Flip N Out With Friends: Catching Up With George Gomez (Stern Pinball) (2024)

Flip n Out Pinball·video·1h 2m·analyzed·May 10, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

Gomez defends John Wick gun art restrictions as licensing requirement, previews Spike 3 platform.

Summary

George Gomez (Stern Chief Creative Officer) addresses community controversy over John Wick pinball lacking gun artwork on cabinet/playfield art despite guns appearing in video. Gomez explains licensing restrictions require 'all ages' classification for commercial locations, distinguishing between static art restrictions and in-game video content. He discusses broader licensing sensitivities across multiple Marvel properties, confirms Spike 3 platform in development with cabinet redesign, and previews Expression Lights becoming standard on future games.

Key Claims

John Wick licensing requires 'all ages' classification, prohibiting gun imagery on static art/cabinet but allowing guns in video content.
high confidence · George Gomez direct explanation of licensing restrictions: 'when Lionsgate comes to us and says, you guys have a pinball machine rating, we say, no... okay so people say so the you know the next question is well but you got guns in the video yeah we got guns in the video because they consider that once if you're walking past the game and you see the guns that's one thing'
Stern walked away from Hunger Games pinball project due to licensing restrictions deemed incompatible with game quality.
high confidence · Gomez confirms: 'Hunger Games... we started down the path and we got to a place where we said I don't think it's good for you and I don't think it's good for us. And so it was very painful and we walked away.'
Deadpool required all guns be illustrated as 'fantasy blasters' rather than realistic weapons due to Marvel restrictions.
high confidence · Gomez: 'When I did Deadpool, and that was 2017, Marvel said to me, when you are illustrating the guns for Deadpool, all the guns must be considered blasters, as in fantasy blasters. they cannot resemble any real gun'
James Bond pinball prohibited physical Walter PPK feature and any drawn guns pointing at humans, despite film having weapons throughout.
high confidence · Gomez: 'I had a mandate from the licensor that I could not create a Walter PPK physical feature in the game. I could not draw any guns. And no gun could be pointed or be shown to be firing at another human.'
John Wick includes alternative decal with guns available in cash box for operators/owners to install if desired.
high confidence · Gomez: 'there's even a decal in the cash box for the – or not a decal, a plastic in the cash box for the weapons crate that does have the guns... take four screws out put that one in and you can have the guns'
Spike 3 platform is in development with cabinet redesign, remaining NodeBus architecture, increased power/capabilities.
high confidence · Gomez: 'Spike three... it in development It part of a full platform refresh... what you can expect, meaning that it's more power in the system in every way... it's going to be – it's got some really cool stuff in it... Cabinet redesign is part of the platform refresh'

Notable Quotes

“The reason the games are as good as they are is because we are in essence part of the community. We just happen to have the skillset to make the games.”
George Gomez@ 3:09 — Core philosophy explaining why Stern designers care deeply about community reception despite online criticism.
“I don't like it when people question my integrity. I think that's not a lot of fun. Those people don't know me.”
George Gomez@ 18:55 — Direct emotional response to accusations of dishonesty regarding gun restrictions, humanizes designer frustration.
“We could have made that shark eat the ball in two seconds... He has a vision in his head about how he wants the game to flow, and if you put the shark eating thing on your game, you will ruin his perception of how the game is balanced.”
George Gomez@ 10:53 — Defends designer creative choice (Keith Elwin on Jaws) against community demands, illustrates tension between feature requests and balanced gameplay.
“Every product, everything, the graphic novels, everything has that [disclaimer]. When Lionsgate comes to us and they say 'you guys are classified all ages' – okay, what comes with all ages comes all these restrictions.”
George Gomez@ 13:02 — Explains rating system precedent across entertainment media for John Wick restrictions.
“We started down the path and we got to a place where we said, I don't think it's good for you and I don't think it's good for us. And so it was very painful and we walked away [from Hunger Games].”
George Gomez@ 22:20 — Reveals unreleased project cancellation, demonstrates willingness to abandon licensed IP when vision cannot be realized.

Entities

George GomezpersonJoelpersonElliott Eismanperson Timperson Keith Elwinperson Tim Sextonperson Chuck Ernstperson

Signals

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business_signal: Stern abandoned Hunger Games mid-development due to licensing restrictions incompatible with game vision; demonstrates willingness to walk away from IP but indicates challenge of navigating licensor sensitivities.
high · Gomez: 'Hunger Games... we started down the path and we got to a place where we said I don't think it's good for you and I don't think it's good for us. And so it was very painful and we walked away.'
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community_signal: John Wick gun artwork controversy driven by misunderstanding of licensing restrictions; community making 'conspiracy theories' about design decisions and Gomez integrity.
high · Gomez on Facebook backlash: 'I don't like it when people question my integrity... Those people don't know me' and discussion of false accusations regarding gun disclosure.
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community_signal: Stern maintaining active community dialogue through Facebook responses and livestreams; George Gomez personally engaging in transparency about design/licensing decisions.
high · Joel: 'You've been responding a lot on Facebook, which is super nice... seen somebody active at Stern trying to answer these questions'; Gomez confirms livestream happening 'at four o'clock today.'
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design_philosophy: Stern designers (including Gomez) are active pinball collectors/players who buy LEs at full price without employee discount; community membership informs design priorities.
high · Gomez: 'when someone in the development team at Stern buys an LE, LEs are not discounted even to us... I am... so I think that I tell you this because we collect games, we have games, we play games.'
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Transcript

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0:00

All right, welcome. Yes, this is Flippin' Out With Friends. This is Mr. George Gomez. I think this is the third or fourth time that I've interviewed you. I know originally I interviewed you just all about Deadpool. And then ever since then, I think we just kind of have gotten in this cadence of like a yearly, let's check in, let's have an update what's going on. And yeah, George, I really appreciate you wanting to have another conversation. Yeah, it's a good time to talk because all of the brouhaha that's going on about the guns on NWIC. So I absolutely love an opportunity to clear the air, talk about it, whatever, try to get people answers that satisfy them. And I'll tell you, I'll tell you now, Joel, it's always great to talk to you, but I've told you this before, ask me hard questions. I don't care. I, you know, I will, I'll give you honest answers. If you ask me a question that, that, you know, it's some company secret or something, I'm not going to, you know, I'll tell you, I can't talk to you about that, But, I mean, asking hard questions. You know, I've been pretty forthcoming with the community. I can't – obviously can't – you know, I can't have a full conversation when I'm online, like, answering – you know, like, you know, I make a statement and then, like, there's 50 comments. I know. You know, bunking my statement or whatever. I was like, hey, I want to – you know, I was like, I want to explain it to you, but, you know, this is a tough way to do it. So, you know, this is a good forum to talk. So let's talk. Sure, yeah. No, so I definitely want to get into, well, there's plenty. But let's just start with, I mean, honestly, reveal day. Like reveal day for any pin. And it's odd because the last few pins, I know from the enthusiast standpoint, like new pinball, new pinball machines coming out. You know, we hear rumors about a theme and then you release the teaser trailer. So we all have in our head what this may or may not be like. and then boom, the reveal happens. And unfortunately, I feel like the reveal happens in the pinball community, instead of focusing on 98% of what the game is, they zoom in on 2% and then get super vocal about it. And so my question to you is like, as a designer, as a person that leads the design team, like how do you guys internally handle review days? Because there's gotta be some excitement there. This is a year plus long project, but also like nervousness. I don't, I don't, how do you handle that? I mean, we want the, we want people to like the product clearly. You know, it begins with it. I've said this before and, you know, I don't, I don't, I think people forget, you know, but the reason the games are as good as they are is because we are in essence part of the community. We just happen to have, you know, we just happen to have the skillset to make the games. but and so and we have you know we have a we have a sort of a slightly different perspective because we've been down the path of making games but the reality is that you know i want to play other designers games i want to play games i collect games i buy pinball machines with my own money um you know when when someone that's when when uh someone in the development team at Stern buys an LE, LEs are not discounted even to us. Yeah. So, you know, if I want an LE, I'm paying the same money you're paying, you know, pretty much, you know, without whatever the distributor markup is. Sure. I am, you know, so I think that I tell you this because we collect games, we have games, we play games. You know, a lot of the guys are very active in the community in terms of, you know, tournament play or just social play. So, yeah, we're excited. We've spent, you know, 14 to 16 months or something making these things, and we're excited. We're thrilled. We want, you know, we want the games to be well received. We want, you know, we're excited about what we made. um the other the most frustrating thing to us is that people are judging the game without actually having played it or touched it or seen it in person yeah so that's that's tough to take right because you're you know you haven't felt the things we felt you haven't seen the things we've seen right so and you certainly haven't been down the path of making it right yeah that's a tough, tough road. And I think anybody in any, you know, whether it's a garage shop, those guys suffer the problems in, you know, maybe in a different scale than we do, but they suffer the problems. And so, yeah, I mean, no, it's, reveal days are in some ways nerve-wracking because not only that, the reveal is very linked to the entire release of the game. So we've been jamming, you know, we've been jamming for months to get to the church on time and release the game. The games are on the line. Like right now, I'm in my office here at Stern, and right now, you know, out on the assembly line, they are making John Wick's. So, you know, There's like tons of John Wicks just like boom, boom, boom, running down the line. So there's a tremendous amount of interaction between manufacturing and engineering. Everybody, get them code. Do they have the latest code? Elliot and Rob are out there testing games and making sure that the manufacturing guys are up to speed on how to test the game. What are the particulars of this game that have to be looked at differently than that game? All that kind of stuff. So it's a buzz of excitement and a buzz of activity.

Expression Lights will become standard on all future Stern LE games moving forward.

high confidence · Gomez: 'Is that something you are planning on doing moving forward? Moving forward. You can expect them on all the LEDs.'

Elliott Eisman is designing John Wick as his first game and is a 10-year mechanical engineer at Stern who has contributed to previous titles.

high confidence · Gomez: 'he's been with us for 10 years... he's a real deal mechanical engineer... he's contributed to so many games that you guys have played'

“It's almost an AI in the sense that it's like very much like a video game combat AI where the game is making some decisions based on the things it's seeing you do.”

George Gomez@ 25:49 — Describes John Wick's dynamic mode system as major design innovation with real-time game adaptation mechanics.

“Spike 3 is basically better everything... NodeBus architecture remains... it's part of a full platform refresh with cabinet redesign.”

George Gomez @ ~35:20 — Confirms Spike 3 scope extends beyond software to hardware/cabinet design, signals major platform evolution.

Expression Lightsproduct

Stern Pinballcompany

Flippin' Out Pinballorganization

licensing_signal: John Wick licensing requires 'all ages' classification prohibiting gun artwork on static art but allowing guns in video; represents pattern across multiple Marvel titles (Deadpool, Venom) of escalating licensor sensitivity to weapon imagery.

high · Gomez detailed explanation of Lionsgate restrictions, comparison to Deadpool/James Bond/Venom requirements, distinction between video vs. static art.

personnel_signal: Elliott Eisman's first game as lead designer receiving disproportionate community scrutiny; Gomez positioned as mentor; concerns about designer wellbeing during reveal controversy.

high · Gomez: 'Ellie is a fairly quiet guy... it's his first game and it's like I can't imagine what... he's probably super nervous super anxious' and 'we have every attention he's going to do the interview circuit.'

product_strategy: John Wick features dynamic mode system with 'AI' combat mechanics where game makes real-time decisions based on player actions; described as choreography system with responsive NPC behavior.

medium · Gomez: 'He's got a really interesting, fairly dynamic mode system where the game is – it's almost an AI in the sense that it's like very much like a video game combat AI where the game is making some decisions based on the things it's seeing you do.'

product_strategy: Expression Lights becoming standard feature on all future Stern LE games; backward-compatible kits being developed for existing games (Jaws, John Wick, others).

high · Gomez confirms: 'Is that something you are planning on doing moving forward? Moving forward. You can expect them on all the LEDs... we do release that kit, that kit's going to be pretty much... Universal.'

product_concern: James Bond pinball rough at launch but matured through code updates to become 'highly sought after'; demonstrates Stern's historical pattern of rough launches followed by polish.

high · Gomez: 'Bond came out. The code was not too far... Please understand, like, I am passionate about this... And Bond, it's awesome to see the way it's kind of turned around and now it's highly sought after.'

product_strategy: Spike 3 platform in development with cabinet redesign, increased power, NodeBus architecture retained; part of 'full platform refresh' with staggered releases.

high · Gomez: 'Spike three... it in development It part of a full platform refresh... more power in the system in every way... Cabinet redesign is part of the platform refresh'

sentiment_shift: Reveal day controversy pattern: initial community backlash on specific details (shark eating ball in Jaws, guns in John Wick) resolves after players experience game in person.

medium · Gomez: 'here we are, whatever it's been three months later, nobody's talking about it' regarding Jaws shark; parallel pattern expected for John Wick.