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All Wick. No Politics Included.

Cary Hardy·video·36m 31s·analyzed·May 14, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Cary Hardy reflects on John Wick controversy, licensing constraints, gameplay impressions, and Stern's non-traditional marketing approach.

Summary

Cary Hardy addresses the John Wick pinball controversy ("Gun Gate"), apologizes for prior escalatory coverage, and discusses George Gomez's explanation that Lionsgate (the license holder) made the decision to exclude guns from cabinet artwork due to ESRB rating concerns. Hardy analyzes John Wick (Pro) gameplay footage, highlighting concerns about designer pedigree (Elliot Eismin is unproven), missing mechanical depth, pricing relative to features, and secondary market losses. He also critiques Stern's marketing strategy of featuring lesser-known content creators, arguing it excludes traditional pinball media while trying to expand beyond the core demographic.

Key Claims

  • Lionsgate (the John Wick license holder) made the decision to exclude guns from cabinet artwork, not Stern, because pinball machines are rated E for Everyone while other licensed products have ESRB ratings

    high confidence · Cary Hardy, citing George Gomez interviews from Loser Kid Pinball podcast and Flip N Out Pinball stream with Joel Engelbert

  • Stern receives calls every day from multiple license holders wanting to make pinball games and has turned down licenses before (Hunger Games mentioned as example)

    high confidence · Cary Hardy, quoting George Gomez directly from interviews

  • John Wick initial sales were relatively low, lower than Venom, but gameplay footage release changed people's minds

    medium confidence · Cary Hardy personal observation of sales data and community response

  • Designer pedigree (like Keith Elwin name) alone can sell units due to proven track record, whereas Elliot Eismin (John Wick designer) creates hesitation due to lack of prior games

    medium confidence · Cary Hardy analysis of designer recognition and market behavior

  • Limited Edition production of 1,000 units is too many and has diluted the meaning of 'limited edition' in the current market

    medium confidence · Cary Hardy market observation and distributor conversations

  • The secondary market for pinball has shifted from people holding games long-term to flipping them quickly, resulting in thousands of dollars in losses for buyers

    medium confidence · Cary Hardy personal collecting experience and market observation

  • Stern intentionally excluded traditional pinball content creators (like NAP Arcade) from early John Wick access and instead invited lesser-known arcade one-up focused creators to reach new demographics

    high confidence · Cary Hardy observation and George Gomez's stated marketing strategy in interviews

  • Ian McShane's portrait on the John Wick playfield has excessive filtering/retouching compared to other character portraits

Notable Quotes

  • “Turns out it wasn't Stern's decision when it comes to having or not having guns on the exterior of the machine. Okay, Lionsgate, the license holder, that was their decision”

    Cary Hardy@ 4:13 — Core resolution of Gun Gate controversy, clarifies licensing constraint vs. manufacturing choice

  • “I wish I would have waited or reached out to Stern directly before just assuming and then putting all types of conspiracy theories together”

    Cary Hardy@ 1:18 — Public apology for prior escalatory video coverage, shows accountability and course correction

  • “If I made a video and blew up like that every time a manufacturer made a game that was missing important assets, I'd be doing this all the time”

    Cary Hardy@ 6:37 — Contextualizes missing assets as industry norm, not John Wick-specific crisis

  • “If I don't get excited and just want to watch it to its fullest extent, the chances are I'm not going to find the game interesting to play”

    Cary Hardy@ 14:19 — Personal methodology for evaluating games: gameplay footage engagement as proxy for play experience

  • “Nothing is exciting me about this game yet... I'm seeing it. I'm like, okay, it's not horrible or anything like that, but I'm also not like, oh, man, did you see what it did here?”

    Cary Hardy@ 15:15 — Lukewarm reception to John Wick gameplay despite acknowledging it's not bad, suggests underwhelming mechanical depth

  • “A lot of people would love an Elton John right now, but they just don't feel like the price that they're asking for matches what they're getting”

Entities

Cary HardypersonGeorge GomezpersonElliot EisminpersonJohn WickgameStern Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Cary Hardy publicly apologizes for prior escalatory video coverage of Gun Gate, reaches out to George Gomez, and commits to direct communication with manufacturers rather than speculation; reflects shift toward community accountability after controversy

    high · Hardy states 'In hindsight always 20/20 I wish I would have waited or reached out to Stern directly' and 'I have reached out to George Gomez We've got a branch of communication Going now so hopefully Going forward There will be no more Like bam blow up'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: ESRB/content rating constraints from license holders are now actively limiting physical artwork on pinball machines while digital on-screen content faces fewer restrictions; reveals structural licensing asymmetry in modern pinball design

    high · George Gomez explanation via interviews: pinball rated E for Everyone, Lionsgate prohibits guns on cabinet artwork but allows them on display screens due to active gameplay consent model vs. passive location viewing

  • $

    market_signal: New-in-box pinball machines now depreciate significantly, reversing prior decade of value retention; collectors face guaranteed financial losses on new purchases, fundamentally changing buying behavior and market dynamics

    high · Hardy states 'Now it's like a guaranteed loss if you buy new in box' and personal example: Foo Fighters Premium purchased for $9,000+ would not break even if resold; surplus LE production (1,000 units) cited as driver

  • $

    market_signal: Limited Edition production runs of 1,000+ units have eliminated FOMO scarcity value; LEs now available on demand from distributors, indicating market oversupply and loss of collector prestige

    high · Hardy observes '1,000, I believe, as of right now, is too many. When you call any distributor right now, chances are they've got an LE if you want it. It's lost its meaning.'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.110

0:00
what's up guys and we are back and this might be a long video because we've got a lot to talk about especially in regards to John Wick. We've got new information in regards to Gun Gate. We have got gameplay footage that has officially been released. We've also got, I'm guessing Stern's marketing strategy is dividing the community? And I want to talk about what the game has going for it as well as what the game has going against it. Let's talk about the elephant in the room just for a moment and then we're going to move on. So look, it is no surprise that my blow-up video rants that precede this one were very mixed when it came to how people felt about it and everything. And it's no doubt that it escalated something that should not have been escalated. It's one of those where In hindsight always 2020 I wish I would have waited Or reached out to Stern directly before Just assuming And then putting all types of conspiracy Theories together With that being said I have reached out to George Gomez We've got a branch of communication Going now so hopefully Going forward There will be no more Like bam blow up What the hell stuff like that If something happens and I do not understand why and I would like an explanation, I'm going to be reaching out to them directly like I should have in the first place. If you guys have not watched or listened to the following podcast, I highly recommend it for more information if you actually want to know why when it comes to the lack of guns on the art package for this game. You have the Loser Kid Pinball podcast. I shared that on my community page a day or two ago. And then you had the Flippin' Out stream podcast with Joel Engelbert where both of those were speaking to George Gomez on the matter. This is obviously something, a hot topic that has been dividing the community in regards to pinball and politics. And it's one of those things where I was hoping that these two things would never cross over, and technically they still haven't. So what happened is basically like Ghostbusters when it comes to crossing the streams. don't cross the streams they did and bad things happened now i know that i lost a bit of you when it comes to subscribers i lost a bit of you when it comes to your respect for me and i don't think i can fix that but what i can do is tell you that going forward i will do better and this is one of those things where i could technically delete these videos and pretend like it never happened But no, I'm going to keep them up for a couple of reasons. One, if I delete them, then I'm going to obviously get crap and say, oh, he deleted them because he's ashamed of what he stirred up and stuff like that. And secondly, I believe that I should be accountable for my actions. And this will forever be basically a stain in my catalog of videos going forward. But it's one of those things where it's like, let's have that as an example of what not to do. And so, like I said, going forward, this is going to be something that hopefully never happens again, mainly because I'm going to be reaching out to Gomez or something like that to hear it directly from the horse's mouth. So in regards to Gun Gate, the information that we received from Gomez in these interviews, like I said, I'm going to be basically breaking it down to the simplest form because I don't think I should explain everything or play everything. If you want to know everything, links in the video description on where to go. And I'll tell you what, I'll even put little QR codes on the screen for those that want to use that method. It's something I'm going to try going forward. And so let's talk about the gun gate just a little bit here.

medium confidence · Cary Hardy subjective artistic critique of Randy Martinez artwork

Cary Hardy@ 26:35 — Broader pricing crisis across new releases; examples price-to-value mismatch affecting purchasing decisions

  • “Now it's like a guaranteed loss if you buy new in box. And a lot of people don't want to lose money”

    Cary Hardy@ 25:05 — Market shift signal: secondary market depreciation now expected, eliminating previous value retention assumption

  • “They're trying to reach a new customer base while also pissing off the current customer base”

    Cary Hardy@ 32:50 — Critique of Stern's selective content creator strategy; analogy to internet service providers irritating loyal customers

  • “I feel like we're missing out on what pinball is supposed to be, and that is mechanical, tactile enjoyment versus throwing more digital into it”

    Cary Hardy@ 12:27 — Design philosophy critique: argues LCD over-reliance diminishes core pinball appeal; structural industry problem

  • “When you have someone like that we've never heard of in the design team Elliot Eismin there's hesitation there's no pedigree there”

    Cary Hardy@ 16:55 — Market perception issue: unproven designer creates sales friction vs. established names like Keith Elwin or John Borg

    • Lionsgate
    company
    Keith Elwinperson
    John Borgperson
    Randy Martinezperson
    Ian McShaneperson
    Loser Kid Pinballorganization
    Flip N Out Pinballcompany
    Joel Engelbertperson
    Godzillagame
    Deadpoolgame
    Jurassic Parkgame
    Foo Fightersgame
    Venomgame
    Elton Johngame
    NAP Arcadeorganization
    Hunger Gamesgame
  • ?

    product_concern: John Wick gameplay footage reception suggests underwhelming mechanical depth or shot variety; audience excitement metrics (Hardy's viewing experience) indicate potential market concern about innovation ceiling

    medium · Hardy states 'I'm not like, oh, man, did you see what it did here?... Nothing is exciting me about this game yet' and 'I like a lot of stuff... but was I like impressed or excited about what I'm seeing on the gameplay no'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Industry trend of LCD-centric gameplay at expense of mechanical features; Hardy explicitly critiques pinball manufacturers for using digital display as primary theme delivery mechanism rather than physical playfield mechanics

    high · Hardy states 'I feel like we're missing out on what pinball is supposed to be, and that is mechanical, tactile enjoyment versus throwing more digital into it' and 'I think they are leaning way too much on this LCD display'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Designer name recognition significantly impacts pre-release sales and market confidence; unproven designers (Elliot Eismin) face market hesitation vs. established names (Keith Elwin, John Borg); suggests industry consolidation around bankable designer portfolios

    high · Hardy explains 'a designer's name can sell units alone due to their pedigree' and 'if we know he's got a game coming out everyone can kind of go through their rolodex' vs. 'when you have someone like that we've never heard of... there's hesitation there's no pedigree'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern Stern deliberately excluded traditional pinball media (NAP Arcade, established creators) in favor of lesser-known arcade one-up focused creators to reach $300-$800 price-point audiences; creates community friction while attempting to expand addressable market

    high · Hardy observes 'Stern basically invited a handpicked a couple of content creators throughout the YouTube community... that a lot of us pinball enthusiasts are unaware of' and notes community complaint: 'how come you didn't give this information... to people that go to like NAP Arcade?'

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern receiving daily inquiries from license holders; multiple active licenses available; suggests healthy IP acquisition pipeline but potential capacity constraints on design/manufacturing throughput

    high · George Gomez (via Hardy): 'they get calls all the time, every day, from people or license holders that are contacting them to make a machine' and 'they have turned down licenses before, Hunger Games being one of them'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community sentiment shifting negative on pricing across multiple recent releases (Elton John cited); price-to-content-value ratio now primary barrier to new purchases, especially as secondary market losses become predictable

    high · Hardy: 'A lot of people would love an Elton John right now, but they just don't feel like the price that they're asking for matches what they're getting' and personal buying criteria now require gameplay validation before purchase due to financial risk

  • ?

    product_concern: John Wick playfield artwork received mixed reception; specific concern about Ian McShane portrait over-filtering/retouching suggests artist working from limited source material or excessive digital manipulation

    medium · Hardy notes Ian McShane portrait 'looks a lot like whenever you see the images of these girls... they're obviously doubling up on the filters... This looks bad, honestly, for Ian McShane' while other character portraits acceptable

    • 4:13
    Turns out it wasn't Stern's decision when it comes to having or not having guns on the exterior of the machine. Okay, Lionsgate, the license holder, that was their decision, and it's one of those things where, in a nutshell, pinball machines are rated E for everyone. And any other kind of product or whatever like that, including video games and toys, has some sort of ESRB rating or like 18 or older or something like that on the items that can be sold per that license thing. and since pinball is rated e for everyone then according to the license holder they have their own rules on this each of them does they said we can't have guns on the cabinet but evidently we can have them on the screen and i know that's definitely a confusing aspect of it that was a confusing aspect for me as well i like i don't understand you don't want to have a still or static image of a gun on the art of the play field but you're okay with having all the blood and head shots and stuff like that and it comes down to basically on location sitting there it's it's going to be as pg as you can get but you as a paying customer customer putting a coin in or a dollar or whatever and hitting that start button you have made the conscious decision of activating the machine and playing it so therefore now anything that happens after that is on you it's no longer on the license holder or the brand behind making the machine. That's essentially in a nutshell of what's going on here. But even though George Gomez came out and explained all this, you still have the community that is divided and basically stating that he's lying.
    5:57
    Okay. Let's just say you're right, that he is lying. Now what? Okay. That's the end of that. If you think he's lying and you don't believe him and it's going towards the whole Second Amendment thing and stuff like that, then don't buy the game. That's your decision. That's what you can do.
    6:20
    Otherwise, you can believe him and go, you know, it is what it is. Maybe without the art, including guns, maybe they'll give us enough to justify the cost. And I think that is what it all comes down to now, guys. because if I made a video and blew up like that every time a manufacturer made a game that was missing important assets, I'd be doing this all the time. I would be blowing up and doing stuff like that all the time. It's not uncommon for a manufacturer to disappoint me when it comes to missing assets, and that includes the guns missing on John Wick. Obviously, it's a very important asset, but restrictions and everything with the licensor, it is what it is and so that's how i'm going to be looking at the game going forward i'm going to look at it like any other pinball machine leaving completely politics and stuff like that out of it i'm just going to look at it objectively like where's my guns license or decision that sucks maybe just maybe you probably shouldn't have moved forward with the licensing on this game and like during the whole interview with gomez he states that they get calls all the time, every day, from people or license holders that are contacting them to make a machine. So, if the amount of license holders contacting you to make a machine isn't the problem, then maybe it's okay to turn down these specific license holders for not giving you the things that you feel should truly, completely bring this game to the fans that love it so much. Now, of course, we're never going to know exactly what goes on when it comes to going back and forth with the licensee and license holder, how much they push back or whatever. But when he says that he's got calls every day coming in from multiple different license holders asking them to do a game for them, then that tells me that you don't have a lack of possible themes that you can do at this time. So, and he stated that they have turned down licenses before, Hunger Games being one of them. So I feel that if you have so many options ahead of you, then maybe it's okay to, I don't know, have a firmer hand with what you're able to create. If you have John Wick license, they want to give you all these assets, but you can't have guns, and you know how important that would be to your customers who love John Wick, and if you're going to make a game, make it to its truest form, then maybe go, you know what guys I sorry I don think we going to be able to go through this I don feel that our customer base would truly appreciate John Wick unless we had the guns
    9:13
    Again, they would probably go, okay, fine, and move on, and they wouldn't ever make a John Wick game.
    9:20
    So, it's a risk. And I think when the current economy is the way it is, and all the manufacturers are hurting the way they are, the least amount of risk is the path that they're going to take. And making a game with some missing assets versus just completely not making a very well-known license like John Wick.
    9:43
    That's the decision that they're going to make. Because in their mind and how they were thinking on this is like, okay, we're not going to have guns on the artwork of the play field or the cabinet. But we will give you a piece of plastic that you can change out when you purchase the game or put it on your location at your own will. you can change out the weapons cache into one that actually includes guns. So there is that caveat to it. But the other one is that, hey, don't worry, we got plenty of guns and killing and stuff like that all on the display.
    10:16
    And this is a part of me that feels like the display has become such a major crutch on pinball that I feel that's almost like a scapegoat when it comes to bringing these themes to life. It's like, hey, we could create these sculpts or these really cool mechs or do all this other stuff or we can just throw a bunch of movie assets on the screen. And it's like, I get from the manufacturer's standpoint, but it always seems like they can't make us happy. We say we want assets and so they give it to us and then we still say that it's too much or it's still not enough or whatever. But for me, pinball is supposed to be enjoyed from the mechanical aspect of it. And by throwing a bunch more options on the display and the leveling up and stuff like that, I understand how it can improve a game. But when you have all these movie assets, and that's what you're bragging about, There's all these movie assets that are on the screen.
    11:23
    Then I'm like, okay, well, I'm not looking at the screen. I'm not playing the screen. I'm playing what's underneath the glass. If I just want John Wick film scenes to just play as I'm playing, I'll put John Wick on the TV while I'm playing the pinball machine. Like I said, I think they are leaning way too much on this LCD display that came into pinball.
    11:46
    And I don't know if we're ever going to get out of it. And I also understand the reasons why they put a lot of things on the screen, and one of those is that all those assets, movie scenes and stuff like that, those are things that can't break. You have mechanisms underneath the glass. You have basically anything underneath the glass can break. If you put it on the display software-wise, these are things that will just never fail unless, of course, the whole entire system fails. So it's a sure thing, less risk involved when doing that.
    12:27
    But I feel like we're missing out on what pinball is supposed to be, and that is mechanical, tactile enjoyment versus throwing more digital into it. This brings me back into Deep Root, and the main thing they asked me that I was hoping to see when it came to what they were going to show me is that I said, I want less on the screen and more under the glass.
    12:54
    And this is before I knew the pin bar was basically going to be implementing more LCD and stuff when it comes to coding and software and everything. I was like, okay. So I was disappointed, obviously, even on that point, among other things. So moving on to let's talk about the gameplay. And this is where when gameplay comes out that your sales that may be low or high can be a make or break for a lot of people. And initially, from what I'm hearing, the sales on John Wick were relatively low. And I say relatively low, meaning less than Venom and stuff like that. And I think when gameplay came out, that probably changed a lot of people's minds to get an idea of how well the game plays. and as games get more on location that's going to further change people's minds because you have people like me that are not going to buy a game unless i play it first so what do i feel and how do i think about the gameplay by watching the stream footage and everything and it's like okay i like a lot of stuff that they're talking about putting into the game and what's going to be involved in it but was i like impressed or excited about what i'm seeing on the gameplay no i mean at least so far I know from my perspective when watching gameplay footage on a game, if I don't get excited and just want to watch it to its fullest extent, the chances are I'm not going to find the game interesting to play.
    14:27
    I mean, just for instance, I don't think I ever remember watching Deadpool streams or anything like that, but in regards to Jurassic Park, in regards to Foo Fighters, it's one of those things where the gameplay stream excited me got me interested i was like enjoyed how it the ball did what it did i was like this is exciting to watch and the same thing with godzilla that i don't own but still watching it if you're able to watch and go you know what this game looks really fun then chances are you're going to enjoy it more when you play it but if i just watch it and i'm like yeah okay all right i mean it's not bad but it's not impressing me or getting me excited to play it, then I don't know. That's where I'm at right now with this game when it comes to gameplay, is that I'm seeing it. I'm like, okay, it's not horrible or anything like that, but I'm also not like, oh, man, did you see what it did here? Did you see how the ball traveled around here? Did you see that multi-ball? Nothing is exciting me about this game yet. And that's what I want to talk about, what this game has going for it and what's against it. And the thing is, some of the things I'm going to mention were mentioned in the video that I talked about before the game was even revealed. It was like, chances are you're going to have a safe fan layout. And that's what we've got. We've got a fan layout. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it looks fairly safe. Then you have the fact that it's a new designer. and whether you know it or not a designer's name can sell units alone due to their pedigree so if john borg if we know he's got a game coming out everyone can kind of go through their rolodex of games that he's done and get a pretty good idea on what we're going to be seeing in a future game if we like the way he designs in general that's how it is with keith elwyn that's Why those units seem to sell. I'm pretty sure if Keith Elwin's like, hey, you know what? I'm going to make a game completely about the human centipede. Even though it would be a horrible theme. I bet you'd have all kinds of people on board to play that because of his pedigree. We know what he's capable of doing. So even if the theme is bad, chances are the gameplay is going to be great. so when you have someone like that we've never heard of in the design team elliot eisman there's hesitation there's no pedigree there so it's a it's a matter of like uh let's see what he's capable of first you know let's let's wait and see to find out if this is something that you know we're into kind of thing we don't know yet so there's a little bit of hesitation in the air because of stuff like that. Then, of course, something else that you have going against it is the lack of guns in the art package. And there's a lot of people, including myself, that feel that's something that's a very prominent detail is John Wick and guns kind of thing. But a license holder doesn't allow it on the art or whatever, so it is what it is kind of thing. And I think that includes when it comes to art in general is that this art package is a little bit dividing as well. Now, initially when the game images got revealed, no one really even noticed off the cuff that there was no guns, including myself. But even, just like I said, taking the guns out of the equation, what do I think of it by looking at it? And the premium like was one of those where I like ooh I mean I don think this is no I did not there was no instant like about the premium cabinet art package for me The Pro I liked that one The Limited Edition I thought was interesting especially when it comes to the Baba Yaga inserts for the armor and stuff like that That looks really cool.
    18:27
    But then the Premium slowly started to grow on me when it came to the cabinet art. And even then, I'm not even sure if I 100% think it's great. it's one of those it's just slowly growing on to me where i'm like okay i'm thinking i'm becoming okay with it kind of thing but looking at the play field there's a lot of things that it reminds me of i mean for instance i'm going to say that the the circle in the center down there reminds me of stargate i mean i know it's a weird thing to grasp for obviously there's plenty of other games that have like a circle outline in the center of their play field between the slings but that's the one that comes to my mind then you have the portrait images of the characters in the movie uh that's reminiscent of games like uh dark knight there was kind of that aspect of it and i feel that the colors on the play field and everything are definitely going to be divisive i think this is definitely leaning towards the imagery of like in the nightclub scenes with the blues and the purples and stuff like that but i the portraits were done very well everyone looks pretty good except for ian mcshane this one is one where i saw it and i was like what happened here this this looks a lot like whenever you see the images of these girls that you know in person and they take all these pictures and post them up online and they're obviously doubling up on the filters or something to make their faces look a lot cleaner and prettier than they actually are and that's what I saw when I saw this. I'm like, ooh, what happened here? This looks bad, honestly, for Ian McShane. Everybody else looked okay and this is obviously imagery that has to be taken from actual film assets. They were given to Martinez, Randy, and he basically, in a way, traced and colored and colorized it and cartoonized it, whatever, to make it look more hand-drawn because they know that just stock images and putting them on the play field is not going to be acceptable. The thing is, if I'm able to take the imagery that he obviously used, throw a couple of filters on it, and come up with this in a mere couple of minutes, now if I had the wheel and the pad and stuff that they use whenever they're having to do their job, I could make this look pretty damn similar to what he has on the play field. So for me, that tells me that it could be better kind of thing. So all the other characters, I'm like, okay, I get it. You had to use actual film assets and make it look the way it did. But that's the only one, Ian McShane, where I'm like, something's not right there. I mean, everything else when it comes to portraits of the characters, I'm like, okay, looks good. So obviously one of the items that's going against this game is the lack of nostalgia, which I mentioned in a previous video. So you don't have that. Then you have the missing guns on the artwork. And then you still have, in my opinion, not a lot underneath the play field that I believe is worth the price tag. And that's completely subjective to me. But I feel like we still have a high price for these pinball machines. And we're not getting much more underneath the glass. and I think especially in today's economy and what's going on in the pinball industry and stuff like that, prices have gone up but we're still not getting as much as we'd like and I feel that people are starting to think that way. It's like why should we give them more money when we don't feel like we're getting more in return and that's the subjectivity of it in general is that if I'm giving money on anything, I need to feel like it's a fair trade. And a lot of people, you have a disposable income and are able to buy these items and these pinball machines and go, okay, whatever. And just look at it like that. And that's awesome. That would be great if I had that kind of income to just do stuff like that. But for me, it needs to check every box.
    22:40
    So you had me on theme. And the artwork is passable. but you know it's not distracting to where i'm like i can't do it of course you're missing the gun so that is that does suck when it comes to on the screen display like i said i would much rather have you know uh less assets on the screen and more underneath the glass i mean the industry the manufacturers they're having to take more risks obviously because of the fact that you know they're not selling as many games as they were during the COVID season. But as buyers, we're seeing the risks as well. People are seeing a surplus amount of limited editions that are out there. 1,000, I believe, as of right now, is too many.
    23:29
    When you call any distributor right now, chances are they've got an LE if you want it. It's lost its meaning. There's too many LEs. I mean, you're going to have the LE buyers because they can do that and they want to complete their collection. Okay, you do you.
    23:48
    But things have obviously changed. It's like if I know, and I know a lot of you know this as well, a new game comes out, you're going to have the people that are going to want it now and then buy it, and then they're going to end up eventually getting tired of it and wanting to sell it or time to rotate games out, And then you can just wait and buy it for thousands of dollars cheaper. And I think that's definitely where the market has shifted is the secondhand market. Whereas before, people were holding on to these games. And now people are flipping them, and they're trying to get as much money as they possibly can back. But demand has gone down so much that people are just essentially losing thousands on what they're putting money into. And I know me personally, that's not something I would be excited about. I don't want to throw, like, if I wanted to sell my Foo Fighters premium right now, and for what I spent for it was obviously over nine grand, and I'm pretty sure my premium would not sell for even breaking even of what I paid for it, which is pretty usual for items that you purchase, you know, and stuff like that. is just that we were used to, for a good amount of time, knowing what money we put into a game, we would at least break even kind of thing. But now it's like a guaranteed loss if you buy new in box. And a lot of people don't want to lose money. That's awesome. My wife's motto was me and this hobby. She's like, as long as you're not losing money, I don't care what you do. So, and that's what it's come down to. It's difficult for me to buy a new machine because essentially I will be definitely losing money on it when it comes to potentially reselling it. And that's why I have to look at it from the point of view of like, if I'm going to buy this game, I need to know for sure that it's something that I'm going to hold on to and enjoy. I'm not going to buy it on theme alone. I'm not going to buy it on gameplay alone. I need to be in front of it, play it, and know, hey, this is something that I feel like I would enjoy in the long term. I personally don't have the financial ability to buy every new game that comes out. I wish I did, and I wish that I could go, you know what, drop in the bucket, let me buy this game. don't like it, I'll sell it for a couple of thousand dollar loss. No. I don't have that option, and I know a lot of you don't either. That's why every release, if it's something that a lot of us want, it needs to check all the boxes, and that includes the price.
    26:35
    A lot of people would love an Elton John right now, but they just don't feel like the price that they're asking for matches what they're getting. So I'm curious from all of you out there, what is keeping you from buying John Wick as of right now? Let me know in the comments section down below. Something else, I almost forgot to mention this when it comes to what this game's going to have involved that I enjoy, and that is the, they're going to have like push notifications or like, you know, contracts that are going to go out to your mobile device. So I think adding that little aspect is kind of cool because in the movies, you know, their cell phone would go off and it would be a contract that they would basically go and perform. So we just say you here at the house or whatever and all of a sudden you get a push notification from Insider Connected saying ooh contract available or whatever kind of thing That would be interesting I think I don't know for sure, but I like how they're trying to really implement the theme into our regular mundane life kind of thing. So I'll give them some credit for that, that that's pretty nifty. So I think I'm done talking about John Wick for the time being. more than likely the next time I do a video on John Wick is going to be after I play it which will hopefully be here in the next couple of weeks but I did want to momentarily discuss something that a lot of people have been talking about content creators and stuff like that the marketing strategy that Stern utilized on this particular launch now for those that aren't aware Stern basically invited a handpicked a couple of content creators throughout the YouTube community and stuff like that that a lot of us pinball enthusiasts are unaware of so they handpicked these people brought them in let them make content create content promoting you know John Wick and stuff like that and this I understand without even blowing up about this or and stuff like that i it's like when i saw i was like that's interesting how did this individual get to play it and stuff like that that's weird and it's like okay well okay i get it they're obviously trying to hit a demographic that's not going to typically be reached on the typical content creators even like myself and stuff like that so they have got these people which typically do arcade or arcade one-ups and some pinball content it's also there it's just that they're not as well known as people, I'm not trying to brag, but people like myself.
    29:13
    So, they get all this content out, and a lot of people were upset about this. They're like, how come you didn't give this information and this video and stuff like that to people that go to like NAP Arcade? The typical go-to stuff. And this is what aggravated some people out there. Me, personally, it didn't aggravate me because I understood why. it's like okay well they obviously are trying to expand their market and their reach by getting these particular content creators and their audiences kind of thing so i get that the thing is with these content creators the product that they're typically talking about if they in fact mainly do like arcade one-ups so they're talking to arcade one-up fans and the people that are fans of those are ones that buy them and typically these units cost anywhere between i don't know three to eight hundred bucks depending on the game all right and so some of you have realized that yes i do have an arcade one-up cabinet that's essentially the extent of it this is the only machine arcade one-up that i have ever purchased and more than likely ever will purchase because i just wanted the small style cabinet to gut and to turn it into a main when you have a content creator that's typically talking promoting and everything when it comes to arcade one-up or arcade they're used to spending anywhere between 400 to 800 bucks or something like that for a cool fun new little toy to put in their arcade or their collection and then lo and behold they start showing off a machine that looks really cool like oh cool and this is this is what it cracks me up because this goes on in my real life as well guys is that people are always asking oh cool i'd like to have a pinball machine what do they cost these days and how many you know i'm not the only one how many times do you tell people yeah you know you can get it you know the pro model or the base model for about seven grand and it's always the same reaction what complete confusion and just like who would spend that amount of money on a pinball machine kind of thing let alone 13 grand plus so it's always the same reaction so you got to think about the the typical audience from these people and they're like cool i mean this is like you know probably a little more expensive than arcade one up it might be a couple of hundred thou not a hundred thousand but might be a couple of thousand maybe and then they see the price tag is like seven grand i mean they would have to sell off like their entire a one-up collection or whatever to be able to get one of these pinball machines kind of thing but it's like i'm in a in the end down to the core of it it's like i'm completely fine with them trying to expand and get more customers in that they typically wouldn't be able to reach it's just that even during the gomez interview basically stated that they're trying to grow and people like myself they're going to be promoting and talking about it anyways so they just merely expect us to be promoting their product and everything and see this is this is where i started thinking about it like how many times have you guys let's just use internet that's the typical one like that you've had the same internet service for years and then you see advertisements on billboards or even letters in the mail for current residents and it's like hey guys you new customers out there you get this particular service or speed or whatever for the low cost of this meanwhile you're spending obviously more than that so they're trying to reach a new customer base while also pissing off the current customer base like well hold up hold on like how come how come i've been loyal and been giving you money and you're not going to basically throw us a cookie here or something like that support us so that's i think a little bit of the animosity the irritation behind this is that you have a loyal customer base or people that buy from you that follow pinball in general that would have liked to have seen people that they're accustomed to seeing promoting or talking about this particular machine or any future machine for that matter whereas people didn't know who these personalities were and we're like what's going on here how come these people got access to it but these people didn't get access to it and like i stated before and i must state it again i'm not jealous i trust me i would have been shocked if stern would have reached out to me to come check out their new game or whatever i would have been like are you sure about that i mean you've seen my content kind of thing so that's the way i look at it on this one and i obviously have some ideas on how going forward they can improve upon this if you want to expand your reach by inviting these other content creators out there that no one's really accustomed to that's fine but maybe also cater to the loyal customer base that has kept you alive all these years and if you it's a if it's a fear of images or whatever getting leaked out by these content creators or whatever then maybe have designated watermarked numbers or whatever across the images that you send to these content creators and if the images leak out there's that number right there that everybody can see or a hidden something on there to where they can really note to see who leaked the images kind of thing and then bam it's excommunicado for that particular content creator that leaked the images but i think definitely a communicative blitz upon a game launch would benefit more to the manufacturers than only a select few people that we are not used to promoting it kind of thing. If they were to release a new game and at a particular time on a particular day all the embargo was lifted and we're all able to basically blitz with a load of information, I think the customers would definitely appreciate all the correct information, for that matter, right there at launch. So there's less room for speculation or confusion and stuff like that. Some people might take it to a completely oblivious, like, just like, whoa, take it completely political. There's people out there, guys, I'm telling you, it's crazy.
    35:42
    But I think that would be beneficial, especially for the distros out there, because they don't even get the assets and stuff like that until like 30 minutes before the actual release of the game as well. So in a nutshell,
    35:56
    I'm completely okay with them trying to reach a different demographic with these content creators. I just feel like they should also cater to the people that have kept them in business all these years.
    36:08
    That's my two cents. My god, this video is going to be extremely long, but you know what? I felt like there's a lot of information that needed to be talked about and discussed and kind of going back and forth on this. by all means I'm always interested to hear what you have to say so leave me in the comment section down below looking forward to talking about something other than John Wick