Bond 60th Anniversary Gameplay Was FINALLY Streamed...

Cary Hardy·video·11m 10s·analyzed·Feb 23, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Bond 60th stream disappoints; Kerry questions value, reveals backstory, predicts limited-run impact.

Summary

Kerry Hardy critiques the Bond 60th Anniversary pinball gameplay stream, expressing disappointment with the game's design and value proposition. She reveals backstory about the game's unexpected origin (not initially Stern's idea), defends Keith Elwin's involvement, and speculates that weak stream reception may harm future limited-run game sales and influence licensing decisions.

Key Claims

The three-hour Bond 60th stream went on for that duration because three people were hanging out having fun, not because the game is inherently entertaining
medium confidence · Kerry watched about an hour and felt she'd seen everything the game offered; contrasts with her typical engagement pattern for exciting games
Bond 60th was not initially Stern's idea; it originated as a request from the Bond license holder asking for a retro/old-school pinball game after the main Steve Ritchie Bond game was approved
medium confidence · Kerry states she has backstory and context clues from podcast interviews; describes initial handshake agreement with Steve Ritchie design, then separate request for 60th anniversary edition
Stern's internal decision-making priority is financial: 'if it makes them money they will build it' regardless of design style or creative merit
medium confidence · Kerry cites unnamed Stern employees she has heard on stream confirm this philosophy; frames it as company rule/goal
Keith Elwin likely took on the Bond 60th design because he has no other game shipping this year and wanted a change of pace
low confidence · Kerry speculates Elwin was 'probably fucking bored' and had capacity to design a single-level game as filler content
The gameplay stream likely hindered rather than helped Bond 60th sales by removing mystery and revealing gameplay before purchase
medium confidence · Kerry observes that gameplay streams are often make-or-break for sales; notes the stream eliminated 'I wonder how it shoots' intrigue
Stern will not aggressively push limited-run games in future if Bond 60th fails to sell out, because the company 'does not like to lose money'
medium confidence · Kerry predicts this shapes future licensing discussions and manufacturer responses to IP holders requesting limited-run models
Jack Danger's next Stern game is allegedly Foo Fighters themed
low confidence · Kerry describes this as 'alleged' and notes Danger will not be at Texas Pinball Festival, making pre-TPF announcement unlikely

Notable Quotes

“The game, yes, it looks like it would be fun to shoot, to an extent, but is it worth the money that they're asking? And the answer to that is, hell no.”
Kerry Hardy@ 1:42 — Core thesis of the video: Bond 60th fails basic value-for-money test
“i have heard them on stream before state that if it will make stern money they will build it that is like their ultimate goal slash rule”
Kerry Hardy@ 3:37 — Reveals alleged internal Stern decision-making philosophy prioritizing profit over design integrity
“He merely designed a game and he threw his hat into the ring on this... He's not in charge of the price point. He's not in charge of the art. That is not his job.”
Kerry Hardy@ 5:05 — Defends Keith Elwin against community criticism, redirects blame to corporate decision-making
“i do not think that this stream helped with sales it may have even hindered it in a way because now the mystery is gone”
Kerry Hardy@ 6:33 — Key market observation: gameplay reveals can damage limited-edition game sales
“future license holders if they say hey can you build us a single level game just like you did with the bond 60th stern's response can be like yes we can but here is the data that we have from that”
Kerry Hardy@ 8:28 — Predicts Bond 60th failure will create lasting disincentive for similar limited-run licensing deals
“I'm honestly quite done with james bond i'm tired of it... can we move on to the next one, please?”
Kerry Hardy — Expresses community fatigue with extended Bond IP marketing cycle

Entities

Kerry Hardyperson Keith Elwinperson Steve Ritchieperson Jack Dangerperson George GomezpersonBond 60th AnniversarygameFoo Fightersgame

Signals

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business_signal: Bond 60th potential sales failure threatens future limited-run game strategy; poor performance data will discourage both Stern and IP holders from commissioning similar single-level limited editions
medium · Kerry predicts: 'future license holders... stern's response can be like yes we can but here is the data that we have from that so it may deter license holders from going that particular direction'
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sentiment_shift: Widespread community exhaustion with extended James Bond IP marketing cycle spanning multiple game releases and months of anticipation; request to 'move on to the next one'
high · Kerry states 'I think a lot of us are just kind of like, okay, I think I'm done with James Bond. Can we move on to the next one, please?' and references months of ongoing Bond discussion
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design_philosophy: Stern's stated internal priority is profit maximization over design philosophy; unnamed employees reportedly confirmed that financial return drives game development decisions regardless of creative merit
medium · Kerry cites unnamed Stern employees on stream stating 'if it makes them money they will build it that is like their ultimate goal slash rule'
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market_signal: Keith Elwin's Bond 60th design repositioned as pragmatic filler work (designed single-level game during fallow year) rather than major creative initiative; defends designer against community blame for corporate pricing/art decisions
medium · Kerry speculates Elwin was 'probably fucking bored' and had no other 2024 release; 'threw his hat in the ring' for change of pace; emphasizes 'He merely designed a game'
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Topics

Bond 60th Anniversary game value and receptionprimaryLimited-edition game sales strategy and market impactprimaryStern Pinball business decision-making and profit prioritizationprimaryGameplay stream impact on limited-edition game salesprimaryKeith Elwin's role and community criticismsecondaryUpcoming Stern Pinball releases and announcement timingsecondaryCommunity fatigue with James Bond IP cyclesecondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.75)— Kerry is critical of Bond 60th's value, disappointed by gameplay experience, skeptical of Stern's business judgment, and fatigued by Bond marketing cycle. However, she defends Keith Elwin's creative role and acknowledges the game 'looks to shoot pretty decent,' preventing fully negative stance.

Transcript

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I mean I watched a little bit of it last night but I don't even know how long the actual stream through that can't be right three hours this stream went on for three hours now I'm going to assume it went on for three hours because there's three guys hanging out having fun playing pinball okay there you go you you're having fun i'm all up for that but i'm thinking if you were able to sit the entire time for three hours i mean props to you i mean it i could not watch i think i watched an hour and i was like okay i'm done which typically is not a good sign when it comes to a game being exciting for me at least so historically for me if i watch a game stream and i'm like indulged like like i can't get enough i'm curious about the shots and it's keeping me entertained then that game is going to do very well whereas this game an hour and I was like, okay, I feel like I've seen pretty much everything this game has to offer. And so I turned it off and went on doing other things. And I almost did not want to make this video, because I feel like what I'm going to say now is something that a majority of you out there have already stated, whether it be on social media, Pinside, podcast, whatever. And that is, the game, yes, it looks like it would be fun to shoot, to an extent, but is it worth the money that they're asking? And the answer to that is, hell no. No, it's not. I do not see this game being worth it. me i don't and i know a lot of you do too this is a little ridiculous but i also know more backstory about this game and also the context clues whether it be through interviews on podcasts or even through this one hour portion that i got enough information to kind of get an idea about. This game essentially was not Stern's idea, nor was it their intention initially when getting into a handshake agreement with the Bond license holder. Now, this initially was a Steve Ritchie game and that was already said and done Like okay Stern we shaking hands on this Steve gonna be doing the design everything going good and then they were like hey out of curiosity would you be able to make another bond game kind of like an old school you know retro feel and they had to like you know ask further questions you know how retro do you expect us to go and they were asking about score reels you know and they're like well we can do score reels but they're not going to be like your old school stepper motors because of the way our system is but evidently that was enough to intrigue them and say hey make this game we want another special 60th anniversary edition of bond and has other people who work for stern have stated i will not state their name on this because i don't want them to be highlighted but i have heard them on stream before state that if it will make stern money they will build it that is like their ultimate goal slash rule whether becoming like talking about licenses or just the style of gameplay or whatever if it makes them money they will build it and when it comes to Keith Elwin's name being constantly like thrown into the dirt by a lot of you out there saying i can't believe keith would do this this is you know and just saying like it's all his fault and it he merely designed a game and he threw his hat into the ring on this and i i'm more than willing to bet that he threw his hat in and wanted to do this because he was probably fucking bored. Because he knows he's not going to have a game out all this year. What else is he going to do? So he's like, you know what, I got nothing else going on right now. It doesn't really take me very long to design a game. I'm pretty much, you know, just fiddling and building future themes and ideas or whatever down the road. But as far as like getting something out this year, I think I'd like to throw my hat in the ring. It'd be something, a little bit of a change of pace, something a little bit different. Single level. Sure, let's do it. He's not in charge of the price point. He's not in charge of the art. That is not his job. He merely designed a game which looks to shoot pretty decent. It shoots like an old school game would. I was really excited about that figure eight shot. And the more I watched it, sometimes up there is not as smooth as it could be. But it all about the player in general But a lot of the times when that figure eight shot landed it looked great but overall i not excited about the game honestly i not do i want to play it yeah of course if i never get to play this game i won't be upset about it i believe someone's supposed to be bringing one to texas pinball festival that will give me a better idea but from what i'm seeing via the stream it hasn't given me any kind of like excitement or you know like I would like to feel about a Keith Elwin game I'm watching Keith here and there are times where this game looks to be pretty damn brutal on this guy he's kind of getting owned right there he had a multiball going and it just did not go his way that's kind of funny and look I completely get it that this game was not built for the masses obviously it's a limited run and i think it's going to be even more limited i do not think that this stream helped with sales it may have even hindered it in a way because now the mystery is gone there is no man i wonder how it shoots now people know and a lot of the times a gameplay stream is a make or break for people it really is i mean there's some of you out there that obviously had the money and you bought it early as you did you don't care because it's an l1 game and you've got that cash props to you i wish i wish i had that fu money that'd be awesome i mean i really am curious to know how many they're going to end up building i mean are they really going to build all of these and then store them in their factory somewhere or the distributor is going to be holding on to a lot of these all of the above because i i just have a hard time believing that they're going to sell all of these through to customers and if they do i mean okay good good for you but if they don't which they probably won't then this will definitely speak volumes to what they're going to be doing in the future when it comes to limited runs and pricings of games because do you think if they essentially don't make the money that they were wanting to make with this game do you think they're going to go ah let's try it again let's see what happens maybe that first one was just a fluke no stern does not like to lose money. Any company does not like to lose money. So hopefully this is a one and done scenario But the Stern marketing team now has data and that data will continue to grow over the upcoming months obviously but future license holders if they say hey can you build us a single level game just like you did with the bond 60th stern's response can be like yes we can but here is the data that we have from that so it may deter license holders from going that particular direction due to the possible negligible sales now again i didn't want to make this video because along with what i have to say is what a lot of you have already said but i'm honestly quite done with james bond i'm tired of it i mean we've we've been on the bond train since middle of last year in anticipation for the game and then it finally gets revealed quite poorly and then it finally comes out and we finally kind of get to play it and it's kind of like oh we're still working on getting the game to be a game at this point with the code and then eventually they finally reveal the 60th and it's been an ongoing thing for just months now of just james bond and And I think a lot of us are just kind of like, okay, I think I'm done with James Bond. Can we move on to the next one, please? And that's going to state also is that I don't know if Stern is going to be revealing their next cornerstone in the expected month of March. And if they do, it'll more than likely be after Texas Pinball Festival. Because the anticipated release is Jack Danger's Game, which allegedly is Foo Fighters. And he's not going to be at TPF. And then as of last night, it is confirmed that George Gomez will also not be at TPF. So I find that a little difficult for Stern to possibly be releasing a cornerstone before TPF. And then having two of their main guys for the upcoming release not be at the show where they're highlighting their latest cornerstone. I don't know. But the sooner they reveal their next game, the better. Because honestly, like I said, I'm done with James Bond. Am I the only one? Please let me know in the comments down below. I walk alone