Episode 936: "Why FOMO Marketing Has Made Pinball Worse"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·26m 20s·analyzed·Apr 12, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Kaneda critiques FOMO-only pinball marketing; demands transparent reveals, community input, and theme polling.

Summary

Kaneda argues that FOMO-driven marketing is the primary problem in pinball, claiming manufacturers keep game announcements secret, rush launches with minimal community input, and rely on fear of missing out rather than genuine market research. He advocates for transparent pre-announcement reveals, community polling on licensed themes, and slow narrative-driven launches—warning that manufacturers are guessing wrong on themes (Elton John, Cuphead, ABBA) and that market research costs nothing while getting it wrong costs millions.

Key Claims

American Pinball cannot spend two years developing games people don't want, yet they keep doing this because of FOMO-driven marketing strategies.
high confidence · Kaneda, opening monologue establishing the core argument of the episode
Stern Pinball did a community poll for theme selection (mentioned as 'Stern did this yesterday' regarding asking community preference).
medium confidence · Kaneda, ~7 min mark, describing Stern's approach as a positive example worth others adopting
Jersey Jack has secured licenses for Harry Potter, Toy Story 4, Elton John, and Guns N' Roses with Joe Kamikow confirming at least Harry Potter.
high confidence · Kaneda, ~8 min, citing Joe Kamikow as source for JJP Harry Potter confirmation
Elton John game under-performed in sales compared to expectations and did not sell as many units as anticipated despite Steve Ritchie designing it.
medium confidence · Kaneda, ~15 min, stating 'Steve Ritchie's name is not big enough to sell 4000 Elton John games'
Pinball Brothers founder claimed they would make only 800 units of ABBA, then on a podcast said 'if there's interest, we'll make more'—contradicting the FOMO scarcity claim.
high confidence · Kaneda, ~24 min, describing Pinball Brothers' contradictory statements on production limits
Spooky Pinball games like Scooby-Doo were over-produced at 1,969 units when demand-limiting strategies would be healthier for secondary market value.
medium confidence · Kaneda, ~28 min, using Scooby-Doo as example of over-production harming collector value
There are no Godfather pinball machines in New York City despite Godfather being set there, evidence of manufacturer negligence in location placement strategy.
medium confidence · Kaneda, ~19 min, using Godfather as example of missed marketing opportunities
Dennis Nordman's Galactic Tank Force game has poor shooting mechanics that players consistently report.

Notable Quotes

“A game gets revealed and on the day it's revealed, this is how pinball companies do it. They develop a game in secret. Nobody knows exactly what it is. Then they reveal the game to the world and you're supposed to buy it instantly, instantly pay $7,000 to $15,000 on a game and do it all in one day.”
Kaneda @ ~5 min — Core thesis: describes the mechanics of FOMO marketing in pinball as revelation-to-purchase window measured in hours
“If they were smart, even if they wanted to make a game like Elton John... if you're slowly telling people the story of why you should want to buy the Elton John game that we're making... you remove the mystery of what the theme is because everybody already knows it but you won't confirm it.”
Kaneda @ ~11 min — Alternative marketing model: slow narrative-driven reveals vs. secretive surprise launches
“If I was Spooky Pinball and I was planning to make just a thousand of a game, I would be picking themes where I know 3,000 people are going to want it. 3,000, right? You always want to make one less than demand.”
Kaneda @ ~27 min — Quantifies demand-limiting strategy for maintaining secondary market value and brand prestige
“The cost of getting it wrong will cost them millions. Millions, people. Not a few hundred thousand, a few million dollars.”
Kaneda @ ~32 min — Emphasizes financial stakes of poor market research in manufacturing 2-year development cycles
“I'm the only one out there that doesn't love every single pinball machine. That doesn't just blindly say all pinball is good pinball.”
Kaneda @ ~34 min — Self-positioning as contrarian voice; explains why Kaneda's Pinball Podcasts claims #1 status
“A company like American Pinball should be out of business... David Fix has the worst taste in the history of pinball.”
Kaneda @ ~20 min — Harsh critique of American Pinball leadership; sets up argument about poor theme selection (Cuphead, Hot Wheels, etc.)
“Don't scream at me. Don't make goat noises at me. Like I work really hard for my money and I want a toy that I don't even need.”

Entities

KanedapersonJoe KamikowpersonSteve Ritchieperson David Fixperson Steven Bowdenperson Ryan McQuaidpersonEric Minierperson

Signals

$
market_signal: Kaneda argues that FOMO-only marketing creates short sales windows and is no longer effective, especially at $7K-$15K price points. Underperformance of games like Elton John suggests market saturation with this tactic.
high · Elton John sold fewer units than expected despite Steve Ritchie's design; Kaneda states 'they're all realizing they guessed wrong'; examples of multiple simultaneous FOMO launches (Elton John, Toy Story 4, Godfather, Guns N' Roses) all using identical reveal-to-purchase strategy
~
sentiment_shift: Kaneda signals growing collector/buyer fatigue with aggressive, surprise-based launches. Consumer sentiment shifting away from day-one impulse purchases and FOMO-driven decisions.
high · Direct statement: 'I'm not going to run and buy new in box like this anymore. I'm not gonna wake up and think I need another game.' Framed as growing pattern, not isolated opinion.
?
product_strategy: Multiple manufacturers appear to be selecting themes without community input or market research, leading to poor fit between IP and buyer base (e.g., ABBA, Cuphead, Hot Wheels).
high · Kaneda: 'They are guessing what consumers want. They're guessing there's going to be enough interest in an $11,000 Labyrinth... And sometimes they guess right, but what happens when they guess wrong?' Specific examples: ABBA (low interest), Cuphead (niche appeal), Elton John (underperformed)
?
design_innovation: Recent games from major designers show lack of flow optimization and playtest feedback. Examples: Guns N' Roses (poor flow despite visuals), Galactic Tank Force (bad shooting geometry), BBQ Challenge (criticized across multiple dimensions).
medium · Kaneda critique of Eric Minier's Guns N' Roses: 'The game looks amazing, the flow is not there. It's not good. There's not a lot of combos. The shots are not great. The geometry is not there.' Questions why Pat Lawlor didn't collaborate.

Topics

FOMO marketing in pinballprimaryMarket research and community input in game developmentprimaryTheme licensing strategy and IP selectionprimaryGame launch and marketing campaign executionprimaryPinball game design quality and playabilitysecondarySecondary market pricing and collector value preservationsecondaryManufacturing capacity, production runs, and scarcity claimssecondaryPinball media criticism and podcast credibilitymentioned

Sentiment

negative(-0.78)— Kaneda is highly critical of current pinball manufacturing and marketing practices, using harsh language ('garbage,' 'embarrassing,' 'absolute garbage,' 'stupid') toward companies and specific designers. However, the overall tone is one of constructive criticism rooted in care for the hobby's future. Moments of positivity appear when discussing solutions (community polling, narrative launches, respect for consumers). The sentiment is best characterized as frustrated disappointment with industry practices, paired with belief that change is possible and necessary.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.079

Welcome everybody to Kanata's Pinball Podcast. I'm your host Kineda and I want to talk about on this episode one simple thing. I want to talk about pinball marketing and how I think that if the only strategy in all of pinball marketing is FOMO, right, that's the only thing they're going to rely on to try to get us to buy a $7,000 to $15,000 item is the fear of missing out. That's the only thing they do. The game being made and the one thing they don't do is they absolutely don't ask the community do you want this theme should we make this game and here's why I think FOMO is the biggest problem right now in pinball because a pinball company cannot spend two years developing a game that people just don't Terms at Terms and Purposes C The Godfather, Elton John. When you think about all of the effort that goes into these games, why are these companies missing the mark so poorly? And I think it's because this entire hobby has been marketing itself with FOMO. And you hear it from distributors. I mean the most famous phrase of buy, buy, buy. A game gets revealed and on the day it's revealed, this is how pinball companies do it. They develop a game in secret. Nobody knows exactly what it is. Then they reveal the game to the world and you're supposed to buy it instantly, instantly pay $7,000 to $15,000 on a game and do it all in one day. And that's what this hobby was built on over the last 10 years. And that was the prevailing way, right? That we were going to It's just pull the curtain off the thing and we are gonna surprise and delight you and we were gonna take your money instantly. And think about how that's worked now over the last few years as pinball prices have become this expensive and that's the only way they're gonna market. And here's why I think more than ever, companies need to do market research before they even begin developing a game. I mean before they even start designing it, they should be asking the community and I saw Stern did this yesterday. Lim Flegesetzt conditions on green tape and black pocketonces which are light colored with the dark fluffy ring, australian?... And one more element, that I think everybody probably whereasorderly Just start there. Secure the licenses to a few themes and then ask the community and say to them, hey look, we've got the following themes. Which ones would you like to see most? And then you could just tell people what you have. Why does it have to be this highly guarded secret? Because if you've secured the theme, much like we know now that Jersey Jack has secured the theme to Harry Potter because Joe Kamikow told Story, Saturday to Friday jorn을 Mullota MacLeod, Cop Toy Story 4, Elton John, The Godfather, Guns N' Roses. The only thing we're going to do is keep everything we have a secret and then pull the curtain off it and then we're going to try to get like all these shills and all these content creators that are Win Schilling everything we make to try to get you to buy it instantly. That's the only approach to pinball marketing. And if they were smart, if they were smart, even if they wanted to make a game like Elton John, let's take Elton John for example. And this is just a So this is just another example of how the way they launched that game is one of the reasons why the game is not selling. Because you really do only get one chance to make a first impression, especially if you've decided that FOMO is going to be the way we're going to go. All these pinball companies are doing it the same. So you know what that means? Is that your sales window is very short. So you need to nail it. Because if you're going to go all in on FOMO, then you need to make sure it's a take my money now theme. and Whitewater perluiciency� if you sign on for that promo approach what Whitewater�add Neptune is slowly warming Yoonla Goldberg Heat today's white retour because on the other hand is your slowly telling people the story of why you man Suspending plane Deck Terms of discussion Terms of discussion You gonna wanna buy the Elton John game that we making See if they turned off the FOMO crap and actually marketed Elton John the right way and talked about for a few months the fact that it was gonna be Elton John that Steve Ritchie was gonna design one of his best flowing games of all time, you start to do two things, right? You remove the mystery of what the theme is because everybody already knows it but you won't confirm it. So just remove that mystery and get people excited about it. Get people excited about why you're making that game, all the passion that went into it, and then all the skeptics and all the cynics, here's what they're going to do. They're going to get angry six months before the game comes out, so they're not going to spoil the release of the game. And then you can actually make the release of the game something magical and special because it's not all shrouded in mystery. It doesn't only just become some three-minute stupid sizzle reel video. It's much more. You've given it much more life. You've given it much more of a narrative than just a here it is, we want to take your money now kind of video. And they didn't do that. And they didn't talk about it that way. And I'm not saying that would have saved Elton John because I think at the end of the day, if they did market research, they never would have made Elton John. So what I think these pinball companies need to start doing is they need to stop guessing. They are guessing what consumers want. They're guessing there's going to be enough interest in an $11,000 labyrinth. They're all guessing that there's going to be enough interest in Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Looney Tunes. And sometimes they guess right, but what happens when they guess wrong? And I think over the last few years, we've seen more companies guess wrong about what people want to buy. And I don't want that. I don't want to do a podcast over the next few years where I'm just like scratching my head. Why are these companies getting it so wrong? Why are they going down a two-year journey to make a product people don't really want? Why can't they all wake up and just behave a little bit differently? Back in the 90s, they just used to put the games out on location. They would just put the whitewoods of a game in development out on location. It wasn't a big mystery. All the sales teams and all the distributors knew what was coming down the line. Why can't it be more like movie releases? I know what every single movie coming out over the next year and a half is. I know what every single car coming out over the next year and a half is. But I can't know what pinball machines are coming out? We have to keep this a closely guarded secret? Like, out of all the things happening in the world, it's pinball that has to be protected. It's pinball that has to be classified information. I think it's absolute garbage. I mean, think about it. Because the whole approach is just like, We need to create FOMO for the game on the line and that's it? Why is that it? Like if Stern Pinball came out and said, hey look, we're gonna make Foo Fighters. It's not gonna be like you think. It's gonna be a crazy adventure starring the Foo Fighters. Think about like Scooby-Doo meets the Foo Fighters. It's gonna be awesome. Jack Danger's game You're gonna want it. Not only you're gonna want that game, but then George Gomez and James Bond We've put more assets into this James Bond game. If you're a James Bond fan We're just gonna tell you right now the shark is not going to eat the ball but you're gonna understand why when you see this Keith Elwin jaws machine why can't they just do that why can't we just know the next three titles for every company the next titles for every company coming out this year like we already know it's Alice in Wonderland but DPX won't tell us and we can see the translate we can see it right there we all know it's Alice in Wonderland and I'm asking you to just make sure that you're reading the translation of this and you're gonna be The only thing we know how to do is keep the title a secret and then we'll just show you the underside of the playfield and then we'll reveal the game and take your money instantly. That's it. That's the only thing they're doing. We know it's Alice in Wonderland. What Melvin should be doing right now is just confirming it's Alice in Wonderland and start to walk us through The game that's going to be available to you very soon. You don't have to show the whole game. Why can't we see like once a month, like a new aspect of the game leading up to it being for sale? Like why can't we see somebody even try that? We're not seeing any of that. And I'm just over this whole world of like buy, buy, buy on day one, nonrefundable deposits and games where they're These manufacturers are guessing what we want. Because I think what's happening right now in pinball is actually good. Because now they're all realizing they guessed Wrong. Like Steve Ritchie's name is not big enough to sell 4000 Elton John games. It should have sold more than it did. And it would have sold more than it has if they would have marketed it better. And they didn't do a good job marketing it. And they have a marketing team over there. And they know who they are. And they don't try anything Where to find out more about marketing and the other thing about marketing, imagine if I went to my clients on a daily basis and I just gave them the same exact tactic on every single assignment. They're not treating these games differently. What did they do differently when you think about the launch of Guns and Roses, the launch of Elton John, the launch of Toy Story 4 and the launch of the Godfather right? Four radically different themes. Did they get creative with the way they Let's get into the video. We've got a few questions that come through. Did they launch them? Did they put Elton John machines in piano bars around the world as a way to just get it out there in an exciting way? Did they do anything unique? Have they done anything unique with any of these properties? Godfather takes place in New York City. There is not even a single Godfather pinball machine to play in New York City. They did absolutely nothing. And you can't get away with it like this anymore. A company like American Pinball should be out of business. David Fix is making games for David Fix. The only problem with that is David Fix because he has the worst taste in the history of pinball. And I would say that to his face. He has made decisions with Mukesh's money and maybe he knows where the bodies are buried or something because the amount of bad decisions he's making. And then every time I see photos with Steven Bowden and Ryan McQuaid and David Fix and they all smiles and all smug it just makes me scratch my head What are they thinking Mukesh someone should play this for you You are running the worst pinball company right now And it embarrassing to you and your family that financing this company and you done no market research And this is what happens when you do no market research And the next game is going to be another failure because it going to be Cuphead And I get that a few of you like Cuphead but most of us don Trali Blank reverting thende taxe I wanted jeff The game is not a theme, it's another game where if it is that, you should get people to warm up to that theme because you have to be smart. You know, even a game like Back to the Future, Barry's got Back to the Future, it's not a mystery, we all know that Dutch Pinball has Back to the Future, that's not going to stop people from buying the big Lebowski. And I think with a game like Back to the Future, Barry should be spending more time getting people excited, getting people hyped. I think it's an insult to each and every one of us. I think every time a game comes out like Abba and you're like, oh, you know, like, do we really want Abba like as a community? And now did you hear what he said already? The Pinball Brothers founder after he launched this game this week and said, we're only making 800 units. He went on a podcast and said, well, if there's interest, we'll make more. So think about that for a minute. We have a hobby. Now we have manufacturers that are relying only on FOMO and then now they're lying about their own FOMO. eerily exactement ge皆 cra academic peeva on demander Virtual memoir. Just wanted to sayORJNCH. If you are watching this. compare this the other The game is a game that misses the mark as hard as pinball misses the mark. I mean and here's what I mean by that. When Spooky Pinball announces a game and they say we're only making 888, like that's not a lot of games for the amount of potential buyers of pinball and the fact that you're not even able to sell out on day one of 888, that means you got the theme really wrong. Like you got it really wrong. If I was Spooky Pinball and I was planning to make just a thousand of a game, I would be picking themes where I know 3,000 people are going to want it. 3,000, right? You always want to make one less than demand. And when you don't sell out, you're making more than there is demand. That's failure in the world of marketing. And so, yeah, I want to make a game where 3,000 people want it. We're only going to make a thousand and it's priced right. I want Every one of those people who buys one of those thousand games to own something that two thousand people couldn't have that wanted it. That's how you bake in value and secondhand value to the customer. That's how you make someone feel good about getting your product. And that's how you create a great brand. But Spooky Pinball has for the most part just been making games for themselves. Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, like the best theme they've made was Scooby Doo but they over made that even. You know, 1969 Scoobydoos, it's too many. And none of these companies, none of them, not Spooky, not Stern, nobody, nobody is putting out there the games they're thinking of making and seeing if you really want them. And I'm just saying for this niche community and this niche hobby to survive much longer, I think these people need to start thinking about a different playbook. I think if you have the licenses secured, don't just rush and develop all those games if there's not the demand. And it's so easy. It is free. And that's the part that kills me is the market research will cost them nothing. But the cost of getting it wrong will cost them millions. Millions, people. Not a few hundred thousand, a few million dollars. jamme Hayden,the Overdose well both So to summarize on this episode of Canadian Pinball Podcast, what I would like to see is a company have the courage to stop only using FOMO as the only tactic to sell your product. Bring the community into the themes you're thinking of making. Reach out to license holders on themes and see if they're available. Maybe lock up a few and then take those to the community and say which one of these would you like to see? Workout Vall crescendo down for новобыết하고 특수 �уждён Ninja andntơ documented Fre所 selected long sequencelen the whole making But 5000 people who are potential new inbox pinball buyers do not And what Ryan McQuaid needs to do is get those people prerequisite credit for the banknote for NO upcycle at www complex Please check record punch Line at www nach arvagereade xolaoynila The game is a game. You would have wanted people to understand like how cool the mechs are going to be and how this and that's going to happen in the game and the LED piano. You're going to want to warm people up to these themes, but they're not even doing that. You know what that shows me? There's a level of delusion and arrogance at these pinball companies that they think we're so stupid as buyers that anything they reveal, anything they release and anything they put in a box, we're going to buy. There is a lot of people out there who are just enthusiastic about everything happening in pinball. The reason why the Canadian Pinball Podcast is number one, the reason why this show got voted the favorite Pinball Podcast every time there was an award show is because I think I'm the only one out there that doesn't love every single pinball machine. That doesn't just blindly say all pinball is good pinball. And if you think that, you should unsubscribe because that's not how we get to better product. But it's not that hard to make good pinball. It's not that hard to make great pinball. So, this is like a design level. How could you design a crappy game in 2024? How? There's so many great games where you could just steal ideas from them and make it good. I don't understand. It's just geometry, right? You can't take a Keith Elwin game, take it apart, study the geometry, just put his designs into CAD and make an amalgamation of his design and you got a Keith Elwin game. I mean, look at Barry O's BBQ Challenge design. It's garbage. And like three designers worked on that. It's absolute garbage. Look at Galactic Tank Force. It's garbage. It shootss like garbage. And Dennis Nordman should know it shootss like garbage because every time you play one, it shootss like garbage. It's just the way it is. I would have loved it when Eric Minyer was making Guns N' Roses like at Whitewood stage, like let some people bang on it. Get some advice, get some feedback. They don't do that. He designed that game clearly without any feedback. Why didn't Pat Lawler help Eric Minier design Guns N' Roses with better flow? The game looks amazing, the flow is not there. It's not good. There's not a lot of combos. The shots are not great. The geometry is not there. Why? You've got one of the greatest pinball designers in history, Pat Lawler. His games flow great. His games shoot great. And how come he didn't help Eric Minier design a better flowing game? Is there internal competition at these pinball companies? It's time for everybody to wake up. As far as I'm concerned, all that's in the past. So now we're thinking about pinball's future and I think the companies that start to act differently, start to launch games differently, I think the stupid error of buy, buy, buy, those people look stupid right now. They look really stupid. I don't want to be talked to like that. Don't scream at me. Don't make goat noises at me. Like I work really hard for my money and I want a toy that I don't even need. I'm about to buy a toy I don't even need and you're going to scream at me and make stupid sounds and act like we all should be celebrating the fact that we're just making distributors money. I'm not going to run and buy new in box like this anymore. I'm not gonna wake up and think I need another game. I wanna see these companies start to treat me with more respect. I think they should show us the themes ahead of time. I think they should slowly launch the games to get us excited. And I think this era of like everything's a mystery and they're just gonna pull the curtain off it and then blitz me over 48 hours with a bunch of stuff trying to get my money and that's the window I have to make a decision, I think that's stupid. And the moment you free yourself from that behavior, The moment you stop bailing out these companies is the moment we're going to get better pinball because then they're going to have to think, oh shoot, we need to do this differently. We need to make games they want. We need to ask them their opinions. It's their hard earned money. We're in servitude of them. Do you feel that way from these companies? Do you feel that way from Jersey Jack, from Stern, from any of these companies? Do they pull you into their process at all? Do they do focus groups? Raise of hands. Have any of you ever been invited to a C Barontecestic,Focus Group, there are people who are listening to this right now who have spent a quarter million dollars on Stern machines. Have you ever been invited to a focus group where you signed an NDA even and were told potential titles they were thinking of making? No, they don't give two craps about what we think. They don't or they would pull us in. Everybody, I want to thank you for listening to the world's greatest pinball podcast and it's It's only the world's greatest pinball podcast because of you and the Canadian Army, the Canadians as we call them now. We collectively, I know at least probably a thousand people listen to each one of these shows. I know my haters listen to these shows. Here's the thing, we're going to do it together and more people are going to hear this message from me. We're going to create the right kind of change in pinball and the way we do it is by not running at new in box games. Trust me on this. Let's make these companies I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please subscribe. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please subscribe. Sheikhon mainsouchkattuu 만났제방인 선구 속옷じゃ연 Safa하다 선두속옷emer긴 oyown상 블랑스essential 새인선 Honestly,in technical sense they do it to be cool, just big and easy to turnFine with first gapopez given which is pipe or plastic. 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