has already passed that when they released the teaser trailer And 5 which is today they released their story trailer I just don't agree with the name story trailer because there was no story in that trailer. It was basically the movies. And if that's your idea of telling us a story that, hey, the story's going to be the movies, okay. But I don't know. Story trailer seems a little weird. So then on 5-7, so tomorrow we're getting the official game trailer, game features video, LE all access on sale, 12 p.m. Central Standard Time, and LE model photos. On the 8th, we're getting premium model photos and Stern Insider Pinball Podcast. On the 9th, we're getting pro model photos. 10th is going to be gameplay premiere video and the 11th is Insider Connected Achievement Preview but what's odd is that they post this image of all of this information and what dates these things are going to be released and then on the actual post itself it says not to worry, all photos and information will be released on Tuesday, May 7th on StarinPinball.com then why have a scheduled release when you're just going to release everything on the 7th anyways? That makes no sense. Sometimes your marketing team guys, I just would like to have a conversation. You know what? Walk me through this. I'm doing my part. I'm doing my part. I'm doing my part. I didn't do fucking shit. And that's all I've got for you as of right now. We are in the final 24 hours before the official release, so anything could happen. All I know is that, you know, I hope it's awesome. I have served, and I will be of service.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: fdd0011c-db23-4437-a34d-8f0dd08f8e43*