Stern Pinball Officially Hires Artist Zombie Yeti; Hints at Tons of Elwin in 2024; No BTTF?

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Aug 3, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.021

TL;DR

Stern officially hires Zombie Yeti; denies BTTF license; hints at more Elwin games in 2024

Summary

Stern Pinball officially hired renowned artist Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) as an employee after years of contract work on major titles. In a podcast interview, Packer confirmed Stern does not currently hold the Back to the Future license and hinted that designer Keith Elwin may have more than two games planned for 2024. Packer also discussed video games as a potential frontier for pinball themes.

Key Claims

Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) has been officially hired by Stern Pinball as an employee
high confidence · Official Stern Pinball announcement dated August 2, 2023
Stern Pinball does not currently have the Back to the Future license
high confidence · Jeremy Packer direct quote at 56 minute mark of Loser Kid Pinball Podcast episode 114
Keith Elwin may have more than two games coming in 2024
medium confidence · Jeremy Packer hinting at more Elwin games beyond what was reported by Kaneda's Pinball Podcast; Packer notes he may be 'messing with us'
Jeremy Packer previously worked as lead artist on Venom pinball
high confidence · Official Stern Pinball announcement; Venom released during San Diego Comic-Con
Jeremy Packer believes video games may be the next big frontier for pinball machine themes
medium confidence · Jeremy Packer statement in Loser Kid Pinball Podcast interview

Notable Quotes

“First off, I have to say this. I'm not the guy for everything. So don't worry people who don't like me, I won't do your favorite game. For instance, I would not do "Back to the Future." It's not that I don't love that era and those movies...I'm just not the right guy for it because I know a better guy for it and I know someone who would be better at it.”
Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) @ 56:00 mark, Loser Kid Pinball Podcast Ep 114 — Confirms Stern does not have BTTF license; reveals artist self-awareness about design fit and preference for working with other potential artists
“By the way when I make that joke - Stern does not have Back to the Future. Trust me on that one.”
Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) @ 56:00 mark, Loser Kid Pinball Podcast Ep 114 — Direct, emphatic confirmation that Stern lacks BTTF license; distinguishes from speculation/rumors
“Jeremy's work speaks for itself and it's no surprise that the games he works on wins award after award for having the best artwork. We're beyond excited to add his tremendous talent to the team and already look forward to sharing his upcoming work on future games around the world.”
Seth Davis, President and CEO of Stern Pinball @ Official announcement, August 2, 2023 — Executive validation of Packer's contribution and value to Stern; signals prioritization of art quality in future releases

Entities

Jeremy PackerpersonStern PinballcompanyKeith Elwinperson Seth Davisperson Venomgame Foo Fightersgame Back to the Futuregame

Signals

?
design_philosophy: Jeremy Packer expresses selective approach to design work—will not work on all games, preferring to match artist to theme appropriately
high · Packer quote: 'I'm not the guy for everything. So don't worry people who don't like me, I won't do your favorite game.' Specifically cited BTTF as not his aesthetic fit.
?
licensing_signal: Stern Pinball does not currently hold Back to the Future license; limits near-term pinball BTTF prospects from Stern
high · Jeremy Packer direct statement: 'Stern does not have Back to the Future. Trust me on that one.' at 56-minute mark of Loser Kid Pinball Podcast Ep 114
?
personnel_signal: Zombie Yeti confirmed as head/core member of Stern Pinball art department; validates creative decision-making authority over major title artwork
high · Official hiring announcement highlights Packer's portfolio of major Stern releases; CEO quote emphasizes art quality as company priority
?
personnel_signal: Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) officially hired by Stern Pinball as full-time employee after years of contract work
high · Official Stern Pinball announcement dated August 2, 2023; Packer transitioned from Zombie Yeti Studios to staff position
?
product_strategy: Keith Elwin potentially has more than two games planned for 2024 beyond prior reporting
medium · Jeremy Packer hinted at more Elwin games in response to Kaneda's report; however, Packer noted he may be 'messing with us all'

Topics

Personnel MovesprimaryLicensing and IPprimaryDesigner RoadmapprimaryArtist/Artwork QualitysecondaryTheme Innovationsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Enthusiastic tone celebrating Packer's official hiring and Stern's commitment to art quality. However, tempering on Elwin roadmap speculation due to Packer's caveat that he may be joking. Neutral-to-slightly-negative on BTTF licensing absence.

Transcript

raw_text · $0.000

Here's some exciting news to start off the day. This morning Stern Pinball announced that it has officially hired the renowned artist Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) aka Zombie Yeti as an employee. Jeremy was essentially already part of the Stern team after doing the fantastic artwork for a number of games, including Foo Fighters, Primus, Ghostbusters, Deadpool, Avengers: Infinity Quest, Godzilla, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Iron Maiden, and Venom. Also, this morning the Loserkid Pinball Podcast released a very timely brand new podcast episode featuring an interview with Jeremy. The episode contains a ton of great information about Jeremy's past projects. At the 56 minute mark in the interview he says that Stern Pinball does not currently have the Back to the Future license. "First off, I have to say this. I'm not the guy for everything. So don't worry people who don't like me, I won't do your favorite game. For instance, I would not do "Back to the Future." It's not that I don't love that era and those movies...I'm just not the right guy for it because I know a better guy for it and I know someone who would be better at it. Again I don't know if that game ever gets made. I don't know if it does if it's Stern. I've heard all kinds of wonderful rumors. By the way when I make that joke - Stern does not have Back to the Future. Trust me on that one." In response to a report by Kaneda's Pinball Podcast that Stern Pinball's beloved designer Keith Elwin has two games coming in 2024, Jeremy hinted that Elwin may have more games than that coming in next year. Jeremy also talked about how he thinks that video games may be the next big frontier for pinball machine themes, which I can totally see happening. So those are a couple of interesting tidbits from the interview, but Jeremy may just have been messing with us all :). Either way, Congratulations to him and Stern for making this great combination official! STERN PINBALL WELCOMES Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) AS PROJECT ARTIST CHICAGO, IL – August 2, 2023 – Stern Pinball, Inc. (SPI) has announced that Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti), former Principle at Zombie Yeti Studios, has officially joined the Stern Pinball team. With his impeccable draftsmanship, innate sense of balanced composition and commendable attention to detail, Jeremy has cemented himself as a top-tier talent in the illustration business. His portfolio features a vast array of iconic Stern Pinball games, including Foo Fighters, Ghostbusters, Deadpool, Avengers: Infinity Quest, Godzilla, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Iron Maiden and even more to come! Most recently, Jeremy worked as the lead artist for Stern Pinball’s all-new line of pinball games, Venom, which was released during San Diego Comic-Con and features a collection of his hand-drawn comic book style artwork. “Jeremy’s work speaks for itself and it’s no surprise that the games he works on wins award after award for having the best artwork. We’re beyond excited to add his tremendous talent to the team and already look forward to sharing his upcoming work on future games around the world,” said Seth Davis, President and CEO of Stern Pinball, Inc. I have embedded the a brief video titled "Inside the Stern Studio with Zombie Yeti" that Stern released in conjunction with the announcement, a bunch of pictures of Zombie Yeti's amazing art below and a link to the podcast below: Loserkid Pinball Podcast - Ep 114: Year of the Yeti part 2 with Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) Zombie Yeti joins us to talk about his art from Foo Fighters and Venom along with the past years at Stern. Plus, a special announcement from Jeremy Himself https://soundcloud.com/loserkidpinballpodcast/ep-114-year-of-the-yeti-part-2-withe-jermey-packer?fbclid=IwAR08avg4QZcvAspGJwyOb6fc4rwBYxyApBmx67Lo8lr85nRG8SzVn0fY3ks