Saturday Morning Spectacular - Nov 30

TL;DR

Spooky rides high with Evil Dead success; Stern struggles with X-Men failures and questionable roadmap.

Summary

Key Claims

• Spooky Pinball sold 650+ Evil Dead machines in one week

  high confidence · Kaneda stated this as fact during discussion of Spooky's launch success

• Metallica LE secondary market price is $17,000-$18,000 with ready buyers

  high confidence · Kaneda reported observing multiple sales at this price point and described it as 'the sweet spot'

• John Borg is working on a Tron remake (modernizing the original Tron, not Tron Legacy)

  medium confidence · Kaneda stated 'You can believe me or not' indicating insider information but not official confirmation

• X-Men shipped before being ready and has unfixable code issues that won't be addressed

  high confidence · Kaneda reported this from internal Stern sources and stated 'The fixes are not going to come'

• Brian Eddy's Dungeons and Dragons was the reason X-Men was rushed out before ready

  medium confidence · Kaneda speculated 'Most likely Brian Eddy's Dungeons and Dragons wasn't ready' causing X-Men to ship early

• Stern lacks a Chief Marketing Officer and proper marketing department focused on home collectors

  medium confidence · Kaneda offered direct critique of Stern's organizational structure and marketing strategy

• John Wick LE is selling for $10,000 new in box, down from $13,000 retail

  high confidence · Kaneda cited specific secondary market pricing as example of value collapse

• Rick and Morty sold 750 units in one day and was slightly cheaper than Evil Dead

  medium confidence · Kaneda used this as comparison point for Evil Dead's 650-unit week performance

Notable Quotes

• “Spooky Pinball, as a company, has poured a lot of passion into this game. And I think they've sold somewhere north of 650 in just one week. Really good week for Spooky Pinball.”

  Kaneda @ ~10:00 — Establishes Evil Dead as a major commercial and critical success for Spooky

• “I think Stern Pinball seems like a like a champion player who's not quite himself right now. They're like Travis Kelce. Like, if you picked Travis Kelce on your fantasy team, you were so used to him just crushing it at the tight end position. And now the numbers just aren't there.”

  Kaneda @ ~20:00 — Establishes the core narrative that Stern is underperforming despite past dominance

• “I feel so gutted that Stern wanted Jack to release this game before it was ready. I feel so gutted that Stern stuck Weisson on X-Men again, and he did it again.”

  Kaneda @ ~45:00 — Direct criticism of Stern's decision to rush X-Men and concerns about code quality from Weisson

• “The fixes are not coming for this game. And everyone can see the writing on the wall. The fixes are not going to come. The demand for the game is never going to return.”

  Kaneda @ ~48:00 — Pronounces X-Men as permanently damaged and unlikely to recover

• “At these prices, nobody has patience anymore for you to get your act together. You can't ask me to spend $13,000 on a game that's incomplete.”

  Kaneda @ ~52:00 — Articulates the core market problem: high prices eliminate tolerance for unfinished software

• “It just doesn't have the magic. It doesn't have the magic from the moment you hit that start button. That code just just doesn't grasp you.”

  Kaneda @ ~60:00 — Summarizes the fundamental problem with X-Men's code design and player experience

• “I think Stern's issues are all because, as an organization, they don't have a Chief Marketing Officer doing it, his or her job. They just need to build a marketing department.”

  Kaneda @ ~78:00 — Identifies organizational structure as root cause of Stern's strategic failures

Entities

Signals

• ?

  business_signal: Stern Pinball lacks organizational marketing strategy; no Chief Marketing Officer or dedicated marketing department focused on home collector segment

  high · Kaneda: 'I think Stern's issues are all because, as an organization, they don't have a Chief Marketing Officer doing it, his or her job. They just need to build a marketing department'

• ~

  sentiment_shift: Spooky Pinball experiencing positive momentum and collector/enthusiast goodwill; positioned as beneficiary of competitor (Stern) failures and perceived better creative execution

  high · Kaneda: 'What a tremendous week for Spooky Pinball' and 'Spooky's stock is everyone else's stock is sort of declining' and detailed discussion of positive community vibes

• ?

  competitive_signal: Dungeons and Dragons as upcoming Stern release positioned weakly against Harry Potter and King Kong competitors; theme insufficient to drive market demand

  high · Kaneda: 'D&D is not a big enough theme. A big enough hit—is not gonna do what Stern needs a game to do right now' and 'if you had to choose between Dungeons and Dragons and Harry Potter, I I think Potter is going to be the much bigger theme'

• ?

  design_philosophy: X-Men code described as soulless and uninspired by Weisson; generic open-licensed music and poorly executed battles lacking personality and charm of successful games

  high · Kaneda: 'Weisson made a game that's a little bit soulless. It's uninspired. The way he does the battles and, like, the music, and some of those battles, gang, it's like—it's like store-bought music that's just open-licensed tracks'

• ?