The ABBA Pinball Release was CRINGE!

Cary Hardy·video·14m 53s·analyzed·Apr 9, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Pinball Brothers' ABBA launch criticized for poor marketing and unprofessional reveal execution.

Summary

Cary Hardy criticizes Pinball Brothers' ABBA pinball announcement and launch as poorly executed and unprofessional, citing lack of high-quality promotional videos, delayed YouTube release, an awkwardly managed reveal event with a trumpet fanfare, and inferior video production compared to their Queen and Alien announcements. While acknowledging the game has interesting mechanics and likely plays better than Queen, Hardy expresses frustration that Pinball Brothers seems uninterested in marketing the game effectively to the American market, and speculates that high pricing is due to ABBA royalty fees.

Key Claims

Pinball Brothers delayed uploading their official ABBA trailer to YouTube by three days after the reveal event
high confidence · Hardy notes the trailer was uploaded 'seven hours ago' relative to recording time, three days after the in-person reveal; compares to other manufacturers who release videos immediately
ABBA members are still alive and performed a Voyage concert in 2022, which one tier of the ABBA game is themed after
high confidence · Hardy states: 'all the ABBA members are still alive and they had done a concert called Voyage in 2022 and that is what one of the tier models is going after theme wise'
The ABBA game is more expensive than Pinball Brothers' previous titles (Queen and Alien)
high confidence · Hardy notes it's 'a very expensive game in comparison to their other titles' and speculates royalty fees are the reason
The ABBA announcement video is the worst and shortest of all Pinball Brothers announcements to date
high confidence · Hardy compares it unfavorably to Queen and Alien LV announcement videos: 'night and day difference when it comes to showing what this game looks like and what it can do'
Pinball Brothers lowered the price on their Alien Ripley Edition to create 'one of the best deals right now going on in pinball'
medium confidence · Hardy states: 'they just lowered the price on their alien game to what i would consider one of the best deals right now going on in pinball'
The reveal event featured a trumpet/cornet player waiting 15+ minutes to play a fanfare, then was cut off by ABBA music
high confidence · Hardy describes the musician being 'champing at the bit' but forced to wait, then 'in the middle of it, they cut him off with some ABBA music'
The ABBA machines at reveal were turned off/not lit up during the unveiling
high confidence · Hardy notes: 'you would think that they would pull these blankets off and the games would be all lit up, turned on, in their glory... But no, the games were still turned off'

Notable Quotes

“For whatever reason, this is their most cringe and worst announcement slash launch to date.”
Cary Hardy@ 0:14 — Opening statement establishing Hardy's main thesis about the ABBA announcement quality
“This video should have been put out there on the internet immediately after showing it to the public... But merely within a few hours if not sooner put it online for the rest of the world... Not three days later”
Cary Hardy@ 3:17 — Core criticism of Pinball Brothers' marketing strategy and timeline
“if you compare this particular game announcement to every other game announcement video that they've done including the one that i kind of did in my own little alien video this is the worst one that they've done”
Cary Hardy@ 7:35 — Direct comparative evaluation of announcement video quality across Pinball Brothers' catalog
“at this point in time it's like what's what's going on i'm guessing they decided to have the reveal on a Saturday... i just wish for their sake they should have had a better reveal launch video showing this game off because the rest of us especially in america here have nothing to go by except for vertical video”
Cary Hardy@ 9:33 — Highlights distribution and quality problems that harm market reach
“i can only assume that the price is as high as it is due to royalty fees because surprisingly enough guys for those that don't know because i didn't all the ABBA members are still alive and they had done a concert called Voyage in 2022”
Cary Hardy@ 10:43 — Explains likely cause of premium pricing with factual information about ABBA licensing

Entities

Pinball Brotherscompany Cary Hardyperson Pinball NewsorganizationABBA (pinball machine)gameQueen (pinball machine)gameAlien (pinball machine)gameRush PinballgameBarbecue (pinball machine)

Signals

?
business_signal: Pinball Brothers' marketing approach suggests lack of commitment to selling ABBA in North American market; prioritized European band fanbase over global promotion
medium · Hardy: 'they kind of treated it to where it's i don't it almost seems like they don't want to sell these... they didn't decide to cater to the Americans on this one'
?
event_signal: Pinball Brothers held in-person ABBA reveal event with live band musician (trumpet/cornet player) and Pinball News coverage; event execution issues noted
high · Hardy describes reveal event: games covered with blankets, machines powered off during reveal, musician made to wait 15+ minutes before being cut off by ABBA music
~
sentiment_shift: Mixed community reception; of 253 community poll votes comparing ABBA to American Pinball's Barbecue, 61 (24%) preferred ABBA
high · Hardy's community page poll results: '253 votes and 61 are leaning towards abba'
?
design_philosophy: ABBA game slingshots appear less reactive than desired; gameplay speed/responsiveness concerns based on limited footage
low · Hardy: 'the slingshots don't seem to be as reactive as I would particularly like them to be' (based on cell phone video only)
?
licensing_signal: All original ABBA members still alive and active (performed Voyage 2022 concert), resulting in active licensing obligations and royalty requirements for game
high · Hardy: 'all the ABBA members are still alive and they had done a concert called Voyage in 2022 and that is what one of the tier models is going after theme wise'

Topics

Marketing and announcement strategyprimaryVideo production quality and professional standardsprimaryPinball Brothers' business practices and market positioningprimaryABBA pinball machine mechanics and gameplayprimaryLicensing fees and game pricing in boutique manufacturingsecondaryNorth American vs. European market focussecondaryComparison of pinball manufacturers' announcement practicessecondaryGame reveal event execution and logisticssecondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.72)— Hardy is frustrated and disappointed with Pinball Brothers' execution of the ABBA announcement and launch, particularly the poor marketing, delayed video release, and unprofessional event management. However, he expresses cautious optimism about the game's actual mechanics and playability, which prevents this from being entirely negative. The criticism is directed at business/marketing decisions rather than the game itself.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.045

So, Pinball Brothers has officially revealed and shown off and celebrated the fact that they have created an ABBA pinball machine. And I would love to go through all the intricacies of this machine, layout and stuff like that, but... For whatever reason, this is their most cringe and worst announcement slash launch to date. 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 9500 of you down there that have hit the subscribe button so look obviously abba was before my time okay i'm not looking at this from the perspective of someone that likes or doesn't like abba i in a way i'm looking at this the same way i looked at Rush Pinball. Okay. I didn't know the band very well. Yes, I knew some of their music, but that wasn't deterring my thoughts and opinions on the game in general. It's just that I don't know Rush very well. My son knows more about Rush than I do kind of thing. But on to ABBA. Look, turns out I know a lot more ABBA songs than I realized because I was like, you know, maybe I should listen to like their greatest hit album or something like that. So I have a little bit better idea of what all ABBA has done in the music industry. And it turns out that, yes, there's a lot of songs that I, in fact, do know, but just didn't know that ABBA sang them. And honestly, their music isn't bad. I mean, would I want a pinball machine dedicated to them? No, that's me, though. And the thing is, ABBA is very popular and very well known. Evidently, my Foo Fighters is updating to the newest code. It's freaking me out. Okay, so, but evidently, ABBA is very well known, particularly in the European area. And it's very well known here in America, but I think the fan base is primarily located over there overseas. So I think that was definitely their target audience, and I don't know why they didn't decide to cater to the Americans on this one. Because they had a launch party of sorts where I guess a certain amount of the public as well as Pinball News was there to do a live stream slash recording. And thankfully Pinball News was there, otherwise we wouldn't get as much information that we have right now aside from some images that were sent out to distributors. And it wasn't until, as of this recording, seven hours ago where Pinball Brothers decided to upload their game trailer? I don't even want to call it that, but merely the announcement of ABBA, like the actual 1080p quality trailer, to YouTube for everyone else to enjoy. Otherwise, all we had was a 19 and a half minute video recorded on Pinball News, which is a recording of said video on a projector screen. This video should have been put out there on the internet immediately after showing it to the public. Yes, for your original celebration, get it out there, show them live. But merely within a few hours if not sooner put it online for the rest of the world out there to get the goods of what you trying to sell us Not three days later And if you watched the 19 and some odd minute video in its entirety posted by pinball news i don really recommend it to you honestly because it is not giving you a whole lot of information i mean it's definitely talking to someone that i've already forgot who but i'm guessing they were a big contributor in creating this game and from what I can tell you is that the person that they were voice conversing with he was mainly wanting to target a lot of people that were there for pinball not just ABBA fanatics which evidently there's a large some of you out there that really do love ABBA including my wife honestly she loves ABBA I don't think I've shown her this machine yet though but if you watch this the 19th of some I'll put a link in the description down below and you can fast forward to wherever you feel like you need to watch this but there is a couple of funny moments and just a little bit of cringe in my opinion on this because the this could have been so much better but it seemed like it was a last minute this is this we're gonna do it this way type of thing and i don't really would all know what the plans were it looks like they were gonna have a band at some point playing there but beginning towards the beginning of the video there is this guy with a trumpet or a cornet bugle whatever waiting in the back just there and you could tell that he is so excited like he couldn't be happier to be here like he he's been preparing for this moment for so long he's ready for this moment where he's been told to play this particular fanfare and stuff like that so he's just champing at the bit to get his little edge in here. But he's got to wait another 15 minutes at least while they have a conversation with this guy over a Zoom call. And it finally gets to the point to where they're like, hey, let's reveal this game to the public. And they've got the games, both versions, covered with some black blankets and everything. Now, you would think that they would pull these blankets off and the games would be all lit up, turned on, in their glory to really get the best wow factor when showing it to the public for the very first time like this. But no, the games were still turned off for whatever reason. And what really made me crack up is that you got this guy, he gets up there ready to play this little fanfare, and he starts to play it whenever they show off the game. He really can't hear it very well. And even in the middle of it, they cut him off with some ABBA music. So it's like, I hope he wasn't like really excited to get his moment and then they basically just cover him up anyway. So I thought that was freaking hilarious. So we need a few more. A few more people. Do we have any? Yeah. He's not that far. Okay. Are you ready? Hooray! Okay, starting from ten. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. So how does the game shoot? All that stuff and junk. All the video that we have are people that recorded it with their cell phone at this particular announcement. And you could say oh there some gameplay on their announcement teaser that literally merely hours ago gave us full quality the thing is if you compare this particular game announcement to every other game announcement video that they've done including the one that i kind of did in my own little alien video this is the worst one that they've done i don't know why it is the shortest it is in my opinion very amateur for what they've done in the past there are particular effects that were used where i'm like man even i could have made this particular portion look better and and that's saying something because i do not consider myself a professional editing or anything like that but there's just certain times i'm like that that wasn't a very good segue or that didn't look good or what am I I could go on and on on this all I'm saying is if you watch their queen announcement if you watch their alien lv announcement video and then you watch this video night and day difference when it comes to showing what this game looks like and what it can do so that's the thing this is what upsets me is that this announcement came very just kind of like in the background not a big deal for whatever reason they've kind of treated it to where it's i don't it almost seems like they don't want to sell these because you think that would be much more hey guys check this out or whatever but it's not and i don't know why it's like do they not want to sell these games i don't understand at this point in time it's like what's what's going on i'm guessing they decided to have the reveal on a Saturday which I think is probably a little bit of a I don't know I'm sure distributors didn't care much for that the ones that did get a phone call and request on their Saturdays which they may enjoy a day off but hell I think at this point in time with the way the market is they can call them any time of the day as long as they're buying a game and they'll be happy so I think the distributors are perfectly fine as long as they're selling games no matter what time of day it is at this point i just wish for their sake i honestly don't care i'm trying to say for their sake they should have had a better reveal launch video showing this game off because the rest of us especially in america here have nothing to go by except for vertical video and if you look at every other pinball manufacturer when they release a a new game the videos are obviously going straight to YouTube or on Facebook or something not like that not a private little party session for fans of the particular band it's going out to the world because that is who you want to sell to right the world you don't want to just sell to the people in that particular area because I'm sure there's people all over the world that like ABBA but the main question is would these ABBA fans spend the amount of money that they're asking for and I don't know this is a very expensive game in comparison to their other titles especially since they just lowered the price on their alien game to what i would consider one of the best deals right now going on in pinball is getting that lb that alien ripley edition that's a pretty damn good price for what you're getting in there anyways i can only assume that the price is as high as it is due to royalty fees because surprisingly enough guys for those that don't know because i didn't all the ABBA members are still alive and they had done a concert called Voyage in 2022 and that is what one of the tier models is going after theme wise it going after their Voyage I guess tour that they had back in 2022 so royalty fees are more than likely the reason why this game is priced higher than their previous two games that is my assumption at this point from what videos i have seen and what i can tell so far i think it probably shoots better than queen at this point the art for me is pinball brothers you you guys and i know from talking to people that art is the most expensive portion when it comes to making a game all of it said and done art is very expensive so i don't know what they're doing when it comes to art for their games but that is probably at this point in time the big weak point in this game i don't know really how well it shoots because all i've got is some kind of crummy cell phone footage and everything. It kind of gives me an idea. From what little I've seen also, the slingshots don't seem to be as reactive as I would particularly like them to be. But there are a lot of things that I do like. And for a particular individual that wants to say this is a fan layout, no, it's not a fan layout. If you look at even just the images, you have an upper left flipper that shoots across the playfield, negating the fact that this could even be possibly a fan layout. It's not. I don't know how well it shoots yet. Maybe eventually, but I'm leaning towards it shooting better than Queen. For me, Queen felt very unforgiving if you didn't make the shot that you were intending. It was a major drain fest for me, at least. And the thing is, I'm probably not going to be able to get a chance to play this game until Expo this year, so that's October. unless one happens to arrive somewhere here in the States close to me, but I don't know, guys. It's a whole bunch of wait and see. Now, I did ask on my community page, I think it was late last night, because late last night is whenever I was really trying to figure out where the videos and stuff were for on this game. I'm like, why have they not revealed and shown a trailer to the public on YouTube? and so I'm looking at this. I asked a question on my community page. Which game would you rather have at this point in time? And I'm not giving you the neither option. And even though I state that, there's still people that say neither. I don't know why they feel the need to do that. There's a reason why I didn't put a neither option, but you still had the people that just need to verbalize or comment neither. Just cast a vote, dude. Come on. Anyways, Barbecue from American Pinball or ABBA from Pinball Brothers. as of right now 253 votes and 61 are leaning towards abba hmm so there you go on that so pinball brothers please get some footage some better trailers out of the game so everyone else can get an idea of how this game shoots that's the most important factor i don't care what band you put on the back glass in the end it's what's underneath the glass from what i can tell so far mechanics wise it looks interesting enough you've got a helicopter the blades actually spin you've got a magnet up on the top of your left ramp area so i mean i'm seeing things that i like i just would like a better visualization of these things that i like so please get something put together put it out there for the masses to hopefully enjoy For those of you out there who have seen the ABBA footage, what do you think? Let me know in the comments section down below.