Episode 834: "500 More Jurassic Park LEs"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·14m 50s·analyzed·Aug 17, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

Stern's 500 more Jurassic Park LEs signals shift away from real scarcity toward cynical revenue extraction.

Summary

Kaneda criticizes Stern Pinball's announcement of 500 additional Jurassic Park Limited Edition machines at $13,000, arguing the move undermines the meaning of 'limited' and represents unethical marketing. He positions this as part of Stern's pattern of abandoning collector commitments for revenue generation, while predicting a mystery competitor will soon announce a game with genuine scarcity.

Key Claims

Stern Pinball can manufacture 500 Limited Edition Jurassic Park machines in one week
medium confidence · Host states 'they can make 500 Limited Edition of Jurassic Park in one week' as evidence of low production effort
Original Jurassic Park LE (2019) sold for $18,000-$19,000 during COVID peak
medium confidence · Host recalls 'Jurassic Park (Limited Edition) were selling for like $18,000 or $19,000' at market peak
Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary LE is priced at $13,000
high confidence · Host explicitly states price multiple times: 'this game now for freaking $13,000'
Original Jurassic Park LE cost approximately $9,000
medium confidence · Host: 'Jurassic Park was like nine grand. So this is $4,000 more' representing 40% price increase
Stern made 500 original Jurassic Park LEs in the 400-500 unit production period
high confidence · Host confirms 'Jurassic Park, much like Stranger Things, it was really nice Tee'd Off know that you had one of the last Stern machines that were truly somewhat limited' with 500 units
Someone listed a modded Jurassic Park LE with $2,000 mods for $12,500 the day before announcement
medium confidence · Host cites insider knowledge: 'they put up for sale a Jurassic Park (Limited Edition) with $2,000 in mods up for sale for $12,500' before official announcement
A mystery pinball company will announce an unannounced game, possibly in September
medium confidence · Host predicts: 'I think possibly sometime in September' for mystery game reveal, states it's 'definitely happening' and 'a company we haven't heard from before'
The mystery game will run on a 'fast pinball board'
medium confidence · Host states: 'definitely going Tee'd Off be running on this fast pinball board'

Notable Quotes

“What does the word limited mean if you are going Tee'd Off make more?”
Kaneda @ opening — Core thesis of the episode — challenging Stern's semantic manipulation of 'Limited Edition'
“They're going Tee'd Off do it again and again and again. This is Stern's new business model.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Identifies this as systematic strategy rather than one-off decision
“Stern does not care about you once you buy the game from them. They don't care about the secondhand value of the game.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Argues manufacturer indifference to collector investment protection
“In the watch collecting community, if they say we're only making 500, they're only making 500.”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Comparative industry standard — pinball lacks same consumer protection norms
“Was Stern so desperate Tee'd Off get another game on the line that they had to crap all over Venom's sales window like this?”
Kaneda @ mid-episode — Suggests timing was deliberately damaging to concurrent release (Venom)
“Nothing feels very limited anymore in pinball”
Kaneda @ closing — Summary sentiment — category devaluation due to supply inflation
“I think it is unethical business decisions Tee'd Off do it like this.”
Kaneda @ closing — Explicit ethical condemnation of Stern's behavior
“The rooms for Texas Pinball Festival sold out in like two minutes.”
Kaneda @ closing — Counterpoint: market enthusiasm remains high despite criticism

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyJurassic Parkgame Kanedaperson Brian Eddyperson Keith Elwinperson Jersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky Pinballcompany

Signals

?
business_signal: Stern's business model has shifted to leveraging archive of prior successful games (Jurassic Park, implied future Godzilla/Tron anniversary editions) as recurring revenue stream, prioritizing one-time manufactured scarcity plays over sustainable collector relationships
high · 'This is Stern's new business model... there's clearly a lot of new people. There's new demand, and these games are meant Tee'd Off supply and satiate that new demand.'
~
sentiment_shift: Pinside community consensus aligns with host critique: Stern announcement perceived as 'cash grab' across majority of feedback; no community celebration or enthusiasm reported
high · 'I was reading on Pinside people's feedback about this move, and it's pretty consistent with what I've been saying on this show. People just think Stern did another cash grab.'
?
competitive_signal: Host identifies boutique manufacturers (Jersey Jack, Spooky, Haggis, American Pinball) as primary hope for consumer satisfaction, suggesting Stern has ceded emotional goodwill leadership to competitors despite maintaining market dominance
high · 'I'm really hoping somebody soon is going Tee'd Off do something that really makes us happy... I think we're all waiting for Jersey Jack Pinball Tee'd Off show us a machine that's going Tee'd Off make us happy again.'
?
design_philosophy: Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary LE features improved artwork versus original 2019 LE translite ('dinosaurs rule the earth' banner replaced), suggesting design refresh justified cosmetic differentiation but not price/supply escalation
medium · 'I like that Translight a lot more than the previous Limited Edition Translight with the dinosaurs rule the earth banner. Everything about it looks really nice.'

Topics

Limited Edition pricing strategy and scarcity deflationprimaryConsumer trust and manufacturer ethics in pinball industryprimarySecondary market value destruction for early LE purchasersprimaryMystery pinball company announcement and competitive threat to SternprimaryJurassic Park 30th Anniversary LE features and pricing justificationsecondaryMarket saturation and industry price ceiling concernssecondaryCompetitive positioning of boutique manufacturers vs SternsecondaryTexas Pinball Festival 2026 hotel availability and market enthusiasmmentioned

Sentiment

negative(-0.78)— Strong criticism of Stern's business practices, though host acknowledges personal understanding of the economics and avoids blanket condemnation of all consumers/stakeholders. Frustration tempered by resignation to industry trajectory. Hope expressed for competitor disruption.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.044

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, there's no limit, no, no limits, we'll reach one. Sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up. Ah, welcome to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, everybody. I'm your host, Kaneda. Out of the blue today. It wasn't the mystery company. It was not the mystery game I thought it was going to be. Stern Pinball releases a game we've been speculating about ever since we saw that little logo on the livestream: a 30th Anniversary Edition of Jurassic Park Premium Edition. We're going to talk about this because, you know, what happened to the other limited edition versions of Jurassic Park, which were supposed to be, wait for it, limited? What does the word limited mean if you are going to make more? There's a real ethical question going on right now with Stern Pinball's decisions to say one thing and then do another. Now, look, I've been thinking a lot about this podcast today and how I want to approach this topic because am I mad? Am I furious? Well, if I owned a Jurassic Park Limited Edition and I bought one years ago, three years ago for like $9,000, would I be pissed off that they came out with this game now for freaking $13,000? I would be kind of annoyed. I'll tell you why. But I wouldn't be totally mad. And here's why I would be annoyed. Because Jurassic Park Limited Editions were special because they only made 500. Remember, that was the period when Stern was making just 400 to 500 games. And maybe like on a super hot title like Star Wars, they would bump it up to 800 games. Monsters had 600 Limited Editions. But Jurassic Park, much like Stranger Things, it was really nice to know that you got one of the last Stern machines that were truly somewhat limited. Because we're all seeing right now when you make a thousand limited editions that's a lot of machines and then when you make a thousand limited editions at thirteen thousand dollars that's a lot of machines at a very high price it's really hard for those machines to maintain their value and i know what people are saying like don't buy a pinball machine as an investment but come on everybody wake up into the real world everybody wants to know when they spend this kind of money on what is being marketed to us as a collectible item. I mean, remember, like limited editions are for collectors. There'd be no reason whatsoever to buy a limited edition machine when they have a premium available for much cheaper. They are definitely marketing these limited editions towards the more high-end collector. Now look, years ago, I would fly off the handle at a move like this. I'm not surprised by the move. Is anyone really surprised that Stern did this? We know this is coming and they're going to do it again and again and again. This is Stern's new business model in just one move they can put this game out into the marketplace it's 6.5 million dollars in revenue that will come into Stern Pinball simply by running a game that they can make in one week I mean they can make in one week 500 limited editions of Jurassic Park move the games in and out there's nothing special about the playfield it's the same old Jurassic Park it's just the same game Jurassic Park has always been but what I don't like about this move and I mean this I don't like the fact that they're calling this limited edition. I think they should have called this game the Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary Edition. And even if you put like one out of 500, I don't care. At least you're calling it something different. It is the Anniversary Edition of the game. I don't like it still but at least then you not creating confusion Because now when you go to list your Jurassic Park Limited Edition for sale it going to be version one or version two And it also like interesting that they are doing this and they kind of using this as somewhat of an excuse Now that we're making a thousand limited editions, we can make 500 more Jurassic Parks because we only made 500 the first time around. So does this mean that Stern Pinball is now going to go look back at some of the older titles that were popular and go make more of them just to round everything up to 1,000? Might as well make 600 Tron Limited Editions, brand new ones, because now we've got 1,000 Tron Limited Editions. And look, this is a move that indicates that they are very likely going to do that more and more and more. Because when you look at this game, it does look nicer. I like this version of Jurassic Park. I like the artwork much better on this version than the older Limited Edition. So right now, if you love Jurassic Park, this would be the game I want to have. Now look, for $13,000, Stern did not even give you everything they gave the other game. It doesn't come with the shooter rod. That's got that Jurassic Park amber shooter rod. There's no topper included. It's got this nice red armor. It's got a new Translight. I like that Translight a lot more than the previous Limited Edition Translight with the dinosaurs rule the earth banner. Everything about it looks really nice. You know, but then you sit back and you think about it. It's like, all right, like, is this wowing us? Have we been waiting for this moment to bring back more Jurassic Park pinball machines? I think they fully have satiated the Jurassic Park market to this date. But you got to remember who the target for this is. Stern saw a lot of new people come into this hobby during COVID. They saw a lot of people paying a crazy amount of money. At the height of COVID, Jurassic Park Limited Editions were selling for like $18,000 or $19,000. Now look, if you ran into this hobby and you bought a Jurassic Park for like $17,000 or $18,000, yes, you are feeling so bad today. You are going to kick yourself that you didn't listen to Kaneda and wait and see. Because as this stuff happens and the more and more I look at this hobby and what these companies are doing or trying to do, the more and more I'm just looking at myself in the mirror and I'm also suggesting everybody do this. At some point, we're going to just have to come to peace with where this hobby is. That a lot of the fun that was in this hobby and following all these new games, new in-box games, a lot of the fun has been sort of taken out of the hobby. The games are so expensive. These companies aren't being ethical and honest with you. When they released James Bond 60th and they said this topper is exclusive to this game and then they saw that people got excited about it and they can make more money and then they released the topper afterwards. I mean, why are we accepting this behavior from Stern Pinball? And the reason why they can abuse us as consumers is so simple because we allow them to abuse us. We are not children, ladies and gentlemen. We are grown adults. And if people actually put their foot down and say, hey, we're not going to take any more of this and actually held them accountable for staying true to their word, it would be a different scenario. But everyone just hides behind the fact that this is a toy. This is a hobby where we're supposed to have fun. I'm not going to pressure pinball companies to stay true to their word. I don't think I've seen this happen in other hobbies I'm a part of. I mean, in the watch collecting community, if they say we're only making 500, they're only making 500. And I get that they made changes to the artwork so they see this as a separate limited edition game. But I'm coming to peace with all of this, that I don't really care about more Jurassic Parks I don't really care about Stern ability to rerun old games you know spend 300 bucks to slap new artwork on a game and then charge us more Like I remember what this game used to cost You not going to fool us with just artwork and armor. Like, I know it doesn't cost that much money. You know what's weird about this hobby? Jurassic Park was like nine grand. So this is $4,000 more. That's over a 40% increase in price over what this game used to cost. Are all of you making 40% more money now than you did three years ago. I just find it really hard to believe all of these moves that are just cash grab moves. We don't need more Jurassic Park. And we know where this is going to go next. We're going to get an Anniversary Edition of Godzilla. fill in the blank game across the board. Every single property, every five or 10 years has an anniversary that Stern could leverage and do this time and time again. I do worry that if pinball keeps going in this direction, right? If you burn your Limited Edition buyers, if you burn those people, how many times are they going to go back and buy from you again? But what we're all learning now, and again, this is just me looking at the marketplace, there's clearly a lot of new people. There's new demand, and these games are meant to supply and satiate that new demand. Stern does not care about you once you buy the game from them. They don't care about the secondhand value of the game. They don't see any of that money. So yes, they just burned 500 people today. As far as I'm concerned, it's only those 500 people that should be really pissed off because a lot of those people just love Jurassic Park, right? That's why they bought a Limited Edition. And now they're going to want this one. This is obviously a nicer package. They've made it look even better. If I was a Jurassic Park fan, could I just be happy with the old one? Sure, but I wouldn't be happy. Like deep down inside, I would want this one. Do I think this Jurassic Park announcement is what kept that mystery company from revealing their game this week? I absolutely do. There are clearly people on the inside that know what's going on. They know the release schedule. Like someone put up yesterday before this Jurassic Park got announced today for $13,000, they put up for sale a Jurassic Park Limited Edition with $2,000 in mods up for sale for $12,500. So how did that person know that this was going to happen today. And before today, those Jurassic Park Limited Editions with $2,000 in mods, they would have been listed for sale for like $16,000 to $18,000. So clearly there are people that know what's going on behind the scenes. So the other thing I was thinking about when I saw this game is what a jerk move to do to Brian Eddy. Brian Eddy's Venom just got revealed. It just got announced. And they have not sold all the Venom Limited Editions. And Venom marketing needs to get people excited to buy the game. And now you do this. Was Stern so desperate to get another game on the line that they had to crap all over Venom's sales window like this? And once again, you know, waiting and seeing. Like if you just waited a few weeks and for some of you out there, you might have been like on the fence. You might have been looking at Jurassic Park Limited Editions and waiting for the prices to come down and you might have been considering picking up a Venom just to have some fun with one and now this happens. So look, it's Stern doing what Stern does best. They make money. They execute. The crazy thing is they're going to make all these games in one week. And so when do I think we're going to see this mystery game from this mystery company? I think possibly sometime in September. I think a week from now, no one's really going to care that much about this Jurassic Park new version of a Limited Edition. I think it's going to have a very short shelf life when it comes to conversation around it. I think the game looks good. I don't like the move. Nothing feels very limited anymore in pinball. And I hoping right I hoping that this new company that going to reveal something I imagining whatever they reveal to the world they going to have a limited run of the game because no one else is going to come out right now and get into large scale manufacturing. So they might release a game where they're only making 500. Maybe they're only making 750. I truly do miss the days when things were truly limited, right? When there's only going to be 200, there's only going to be 500. Once they doubled the amount and almost doubled the price of the machines themselves it's not supposed to work that way you're not supposed to be able to increase the supply and then charge so much more and still have demand like it's not supposed to work that way and maybe we're all just waking up to this new reality that the people who buy pinball machines are pretty wealthy this is not a lot of money for a lot of the people in this hobby and it's a global hobby Like there are people all over the world who want these machines. And I feel bad for anyone who's not in the United States of America. Because if you look at what people are paying in Europe and Australia for these Limited Editions, it's like $19,000. I mean, that's a lot of cheddar for one single electrical mechanical device like a pinball machine. I don't think any pinball machine really gives a $19,000 experience. But it is what it is. Everybody will do what they want with their own money. So I was reading on Pinside people's feedback about this move, and it's pretty consistent with what I've been saying on this show. People just think Stern did another cash grab. You don't have to buy it. If you have a friend who has a Limited Edition, they probably are wishing they sold it a year ago. So that's it. I'm really hoping somebody soon is going to do something that really makes us happy. I mean it. Like, just makes us happy. This move by Stern today, did it really make us happy? I don't think so. I don't think it made most people happy because I don't think most people agree with this kind of move. I think it is unethical business decisions to do it like this. I think we're all waiting for Jersey Jack to show us a machine that's going to make us happy again. I think people are excited to see what's next from Spooky Pinball. I think Scooby-Doo, you know, we've seen it a million times. I don't think there's a ton of conversation and buzz around Scooby-Doo right now. I think people are just fingers crossed hoping they get their Centaur machines from Haggis. Who knows? Will they finish the Fathom builds this year? But think about it. Who's really generating a ton of excitement right now? American Pinball is another one. I think they need their next game out sooner than later. They're not going to get people reignited into Galactic Tank Force. I listened to a little bit of the Dennis Nordman interview on the Slam Tilt podcast. And I have to say, it's like all he wanted to do was make this interesting cabinet. It's like the weirdest thing ever. I get what he was going for. But man, the whole thing just doesn't come together for me. All right, so that's two shows in two days. Hopefully, I'll get a little bit more news on this new pinball machine coming out. It's definitely happening. It's definitely a company we haven't heard from before. And it's definitely going to be running on this fast pinball board. I will say this. People have done a good job respecting the NDAs around that game because nobody's really talking. We know it's happening. They're dropping these teasers around at different pinball shows. And speaking of pinball shows, I heard the rooms for Texas Pinball Festival sold out in like two minutes. So yeah, for everyone out there saying like, oh, pinball is losing its momentum. Like people are going to be leaving this hobby. They're not. They're not. There's a lot of enthusiasm for pinball and there's a lot of wealthy people that will float this hobby. And I don't even think we've seen the price ceiling, which is crazy to say. Everybody, thank you for being a club member. We'll be back with more shows. Maybe this week we'll see what happens, but I'm so happy you're here listening to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. Later.