Episode 1108: "Kaneda's Brutally Hilarious Takedown of Predator Gameplay Video"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·20m 28s·held·Jun 26, 2025

Analysis

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TL;DR

Kaneda brutally critiques Predator's gameplay, marketing, and pricing as existential threat to Pinball Brothers.

Summary

Kaneda delivers a scathing critique of Predator gameplay reveal video, attacking the game's sparse playfield design, boring ruleset, poor marketing presentation, and $15,500 price point as a potential company-killer. He also criticizes Harry Potter code depth concerns, Stern's $400 flat plastic topper pricing, and offers predictions on which new games will ultimately succeed in the market.

Key Claims

Predator has much less playfield content and assets than Alien, with sparse things to shoot at for a widebody machine
high confidence · Kaneda, direct comparison of Predator to other widebody games like Evil Dead, King Kong, Jaws
Predator gameplay reveal video was conducted by Daniel (Pinball Brothers founder) in a soft, unenthusiastic monochromatic voice that hurt the game's presentation
high confidence · Kaneda explicitly critiques 'the way Daniel is talking about the game in that very soft monochromatic voice'
Predator is priced at $15,500 for the widebody in America, which is $5,500 more than a Harry Potter
high confidence · Kaneda states exact pricing: '$15,500' and compares to Harry Potter at '$10,000'
This game might be a company killer for Pinball Brothers due to the combination of poor gameplay presentation, sparse assets, and premium pricing
medium confidence · Kaneda opinion: 'this is the kind of game that might just sink the Pinball Brothers' and 'I think this is a company killer'
Harry Potter edition has more pre-orders than all other editions combined
high confidence · Kaneda: 'I think they got more CE orders than all the other editions combined. It's absolutely bonkers.'
Jersey Harry Potter has included flat plastic toppers as standard on LE editions, while Stern charges $400 for the same accessory
high confidence · Kaneda comparison: 'Harry Potter...they include the flat plastic topper for your game...comes with a $12,000 game. If I buy a $10,000 Stern premium...it comes with nothing'
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland code is being described by players as repetitive, with the phrase 'chopping wood' used to describe the gameplay loop
high confidence · Kaneda reading player threads: 'The phrase that's being used is...you just have to hit the same shots over and over and over again...feels like we're chopping wood'
King Kong will ultimately be the winner among recent Stern/JJP/Spooky releases due to code depth, despite current slow sales

Notable Quotes

“This game will turn your wee-wee into a four-inch unit because there's nothing going on”
Kaneda @ ~8:00 — Hyperbolic criticism of sparse playfield design for a widebody machine
“You're Jim Hoppa. You're gonna get skinned alive if you buy this game for $15,500.”
Kaneda @ ~12:00 — Direct warning to potential Predator buyers about poor value proposition
“This might be the end of a boutique pinball company”
Kaneda @ ~14:00 — Strong assertion that Predator's commercial failure could destroy Pinball Brothers
“You are talking to people like you're some sort of dentist explaining what the root canal is going to entail.”
Kaneda @ ~16:00 — Critique of Daniel's presentation style in the reveal video
“$400 for a piece of flat plastic and about 12 little lights at most cost them $3 each”
Kaneda @ ~22:00 — Criticism of Stern's topper pricing as exploitative accessory markup
“The phrase that's being used is not a phrase you want to hear. It feels like we're chopping wood.”
Kaneda @ ~32:00 — Report on negative community sentiment about Alice's Adventures repetitive code
“I think Stern's going to take it to a place with the code that's going to be really, really satisfying”
Kaneda @ ~43:00 — Prediction that King Kong will have superior code depth compared to other recent releases

Entities

Kanedaperson Pinball Brotherscompany Danielperson Predatorgame Aliengame Harry Pottergame

Signals

?
product_concern: Predator criticized for sparse playfield assets and minimal things to shoot at relative to widebody form factor and competitor games
high · Kaneda: 'There's nothing to shoot at. There's nothing in the widebody...Evil Dead got something to shoot at every like four inches!'
$
market_signal: Predator at $15,500 significantly outpriced compared to Harry Potter Premium ($10,000) and other recent releases, raising questions about value perception
high · Kaneda: '$15,500 for the... $5,500 more than a Harry Potter arcade Edition'
?
product_strategy: Stern charging $400 for flat plastic toppers while Jersey Jack includes them standard, creating negative pricing perception across industry
high · Kaneda: 'Jersey Jack...they include the flat plastic topper...comes with a $12,000 game. If I buy a $10,000 Stern premium...it comes with nothing. Stern...this $400 ripoff should just come included'
~
sentiment_shift: Harry Potter CE edition commanding exceptional pre-order volume (more than all other editions combined), but community expressing concerns about code repetitiveness and movie mode depth
high · Kaneda: 'They got more CE orders than all the other editions combined...I'm still not seeing a major difference in the movie modes'
?
content_signal: Predator gameplay reveal video's presentation quality (Daniel's soft monochromatic voice, lack of enthusiasm) perceived as significantly damaging to game's market appeal
high · Kaneda: 'The way Daniel is talking about the game in that very soft monochromatic voice...This is the weirdest worst gameplay reveal video'

Transcript

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And the stronger weapon you have, the better things you get as well. Now we start choppa multiball in the jungle. Goal! Goal! Get to the choppa! And there will be a number of jackpots lit. siendo 축제롬وقמה안랜 �gy가 weaknesses Mistress트잘게�리살 zehn좗i 已经 혹시엄건 cubed드� enzyme轉은 ㄱㄱ값,때� fantastic thank you to appearsassokye developer neither and order a credit Church and is a all that maybe What did we just do? Go away pinball brother! I mean I sound just like it! This is the weirdest worst gameplay reveal video! Why didn't they just fly in Genghis and have him show the game with some enthusiasm? The way Daniel is talking about the game in that very soft monochromatic voice. You are Dutch, you're going into the jungle and then you want to collect guns and you're gonna lit some gang. Look, I've been hard on some games over the years. I call it like I see it. Thank you for putting up with my personal show yesterday. Times are a little stressful, but I'm not gonna stay in that mind space. You can't stop Kaneda from ragging on games like this, gang. Look, you saw the gameplay video. If you haven't, go watch the Pinball Brothers gameplay video of Predator without Arnold. And I'm just here to say this. This game is a $7,500 game. I mean, there is much less in this game than Alien. There's much less to shoot at. There's much less assets in this game. It's much less interesting than Alien. Remember Alien had Mr. David Thiel doing the music. The atmospheric elements of Alien are awesome. This game just has like the same sound over and over again and I'm watching the wide body gameplay of Predator and I keep asking myself, why is this game even a wide body? There's nothing in it. There's nothing to shoot at. And the gameplay is as boring as I've ever seen in a pinball game. It's boring. You shall invoke go next to King Kong, and Jaws, and Harry Potter and Elton John and all the other games that are out there. Put it next to Dune and Evil Dead. Evil Dead got something to shoot at every like four inches! This game will turn your wee-wee into a four-inch unit because there's nothing going on It I don't understand how they have nothing in the widebody gaaaaaaaee lolcontent The heck is this? And everybody, if you want this game in your American game room, it is with all included $15,500 for the... I'm gonna stop. I'm not gonna do it anymore. I'm not gonna do it anymore but $15,500. $5,500 more than a Harry Potter arcade Edition. The game is the last collectible game on planet earth. It's the only game that's come out that's held value. Maybe that and Metallica remastered everything else you can go get for whatever price you're offering these days. Everything is OBO except for Knapp's Pinball Podcast. But yeah, I'm not going to beat a dead horse. You know that this game at this price with that gameplay and those assets and that kind of launch video, you add it all up and you're not playing as Dutch people, you're playing as Jim Hoppa. You're gonna get skinned alive if you buy this game for $15,500. And I think this is just gonna end up being a game that, I don't know, I'm just gonna say this, this is the kind of game that might just sink the Pinball Brothers. This might be the end of a boutique pinball company Now look this hobby has proven to me that they really don have much intelligence many times So they might just sell on theme alone but after seeing that everybody I don know man if you had an order in I don know It not refundable It why you should have waited and saw that gameplay video But I just think this is a company killer I mean it This is a company killer kind of game at this price And unlike the other pinball companies out there that can seemingly survive without having a hit game I think the pinball brothers needed this to be a hit. I think they invested a lot in it. And I think they're going to learn a marketing lesson as well. Daniel, I know it's your company, but you're trying to sell us on predator. I would have flown over there. You could have bought Canada a first class ticket. And even with the game you had, I could have got people a hundred times more excited. More excited. I would have come out in a red polo shirt. Everybody look, I know what you're saying. There's no Arnold in the game, but you are Dutch. And we're gonna walk up to this game right now and I'm gonna show you what you need to do. So you need to beat the predator. You need to collect your weapons. Let's go right now. I mean, give some enthusiasm. You are talking to people like you're some sort of dentist explaining what the root canal is going to entail. And it's your company. This is an important video because the other video was illegal. You showed Arnold throughout the clip. Now we got to see what it really looks like. And he's nowhere near it. You're never going to see Arnold in this game and look, everybody, this is the problem with pinball marketing is like everyone just takes it for granted that if you just make a game, it's going to sell, but you're not going to sell a $15,500 game. On the same month of Harry Potter, where Stern can't even sell King Kongs? I mean, look at King Kong! Look at everything that's in it! It's not even selling well! And this thing is $5,000 more than a Kong Premium! Game. Set. Match. You're Jim Hoppa! If you pre-ordered this game, and you're now expecting to get something that's gonna hold value, I think what's gonna happen to this game, I think it's a game that you're gonna play at shows, I think it's a game you'll play on location. I think there'll be some curiosity around it. But from what I saw in that gameplay video, it just didn't look very interesting. It didn't look like there was a lot in it and there was absolutely nothing compelling about it. That would make, I think, any of you want to pull the freaking trigger. Which is ironic because it's a movie about guns in which these muscle-bound men do nothing for 90 minutes other than pull the trigger. Something else that I bet most of you are not going to pull the trigger on are these toppers from Stern pinball these flat Plastic toppers. I mean we make fun of flat plastic toppers It's almost like Stern is in on the joke and wants to rub it in our faces now. They are releasing flat plastic toppers with a little bit of expression lighting at the base for

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$400 for a piece of flat plastic and about 12 little lights at most cost them $3 each. Everybody look. Stuff like this, I know it comes out, it's like I get what they're doing, but this should just come included on the game. Let's look at Jersey Jack Harry Potter. When you buy an LE, they include the flat plastic topper for your game. Right? Flat plastic topper, I believe it lights up on Harry Potter and it comes with a $12,000 game. If I buy a $10,000 Stern premium, even if I buy a $13,000 Stern LE, it comes with nothing. Stern. We're not stupid. I get that you want to make these accessories, but this Topper, this $400 ripoff should just come included on every single Ellie and premium of the game you make. It should just be the standard Topper. Then you should sell a more expensive interactive Topper, but this thing shouldn't be $400. The interactive Toppers you sell at most, at most should be $800 bucks. Nothing $2000, $1000, All of this is just the wrong price for the wrong thing at the wrong time because what these companies have been doing lately Pinball Brothers this topper it just reinforcing for so many people how this hobby is just become overpriced across the board I mean you can go get a Harry Potter and have the time of your life on that game or you could spend more and get no more of an experience It so funny to me It like do you want to go on this Disney World ride for 50 bucks or would you like to go on it for 150 bucks You going to have the same ride Which one is it Now when you pay a hundred To speak Tanhimkiновicčk Ğpččččččččččččččččččččččččččččč nutrition conviction nationwide 24 nine percentâce in it acadbye. The early games are going to the content creators who say everything is awesome and they're also gonna go to the JJP loyalists like Jack's best customers are getting the games first. I just want to see what people are thinking about the code. I know the game shoots well, but I want to see how people feel about the code and I'm reading the thread. I'm not really seeing anybody say that I was wrong or you know, what was it? I don't see anyone saying that they've really fully improved the feeling that you're going through the movies that when you start a mode you really feel like you're jumping in to those Harry Potter movies. So I don't know. We'll see what happens. They're gonna sell a boatload of these games. It's gonna do really well for Jersey Jack. That's a good thing. This game is going to be on location everywhere. I'm not gonna stop making Harry Potters. I'm just curious in the end how many CEs roll off the line. I think they got more CE orders than all the other editions combined. It's absolutely bonkers. I'm happy for Jersey Jack that they have a successful game on their hands and I hope everybody that gets one has a lot of fun with it. I won't be buying one simply because I am able to play this game You can find this game so close to me where for $15,000 that's like half the price of the car I own that takes me to automate it to play the game. But if you're gonna buy one of these, I recommend you go to Automated Services up in Milford, Connecticut or hit up our friends over at Cointaker. I get no kickbacks. I get no discounts. I get nothing. I get friendships from all of those individuals. And as I said on my last show, that's the most important thing. They never call me up. I mean this. Whenever I rag on a game, I never get a call from Mike or Melissa. They're never like, Craneta, come on, man. I gotta sell games. This is my livelihood. Nope. I've been praising games over the years and I've been ragging on games. Talking about ragging on games, I was talking about my boy Melvin. I'm reading, I have to call it like I said, I'm reading the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland thread and you know I think people are starting to realize the code is very simple. The phrase that's being used is not a phrase you want to hear. It feels like we're chopping wood. That you just have to hit the same shots over and over and over again. I said I wasn't going to do it. I did it. I did it again. Hard not to do it. Almost want to buy a predator just to have that sound clip. They should just add my sound clip into the game. It seems like the code is very repetitive and I am a little worried. I am a little worried that because they didn't make these that quickly There's gonna be people that are gonna want out and see here's the thing when you sell 500 Allysses you want to get those people those 500 games ASAP and then you got berry making them who can't make anything fast and the last thing you want to do is give people too much time to think about it you don't want to give people too much time to second guess it I'm like looking there's like three Alice spots for sale there are more than three for sale a lot of people can get out now and so I think the mistake they made and I think this should have been a 250 to 300 at most They should have baked in demand because of the low supply forever and then move on and make 300 Raza And I think you could have sold each of them for 12 5 13 and they all would have sold And with only 300 of each 150 in America 150 in Europe they easily would have sold and it would have been easier to make them Yes you not going to make as much money trbergcharge Abgeord a sec目前 أي I'm not saying there is that, but I worry there will be that. That scenario will come to fruition after 350 of these are made. I'm really not sure that another hundred and fifty people want to plunk down 12-5 when they start to see some of those original games. The 350 games are going to trade for like 250 more. It's just gonna happen or maybe even less who knows now I'm seeing Guns N' Roses collectors editions. There's only 500 maybe this is not a real sale, but a dudes like asking 8 or best offer. I mean quite how can that be real? Really? That's a crazy buy if it is buy it. I think it's gonna get really interesting. Are we gonna see Jaws 50th next week? Is that going to be the 4th of July special? What else is around the corner right? I mean for now it seems like we have a little bit of a lull every week. We're getting Closer and closer to John Borg's next game. I think that's the next big drop. I don't think we're ever going to see Cuphead from American Pinball. They're never going to sell that existing inventory. We don't have Spooky's next game until the end of the year. See now would have been a perfect time. I mean it. Now would have been a good time for Barrels of Fun to have released Dune with more assets in it. I actually would have waited maybe even to early July Yeah, that. If it were true, it would've made way more sense. I still worry that Dune even after the Carl stream, I just, I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Is it just me? Am I the only one? Um, I know the word of mouth is good. It's just the theme. I, I just worry that the theme is gonna be hard, but you know, none of this is public. I don't know how many games these companies are selling in the automotive industry. It's easy to track the failures of a car. Patronic Tiffany, In the end, here's what I think is going to be the winner. I mean this. In the end, I think the game that people are going to look at as being the most fun, and I think you're going to be able to get one for much less than new in box prices. But in the end, out of all of these games, Potter, Kong, Portal, Dune, out of this new crop of game, I do think the game when all is said and done, that's going to be like I think it's going to be King Kong. I do. I just, I really do. I think Stern's going to take it to a place with the code that's going to be really, really satisfying. Now look, the other game that could take the lead is Potter, but Jersey Jack needs to adjust the code. And I just don't know if they are. They keep telling me there's major code updates in the recent code update. But then I look at the stream and I'm like, I'm still not seeing a major difference in the movie modes. I don't know what they consider major. I don't know. I need to get time on the new code and see what they're talking about. Everybody, thank you for being a member of the Kaneda Club. Thank you for putting up with me. Some days are good. Some days are stressful. I like having good days. I had a better day yesterday. I woke up this morning. Brenda took our little one Cassian to get tubes put into his ears to drain some fluid. He's home today. He's doing great. It's really, really nervous putting a little baby under general anesthesia. So he did just fine. Killian's at school. He was difficult to get out the door. You hear me for 20 minutes a day. Think about this. You hear my show for around 20 minutes a day. There are hours, hours of Kinead making it through every day, trying to do other things to free up this much time to give each and every one of you what I consider to be the most entertaining and enthusiastic pinball podcast on planet...