FREE SHOW! Episode 951: "Stern's Arrogance Will Be Its Downfall"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·20m 35s·analyzed·May 9, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.035

TL;DR

Kaneda blames Stern's arrogance and greed for John Wick backlash and predicts company decline.

Summary

Kaneda delivers a scathing critique of Stern Pinball's perceived arrogance, arguing that the John Wick launch backlash stems not from artwork censorship but from years of price increases, reduced mechanical content, abandonment of loyal community members, and dismissal of pinball content creators. He criticizes leadership decisions by Gary Stern, Seth Davis, and George Gomez, claims Stern lost the Indiana Jones license, teases upcoming Jersey Jack titles, and predicts Stern's decline unless they rebuild trust with the community.

Key Claims

Stern Pinball's John Wick launch is a 'dumpster fire' and 'debacle' driven by years of community neglect and price gouging, not just artwork censorship.
high confidence · Kaneda, opening rant; extensively detailed throughout episode
Stern ignored pinball content creators (Kaneda, Zach Manny, Kerry Hardy, Slamtail, Loser Kid, Jason Knapp) during John Wick media tour and instead promoted B. Kong, an unknown YouTuber.
high confidence · Kaneda; specific claim about media tour exclusion and B. Kong selection
Stern raised prices from ~$10,500 (Godzilla) to $13,000+ (Foo Fighters, John Wick) without adding mechanical content or features.
high confidence · Kaneda; specific pricing examples provided
Stern released additional limited edition copies of Jurassic Park and Elvira after claiming they would never be remade, destroying collector value.
high confidence · Kaneda; collector trust violation narrative
Spike 3 will introduce downloadable content (DLC) requiring additional customer payments beyond the base machine price.
medium confidence · Kaneda; speculation about future monetization model based on Spike 3 features (2x 4K screens, enhanced internet connectivity)
John Wick is selling worse than Venom, signaling major trouble for distributors with unsold inventory.
medium confidence · Kaneda; claims to have reached out to distributors but does not name them
Kaneda knows the next two Jersey Jack titles, who commissioned them as 'funhouse pinball machines,' and why they are being delayed.
low confidence · Kaneda; teases exclusive information but does not reveal details in this episode
Stern Pinball 'lost' the Indiana Jones license (Kaneda clarifies they did not lose it but chose not to make it for undisclosed reasons).
medium confidence · Kaneda; promises explanation but does not provide full details in excerpt

Notable Quotes

“Stern Pinball is now a company that is just 100% out of touch with what people who supported them all these years want. They are out of touch with who the real community is that's going to keep them successful.”
Kaneda @ ~3:30 — Core thesis of the episode — articulation of the central complaint against Stern's strategy
“It's people like me, people like Zach Manny, people like Kerry Hardy, people like Slamtail, people like Loser Kid, all of us combined, all of us... If there's ever a moment where there should be some solidarity among the pinball content creators, it's right now.”
Kaneda @ ~18:00 — Call for unity among pinball content creators; identifies the content creator class as critical to Stern's marketing
“After you buy it, you think they're going to keep updating code for free? No, they're going to probably have these games come out around 1.0 code. And then when you want to get new levels or new songs or new modes, you're going to have to spend more money.”
Kaneda @ ~28:00 — Prediction about Spike 3 DLC monetization model; signals concern about future revenue extraction
“This game is selling worse than Venom. And this is going to be a death blow to distributors that are already sitting on so much unsold inventory.”
Kaneda @ ~42:00 — Market signal about John Wick sales weakness and distributor inventory crisis
“Stern Pinball, if you think you're immune to failure, if you think you're so big you can't sink, I want to introduce you to a beer named Bud Light. I want to introduce you to a ship named the Titanic.”
Kaneda @ ~47:00 — Kaneda's dire warning using corporate failure analogies; indicates belief Stern's downfall is imminent
“There's no excitement anymore when a new game comes out because of your greedy moves. All of them, all of them have made greedy moves.”
Kaneda @ ~24:00 — Sentiment shift claim: excitement for Stern releases has collapsed due to perceived greed
“I have no more patience for Stern pinball. I'm so happy I'm selling my Batman SLE because I just want to be done with them.”

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyJohn Wickgame Kanedaperson Jack Dangerperson Gary Sternperson Seth Davisperson George Gomez

Signals

~
sentiment_shift: Kaneda articulates a major shift in pinball community sentiment away from Stern, characterizing it as a turning point driven by years of price increases, mechanical content reduction, and perceived disrespect toward content creators and collectors.
high · Extended rant detailing three-year pattern of decisions perceived as greedy; calls for community solidarity against Stern; claims content creators should unite; Kaneda announcing he is selling his Batman SLE.
?
product_concern: Claim that Stern is charging significantly more for machines while reducing mechanical complexity and playfield innovation, making the value proposition increasingly poor.
high · Kaneda compares AC/DC, Metallica, LOTR, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Jurassic Park at lower prices with 'so much more in it' to current $13,000+ games; describes John Wick as having 'no real innovation' and 'no interesting mechs.'
$
market_signal: John Wick reported to be selling worse than Venom, with major distributor inventory crisis emerging.
medium · Kaneda: 'This game is selling worse than Venom, And this is going to be a death blow to distributors that are already sitting on so much unsold inventory.' Kaneda claims to have reached out to distributors but does not name sources.
?
community_signal: Stern's exclusion of established pinball content creators from John Wick media tour in favor of unknown YouTuber signals disconnect from and disrespect toward the community that has driven enthusiasm for Stern games.
high · Kaneda details East Coast and West Coast media tours where Stern invited no pinball media, specifically excluded Jason Knapp, and instead promoted B. Kong. Kaneda calls for solidarity among content creators (himself, Zach Manny, Kerry Hardy, Slamtail, Loser Kid).

Topics

Stern Pinball pricing strategy and perceived greedprimaryJohn Wick launch and community backlashprimaryStern's relationship with pinball content creators and media exclusionprimarySpike 3 hardware and DLC monetization modelprimaryLimited edition re-releases damaging collector valuesecondaryDistributor inventory crisis and sales weaknesssecondaryJack Danger's transition from independent creator to Stern employeesecondaryJersey Jack Pinball's upcoming titles and delayssecondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.92)— Kaneda's tone is angry, disappointed, and contemptuous throughout. He frames Stern as a doomed company run by arrogant leadership that has lost the community's trust through systematic greed and indifference. His sentiment is polarized — highly negative toward Stern leadership and loyal to the broader pinball community, boutique manufacturers, and content creators. He expresses personal investment in the outcome (divesting from Stern, calling for creator solidarity) which intensifies the negativity. No redemptive elements offered except conditional (Stern would need major change).

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.062

Now that Jenny's got a gun, she ain't never gonna be the same. Jenny got a gun. Ah, Jenny's got a gun, but not even John Wick. Here's the thing about this episode of Canada's Pinball Podcast. I'm on fire. I've been waiting for this baby. I'm going to come in with the heat on this episode, and I'm going to say some truth bombs that you need to hear. We're also going to talk about what I know are going to be the next two titles from Jersey Jack. I'm going to let you know who commissioned these like funhouse pinball machines. I know exactly who it is. I know where the games are at and I know why they're delaying bringing the game to market. We're also going to talk about what else, why Stern Pinball lost the Indiana Hilton Jones license. The word lost is weird. They didn't lose it. You're going to hear why they're not making Indiana Hilton Jones. But before I do that, I want to do a very strident rant about Stern Pinball right now and what's happening around this John Wick launch because it's absolutely a debacle. It is a dumpster fire. And I've been thinking about this, like, how did this, like, game, John Wick, you know, it's like just an innocuous new game from Stern. There's nothing really new in it. There's no real innovation. and all of this anger and all of this vitriol, it can't be only about the artwork in the game. It can't. And what I think I'm going to articulate right now is the real reason why a lot of us are really angry at Stern Pinball. And this was just the final thing that lit a fuse that's been brewing for a long time. I think this thing has been a powder keg ready to go off. And I want to explain why, because I think there's one simple thing that has destroyed Stern Pinball. If you look at all of their moves over the last three years and I think what happened with John Wick and it's not even what you think it is. It's not even the fact that John Wick is not holding guns. I'm telling you, the main reason why I think a lot of people are upset is I think Stern Pinball is now a company that is just 100% out of touch with what people who supported them all these years want. They are out of touch with who the real community is that's going to keep them successful. They are out of touch with the people that are going to spend $7,000 to $13,000 on their products. products. And not only are they out of touch with us, they are treating us like we don't even matter. They are treating us like we're not even their target. Like they're now going to aim beyond us and find new customers to buy these overpriced box of lights that used to cost 50% less money with a lot more in it as if we don't know all this stuff. As if we haven't been on this journey all these years. If you guys did not unbox an ACDC and see all the stuff and mechs that were in that game, as if you didn't unbox Metallica's and Lord of the Rings and Batman's and Ghostbusters and Star Wars and Jurassic Park's, as if you don't know what Stern was capable of making when games were 40% cheaper. And yet we were still willing to go on the ride with them. We were still willing to go on this journey with Stern Pinball. We still showed support for Jack Danger, someone everybody loves, when he had his first game. even though Foo Fighters didn't have much in it, it was still a $13,000 game that this community supported. And why do you think they supported that game? Not just because it was a great game, because we also had a lot of love for Jack. And now Jack's over there at Stern. It's like joining the NWO. I don't know if it's going to be the same next time around. But here's the thing, and here's the reason why Stern's arrogance is catching up with them, and I think it's over for them unless they truly, unless they truly do a mea culpa and start to build bridges back to the very people that supported this company all those years. You know, I've seen this people in the marketing world. I've seen it. I work on Bud Light. I work on Bud Light. I remember when we used to do Dilly Dilly. I remember when we used to do football stuff. We used to do all the most fun things the world had seen in the marketing world. And then all of a sudden, right, Bud Light tried to aim beyond the people who drank Bud Light and look what happened to them. And so when Stern Pinball wants to launch a new pinball machine, John Wick, and put it into the world, and you're telling me with all of the pinball content creators that have supported Stern for so many years, that have spent so many countless hours dedicating their lives to advancing and growing the pinball hobby, the person you go to to launch John Wick Pinball is some YouTuber named B. Kong that no one's ever heard of, who's never made any real significant pinball content in his life, who has no followers that are pinheads. And so Zach Sharp is going to chummy up with this guy, and that how you launch this game So that strike one right there And then George Gomez wants to go up and say that they did a media tour in the center of America on the east and the west coast And they invited media to see this game. They didn't invite any pinball media. They didn't even invite Jason not to come check out the game. I know Jason would have gone to the east coast sort of showcasing of John Wick. I know all of us would have loved to have signed an NDA, see the game, hear about how they made the game. No, they didn't invite any of us. And you know what that shows us, everybody? That they don't care about any of us. And Stern's arrogance and their ignorance to this is going to be their downfall. They don't care. They're not doing surveys about how much do you want to spend on a game. They're not doing market research. How many John Wicks can we make? The fact that they think they can sell 1,000 John Wicks at $13,000 a pop just shows you how arrogant they are. that's more machines than they made of freaking Star Wars, right? What happened all of a sudden, Stern? You think the demand for your product has doubled since you made games like Ghostbusters and Metallica and ACDC? And since you've doubled the price of your games, you really think the demand for your product has doubled? And I know what's happened to this company. I know exactly what's happened to this company. During COVID, when there was a feeding frenzy on their product, They thought that demand was going to last forever. And instead of just embracing that, instead of saying, hey, this is great. Business is going to be healthy for a really long time. Instead of doing that, what did they do? They significantly raised the prices on everything. They didn't raise the price on the bomb. They didn't put more into these games. And they just started charging more and more and more for less and less and less. and they really, their arrogance really has them believing that we would just keep spending money on these games. And I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's a series of moves that Seth Davis has made and best believe it people that Gary Stern is on for these moves. So is Gomez. They all are on for these moves. No one said stop. Nobody said stop. When Keith Owen designed a game that looks like a $5,000 James Bond home pin game that should have been sold for like $7,500, no more. When he designed that game, who do you think greenlit charging $20,000 to this community, to me and you? Who do you think greenlit that price? It was Gary. It was Seth. It was George. Nobody said no. Nobody said if we do this, if we make this move, this is going to piss off all of our loyal customers that have made this company so healthy. They didn't say that. Nobody said stop. Not even Keith Elwin said stop. You know, Keith Elwin could have said, I'm going to quit this company if you charge my fans and people who love pinball $20,000 for this game. I know as a designer, this game is not worth anywhere near $20,000. Did Keith Elwin stop in and say no? He could have played that card. He could have used his leverage. He's got a lot of leverage over there. No, they all went ahead with it. And then all these shill distributors were like, yeah, it's priced perfectly. Remember those people? They don't even want to admit what they were saying when that game came out. But what that move did was that signified to everybody, we don't give a crap about you. We don't give a crap about what your eyes are showing you. We don't give a crap about what your ears are telling you. We don't give a crap about having a screen with any real code in this game. We don't give a crap. We're going to charge you the most money any pinball machine has ever been over at Stern Pinball and it's going to be a barren game. It hardly has anything in it and we don't give a crap and we're going to push it down your throats. And not only that, if you bought some of our older LEs and we said we were never making more Jurassic Parks, we were never making more of these Elvira LEs, we don't give a crap about you because we're going to make more. And they went and they made more and they doubled the number of Jurassic Park LEs, tanking all of the value on those original owner LEs, and they just destroyed all the Elvira collectors. Everybody who had that machine believed Stern when they said, this game is limited. We're never going to make another version of this game. And what did they do? We don't give a crap about you. Arrogance and greed, arrogance and greed over and over and over again over the last three years. And here's where we are now. Not only are they so arrogant and treating us like we're stupid rich guys that don't want to ask if there's any value in these machines, but then they want to go and ignore all the pinball content creators who've helped Stern Pinball over the years drum up all of this excitement whenever there's a new game. It's people like me, people like Zach Manny, people like Kerry Hardy, people like Slamtail, people like Kevin Loza Kid, all of us combined, all of us, all of us. I mean that. If there's ever a moment where there should be some solidarity among the pinball content creators, it's right now because all of us are the ones that help Stern Pinball get people excited. Who do you think makes content on a weekly basis to keep people excited about pinball? Is it Zach Sharp He doesn make crap He doesn do anything to keep people excited He just going to a few college universities slapping high five with basketball players that are never going to buy these damn games He doesn reach out to any of us He doesn do anything for any of you Does Jarrett make any content on social media? No, no, he doesn't do anything. None of them do anything. Their marketing department is absolute garbage. They never do anything. All they ever do is every Friday show us that they're making games. Cool. You're making games, but are you engage with the community? Are you talking to the people that are spending money on your products? No, you don't even want to engage the community. And here's the BS thing is they're going to take what happened this week and say, see, this is why we don't engage with the community, because look at how the community responds to us. Whenever we try to engage, we're all seeing George Gomez running around trying to do damage control. It's not working. The whole thing just feels like unprofessional amateur hour for a guy like him to have to do this. It doesn't really work. You know, he shouldn't be arguing about his integrity with just random dudes on Facebook, but it's on you, George. It's on you, Gary. It's on you, Seth. It's on you, Zach. It's on you, Jody. It's on all of you because all of you made a whole aggressive, greedy moves that showed us what you think about us and you can't escape it now. You can't escape it now. And John Wick, all John Wick is, is the tip of an iceberg of this big iceberg that Stern Pinball has been sailing into for the last three years. Seth Davis is the captain of that ship that says, we're Stern Pinball. We sell the most games in the world. Surely we can't sink. Well, Seth, wake up, brother. You've steered this company in such a direction now where there's no excitement anymore when a new game comes out because of your greedy moves. All of them, all of them have made greedy moves. There's no excitement anymore. And now you're going to steer this company in a whole new direction with Spike 3. You want to know what Spike 3 is all about? It's about two things, all right? They're going to have more computing system that's going to be able to have like two 4K screens. Wow, big deal. Two 4K screens. Those screens are going to be so small, they don't even need to be in 4K. And the other real thing they're doing with Spike 3, it's all about internet. They're going to have a lot faster internet connection on these games. It's all going to be about internet and downloadable content and insider connected, because the big move they want to make with Spike 3 is not to make a Stern machine look like it's jam-packed like a Jersey Jack game. The big move that's coming at Stern Pinball is they're going to want to bring downloadable content into every single game. So you're going to have to spend more money on your game. After you buy it, you think they're going to keep updating code for free? No, they're going to probably have these games come out around 1.0 code. And then when you want to get new levels or new songs or new modes, you're going to have to spend more money and a really interesting debate is happening now because dealers and distros are saying well wait a minute like we're going to help you sell all these games and then you're going to make all this money with all this dlc like are we going to get any cut in this and the whole thing just sucks because for the longest time all of these dealers and distros and stern pinball and you and i all of us were in a win-win situation you know you got to buy a game where the value of the game, you saw it. You saw it in the price of the game. You saw it in the mechanicals. You saw it in the theme. You saw it in the artwork. And it felt good. And you bought the game and you played it for a year. And if you moved it on out of your collection, at most you lost $500 to $1,000 at most, but you got at least $500 to $1,000 plays. And so it was a win-win. And every once in a while in LE that had really strong demand, you would actually make a few bucks when you went to sell it because the demand always exceeded the supply of the game. Now look at today. There's never going to be even close to 1,000 people that want a John Wick LE ever, ever. I mean, look at the powder-coated armor. It's just black. They're not even doing anything interesting with it. There's no interesting mechs in the game. So if you buy a John Wick right now for $13,000, you're always going to have something where there's going to be way more supply than demand. We've heard from distributors this week. I've reached out to distributors. This game is selling worse than Venom, And this is going to be a death blow to distributors that are already sitting on so much unsold inventory. So it's no longer a win-win. And now we're in a place. We're in a place now. I think we're in a place now, everybody. And I mean this when I say this. After all of these arrogant moves, after all of these like BS excuses, it's not about no guns in the artwork. It's about a major pinball company that had the ultimate golden goose. They were in such a good position to continue to drive pinball forward over the next five years. And I think they have all become arrogant. I think they've become out of touch. And I think it's caught up to them. And I'm so happy to see you and me and the rest of the pinball community saying, we're not supporting this. We're not buying your products. It's over, Stern. And there are enough boutique pinball companies out there that I think we all should happily support who are not going to pull these greedy moves And again it a series of very calculated greedy moves that they did not have to do. They absolutely did not have to raise prices on at least from 10, five Godzilla was 10, five. How are you going to charge 10, five for Godzilla? And then all of a sudden, John Wick is $13,000. Foo Fighters is $13,000. Did you up the bomb by 500 bucks? No, you didn't. Did you put anything new into the game? No, you didn't. So then why is it now $2,500 more? All of these were calculated greedy moves. They cooked the books and all the rumors that Seth was doing that to prime Stern to get sold to get the highest price possible seem kind of feasible now, but now they're screwed. They've gotten so much blood from us as a community and as customers. There's no more left. We have no more left. I have no more patience for Stern pinball. I'm so happy I'm selling my Batman SLE because I just want to be done with them. Until they make a move that shows us they care again about us, I am not going to support Stern Pinball. I don't even care. How are you going to come to New York City with a pinball press tour, not even invite Jason Knapp? I mean, just think about that for a minute. Jason Knapp has tens of thousands of people. He takes his personal time to make the world's best pinball media website in the world. There is nothing better than Knapp's Arcade. And Stern and Zach Sharp, you're going to come to the East Coast and you're not even going to invite Jason Knapp. And yet we have to see this wackadoodle dude, B. Kong, be the face of the John Wick release. And that's all I need to know. Really, it really is. Sometimes it can be one move a company makes that just signifies they don't care about us anymore. So Stern Pinball, if you think you're immune to failure, if you think you're so big you can't sink, I want to introduce you to a beer named Bud Light. I want to introduce you to a ship named the Titanic because you're making the dumbest moves ever because you're not listening to your community. You're not listening to your buyers. And I think you've absolutely shown us that your arrogance is what's driving you. And I don't want to see pictures of Gary drinking at bars with Jack Danger at 2 in the morning. We don't care, Jack. We don't care. We can tell that you were having more fun when you were unshackled than you could actually talk about your love of pinball. Now you have to shill every single move that Stern Pinball makes. And it makes me sad because I know there was a time where Jack Danger was probably only making like $25,000 a year streaming pinball machines because he loved it so much. And now he's got to work for a company that's going to charge $20,000 for a James Bond 60th. No, that's not cool. And you can't escape anymore, guys, because Kaneda and the rest of us have seen all of your greedy moves. We've seen all of your arrogant plays. And if you're not going to invite Jason Knapp to a Northeast media tour, it just shows us you don't care. And that's it, people. That's why people are mad about John Wick and no guns. It's not just about that. It's a series of things that have shown us this company does not care. And I'm going to upload this show to be public. You just everybody has to hear this. Like, I can't just do this for the paying customers. I'm sorry, gang. And I know you're on board for this because this needs to be something that everybody hears. You know what? I'm just going to make this show public and then I'm going to do another show right now where I'm going to give you all that other exclusive information nobody else has given you. Some of it is new. Some of it's been in the rumor mill. But this needs to be a standalone show. Stern Pinball's arrogance has killed them and they need to find a way back. And I think they're going to take it on the chin with this launch because this launch signifies way more than just John Wick. This is three to four years of treating your loyal customers like crap. All right, Kaneda out. Drop in the mic. Seventh Twippy, if we actually had Twippies. Later. Outro Music I gotta go.