Stern Pinball Issues "Last Call" for Current Home Edition Machines

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Nov 22, 2022

Analysis

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TL;DR

Stern ends Star Wars and Jurassic Park Home Edition production; signals shift back to full-sized machines.

Summary

Stern Pinball is ending production of Star Wars and Jurassic Park Home Edition machines in a year-end holiday run, marking a 'Last Call' for these titles. George Gomez clarified this does not signal the end of Home Edition games generally, but rather a pivot to focus resources on full-sized machines. The move suggests potential underperformance of Jurassic Park Home Edition despite prior positive reception.

Key Claims

Stern Pinball's year-end holiday production run will be the Last Call for Star Wars (Regular and Comic) and Jurassic Park Home Edition machines
high confidence · Author heard this announced on The Pinball Show podcast; further confirmed by direct conversation with George Gomez
George Gomez stated 'pretty sure you'll see more' Home Edition machines in the future, indicating the line is not being permanently discontinued
high confidence · Direct quote from George Gomez to author in conversation following podcast segment
Jurassic Park Home Edition may not have performed as well as initially believed despite appearing to be fairly well received
medium confidence · Author's inference based on early discontinuation; not explicitly confirmed by Gomez
Pulling back on Home Edition production will allow Stern to allocate more resources to full-sized machines
medium confidence · Author's personal analysis and assumption about business resource allocation

Notable Quotes

“pretty sure you'll see more Home Edition machines in the future”
George Gomez — Official clarification that Home Edition line is not permanently discontinued, only pausing these two titles

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyGeorge GomezpersonZach MinneypersonDennispersonThe Pinball ShoworganizationSuper Awesome Pinball ShoworganizationStar Wars Home Editionproduct Jurassic Park Home Editionproduct Knapp Arcadeorganization

Signals

?
business_signal: Strategic resource reallocation away from Home Edition focus back toward full-sized pinball machines
high · Gomez's statement combined with discontinuation timing suggests intentional pivot; author interprets this as resource optimization
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market_signal: Potential underperformance of Jurassic Park Home Edition despite perceived market acceptance, driving early discontinuation
medium · Author was 'lead to believe' Jurassic Park was well-received, but early discontinuation suggests otherwise; Gomez did not specifically address performance metrics
?
product_strategy: End-of-life announcement for Star Wars and Jurassic Park Home Edition machines, signaling shift in product strategy
high · Year-end holiday production run marked as 'Last Call' for both titles; George Gomez confirmed continuation of Home Edition line in general

Topics

Home Edition product line discontinuationprimaryStern Pinball resource allocation strategyprimaryJurassic Park Home Edition market performancesecondaryPinball podcast industrysecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0.35)— Author reports news factually but expresses personal preference for full-sized machines over Home Edition games, viewing the discontinuation positively for resource reallocation purposes. No negativity toward Stern or the decisions made.

Transcript

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While listening to my favorite pinball podcast this afternoon, The Pinball Show featuring Zach and Dennis (the Super Awesome Pinball Show is a close second due to its significantly less consistent schedule), I learned that the year-end Holiday production run of Stern Pinball's "Home Edition" pinball machines that I talked about here last week will actually be the Last Call for both Stern's Star Wars (Regular and Comic) and surprisingly Jurassic Park Home Edition Machines. I had been lead to believe that the Jurassic Home Edition had been fairly well received by the public, but ending production of it so soon may indicate otherwise. I spoke with George Gomez a few minutes ago and he clarified that this "Last Call" doesn't necessarily mean that Home Edition machines in general are done at Stern, just that these two specific titles are done for now. George stated he's "pretty sure you’ll see more" Home Edition machines in the future. While I don't personally have anything against the Home Edition line of games, on a personal level I am actually kind of happy to see Stern pull back on them for now. I say this because doing so will enable Stern to allocate more resources towards building full-fledged machines which I personally am much more likely to play on location or buy. Click on the link below to hear this segment of Zach's Stern Pinball production update and other interesting news items: https://www.thepinballnetwork.net/e/the-pinball-show-ep-117/