Episode 756: "Stern Has Killed The Golden Goose"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·27m 52s·analyzed·Jan 5, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Kaneda attacks Stern's James Bond 60th pricing as exploitation of collectors and a death knell for the hobby's golden age.

Summary

Kaneda delivers a scathing critique of Stern Pinball Inc. 60th Anniversary release, calling it the "biggest FU to pinball collectors" and "the sleaziest marketing move in pinball history." He argues that Stern priced a mechanically simple, visually barren game at $20,000 MSRP—the most expensive pinball machine ever—while providing less content than games from a decade ago. Kaneda contrasts this with the industry's "golden decade" when pricing was fair and games offered genuine value, claiming Stern removed the price from their website out of embarrassment and inability to sell all 500 units. He calls on the community to reject overpriced games and demand manufacturers return to quality and innovation.

Key Claims

James Bond 60th Anniversary is priced at $20,000 MSRP, making it the most expensive pinball machine in history
high confidence · Kaneda, throughout episode, discussing Stern's official pricing on their website
Stern removed the game's price from their website because they're embarrassed by it and because distributors cannot sell all 500 units
medium confidence · Kaneda's inference based on distributor sales patterns and market reception; claims distributors were given the game at $15,000 cost
The game is mechanically simple and visually barren with lazy artwork, similar to a 'home version' of a Stern machine
high confidence · Kaneda's direct criticism of the game's design and visual presentation
Keith Elwin may not be happy about the pricing but cannot speak openly without facing Stern repercussions
low confidence · Kaneda claims to have 'inside information' about Elwin's true feelings but acknowledges this is speculation about what he 'can't tell you on a podcast'
The James Bond game was intentionally withheld from September announcement to prevent collectors from comparing it to the George Gomez variant before purchase
medium confidence · Kaneda notes a leaked image was available in September but Stern didn't show the Keith Elwin version until January 3rd reveal
Stern Pinball only previous direct-to-consumer ultra-premium game was Batman 66 SLE at $15,000 (80 units, 6 years ago)
high confidence · Kaneda citing historical comparison and noting the proposal submission requirement for that release
Stern never officially priced The Beatles (Diamond Edition) at $25,000; distributors set that price after Stern suggested it to them
medium confidence · Kaneda clarifying common misconception and explaining distributor pricing for The Beatles (Diamond Edition) vs. James Bond 60th
The pinball industry has seen zero meaningful mechanical or innovative features added in the past two years despite price increases

Notable Quotes

“Stern Pinball using Keith Elwin to make a move to release a game that is the biggest FU to pinball collectors in the history of pinball releases.”
Kaneda @ Early in episode — Core thesis statement of the episode's criticism
“The game is the most expensive it's ever been in the history of pinball and the games have less in them now than they ever did like in the last 10 years.”
Kaneda @ Mid-episode — Central complaint about price-to-content ratio decline
“They raised a middle finger to the collector community and then you want to try to erase the evidence by taking the price of the game off your website? How do you think the internet works?”
Kaneda @ Mid-to-late episode — Criticism of Stern's removal of pricing from website and attempt to obscure MSRP
“This is the biggest slap in the face to the very community that has kept Stern Pinball so profitable over the years.”
Kaneda @ Late episode — Frames the issue as Stern betraying its core customer base
“For $20,000 this Stern Pinball Inc., it should be Twilightzone had a baby with Tales of the Arabian Nights and they both are crack babies. Okay, that's what it should look like. Alright, not this with no inner art blades and just flat black on the front of the game.”
Kaneda @ Late episode — Vivid expression of what premium pricing should deliver in terms of playfield complexity and artistry
“It was a lot of fun buying LEDs at $70,000. The game was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun seeing Wizard of Oz for $6,500.”
Kaneda @ Mid-episode — Nostalgia for the 'golden decade' when pricing felt fair despite high absolute costs
“Keith Elwin with a straight face would never sell you this game for $20,000.”
Kaneda @ Late episode — Suggests even the designer would not justify the pricing if speaking freely
“The moment you stop running at them, guess what's gonna happen? They're gonna put more magic into the games. They're gonna give you more for your money.”

Entities

KanedapersonStern PinballcompanyKeith Elwinperson George GomezpersonJames Bond 007 (60th Anniversary LE)gameJersey Jack PinballcompanyBatman 66 (LE)

Signals

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product_strategy: Stern Pinball set an official MSRP of $20,000 for James Bond 60th Anniversary, representing the highest official price ever charged for a pinball machine. This breaks from historical precedent where ultra-premium games (Batman 66 SLE, Beatles Diamond, Elvira 40th) either had no official MSRP or lower official pricing with distributor markups.
high · Kaneda repeatedly confirms $20,000 MSRP and contrasts it with Batman 66 SLE at $15,000 and past releases
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product_concern: Community perception that James Bond 60th Anniversary is mechanically simple and visually barren—described as a 'home version' with minimal playfield artwork and 'no inner art blades'—despite commanding record pricing. This represents a significant disconnect between price and perceived content value.
high · Kaneda's extended criticism of visual design, mechanical simplicity, and contrast with past games like Lord of the Rings (2004)
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market_signal: Distributors unable to sell all 500 James Bond 60th units at the $20,000 MSRP, indicating market resistance. Stern subsequently removed the game's price from their website, suggesting manufacturer embarrassment about pricing or demand collapse.
medium · Kaneda's claim that Stern gave distributors 500 units at ~$15,000 cost expecting $20,000 retail but distributors cannot sell at that price; price removal from website interpreted as evidence of failure
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sentiment_shift: Strong community outrage against James Bond 60th pricing. Kaneda reports 99% of Pinside forum commenters unified in criticism, representing major sentiment shift against Stern's pricing strategy and marking end of the 'golden decade' of goodwill.
high · Kaneda's repeated references to community anger and unity on Pinside; describes this as the first time he's seen this level of unified backlash

Transcript

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Ten mealsahän S I'm going to say it to everybody. And in a world that has become increasingly greedy, I'm going to make this show free for everybody. Now, if you don't know who I am, my name's Kaneda. I do a little pinball podcast. I'm always on the side of the consumer, keeping these companies accountable. And if you want to listen to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, you have to sign up on Patreon because I gave shows for free for five years, and then the trollers tried to dox me, and now it's all of us Kaneda fans just having a good time. The reason why I want to make this show free is what I'm going to say on this episode of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast means a lot to me. Because Stern Pinball means a lot to me. Because pinball means a lot to me. Because Stern Pinball is the leader in the pinball hobby. They are the leader in the pinball industry. And I don't want to see what we love about pinball be destroyed by the The greediness of a few executives over at Stern Pinball by a few executives or marketing decision makers over at Jersey Jack Pinball. This hobby has been so much fun over the last 10 years. If you look at the games that have come out over the last 10 years, they dominate the top 20 games of all time by pinball fan rankings. Stern Pinball alone has 11 out of the top 20 pinball machines and the game's of all time. And if you look at the games on that list, they're all phenomenal pinball machines. Anyone who owns any of those games has one of the greatest pinball machines ever that they will enjoy for many, many years to come. Keith Elwin himself has four out of those eleven games. Keith Elwin himself has the number one pinball machine of all time in Godzilla. It pains me to see what has happened this week. Stern Pinball using Keith Elwin to make a move to release a game that is the biggest FU to pinball collectors in the history of pinball releases. And we've been through a lot over the last couple of years. All of us have been through a lot personally. We've been through a lot with COVID, with our jobs. We have friends and family who might have had health issues, who've had job losses, and I feel for everybody. I feel for these companies that have had supply Chain issues. I really do. But none of that, none of that makes up for what has happened in the pinball landscape over the last year. And I mean it when I say it. The other pinball media is so hellbent on celebrating these companies at all costs, at interviewing all of the personalities at these companies because that's what matters most, right? ические

and I'm so tired of hearing about oh the livelihood of this and the livelihood of that. Guess what? Each and every one of us is sacrificing our livelihoods to buy these pinball machines. And for almost a decade we had it all really, really good. These companies would make these magical machines, they would price them fairly, and they would pass on the value to the customer. And it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun buying LEDs at $70,000. The game was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun seeing Wizard of Oz for $6,500. It was a lot of fun when Jersey Jack showed his Pirates of the Caribbean and anybody could have walked up and bought one for $12,500, right? It was a lot of fun. And it wasn't like this, I'm going to stab everybody in the back to get a game. It wasn't like these pinball companies were trying to find the price ceiling on every single launch. And now here we are today. They've removed so much magic from these games. Here we are today in a time in which The game is the most expensive it's ever been in the history of pinball and the games have less in them now than they ever did like in the last 10 years and all of a sudden everybody wants you to just forget what we know and why we love this hobby. I want to talk about this James Bond release and why I think what Stern has done over the last couple of days is one of the sleaziest marketing moves in the history of pinball and I'm not going to be ranting and raving because I respect Stern Pinball. I respect George Gomez, I respect Keith Elwin, I respect the men and women who put those machines together. Remember, there are hundreds of people over at Stern Pinball that break their backs every day to put together these complex mechanical devices and my hat goes off to them. And I'm telling you all those hundreds of people, they were let down this week and the reputation of the company they work for, they were all let down by the marketing decision to This is a game that is made to price this game, this barren basically home pin game, this is like a barren the pin home version of a stern machine, to price one of the most basic stern machines ever made as the most expensive stern pinball machine of all time and not just the most expensive stern pinball machine, the most expensive MSRP pinball machine in the history of pinball and you look down at this game and that is an utter joke if you look at it through that lens. and I'm not gonna tell you all the inside information I have about this game and how maybe Keith Elwin himself isn't really happy about this pricing and he knew this would get raked over the coals but that's a true story but what does Kaneda know he only has the Twippies on the shelf and he doesn't care about interviewing Keith Elwin he'd rather tell you how Keith Elwin really feels not what he can tell you on a podcast because then he'd get in trouble with Stern Pinball so here's the thing I want to walk us through the history of this launch and what has happened and why what happened over the last two days is so significant so So in September Stern announce there would be this collectable version of James Bond And guess who broke you that news story I did Everyone said it was crazy The game came out Now we didn see the game What did Stern do to the James Bond fanbase Because I do believe that a pinball company has an obligation with every new launch to make sure they respect the fanbase of that theme to make sure they price the game accordingly they put as much as they can right They theme integrate it to the best of their ability What did Stern do? They showed you the George Gomez pins. They showed us the most expensive Stern Elite to date, $13,000, right? $14,000 with tax. And we got to see the George Gomez pin. The pin was incomplete. They marched it out onto the show floor over in England and then they quickly took it off the show floor. And then what did they do, people? They didn't show you much of the game. We knew the code was incomplete. And then what happened? They made you buy the game before you saw much more of the game. But here's the real thing they did. If you're a James Bond collector and you know because they told you in September there was a Keith Elwin game coming, did they show you the Keith Elwin pin and the George Gomez pin so you could make up your mind as a James Bond collector which machines you wanted to buy? They didn't do that. They purposely held back the Keith Elwin game and we know it was ready to be shown because we saw the leaked image in September. & 4O You wake up on January 3rd, you're all excited to see what this exclusive and Stern build it as a highly collectible James Bond 60th anniversary machine. And then what happens? They reveal the game and they sell it directly on stern's website. Now this is a really important part of this story. Stern Pinball has only once before sold a super expensive, super rare game on its website. The game was released 6 years ago, and it was Batman SLE and they sold it for $15,000 and they sold all 80 of them directly to customers and you had to actually submit a proposal like a video proposal to Stern for the right to buy one but every single one of those games was sold directly from Stern to the customer. There was an uproar. There was an uproar that the game was that much money and there was an uproar that Stern made you sort of beg for the right to buy one. Now looking back now, how beautiful, how magical, how majestical, how worth the money now is that Batman 66 SLE. I would argue that was the last great attempt by Stern Pinball to go over a machine and make sure every single inch of the machine was covered with beautiful detail and you can see why to this day that is still probably the most beautiful pinball machine Stern has ever put out and might ever put out. I won't even get started on how ugly James Bond is with the lazy drag and drop artwork. I'm not even going to go there, but you know. So that was the only time, right? So I want to remind people of something because people keep trying to chime in to apologize for this James Bond game saying, well, Stern priced beetles at $25,000 and no, they did not. I want to remind people Stern never put an official price on Beatles Diamond, right? They released Beatles Diamond, Platinum and Gold. What Stern did was they let the distributors set the price of Beatles Diamond. and I heard behind back channels they recommended that dealers might be able to get $25,000 for a Beatles diamond. And keep in mind, Beatles diamond is the same exact game as Beatles platinum and Beatles gold. And they all look identical. It was only for the armor and the plaque that was different. And some artwork tweaks, but that was it. But Stern never officially said that game was worth $25,000. And then when Elvira House of Horrors 40th anniversary came out, Stern also did not put an official MSRP on the game. They sold that game to distributors for $15,000. And what happened? The distributors got together, there was a little bit of collusion, and early on they colluded and set a $25,000 price tag on Elvira. and think about that for a minute a distributor was making ten thousand dollars over their cost of the game I mean stern ostensibly turned the distributors and the dealers into scalpers to put more money in their pockets okay so who is stern looking out for are they looking out for the customer are they looking out for the thousands and thousands of us that have to go to work each day and work super hard to make this much money to buy these machines no they're looking out for their sales force and they're looking out CountryurgerPinball�� haircutあり Bard glauben

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and the market didn't set the price, Stern did. jest Now previously Koenigsegg intelligence one last chat of this game directly they were gonna broadcast to all of us in the world what they thought this game was worth they were gonna broadcast to everybody in the world how they feel about us the pinball collector community this was their moment this was their moment to really think about it strategically you know Stern has the smartest people in pinball they have the smartest engineers the smartest designers the smartest coders they have the smartest businessmen George Gomez is one of the and the pinball community is a bunch of suckers and they will buy this game. oku Bockujемся kongos cheers The price of the machine from their website. I want each and every one of you to ask yourselves, why do you think Stern has removed the price of the game from its website? Because they're embarrassed by it. They don't want to stand behind it. And you know what they're doing now? Because now they realize there aren't 500 Neil McCrays out there who are James Bond fanatic and don't care about the money. They are realizing not only did they overprice it, and the pinball community. And I'm glad that the pinball community is enraged. I like going on Pinside and reading that 99% of us are all united. That you can't usher out a game like this with barely anything in it and price it at this. This is the biggest slap in the face to the very community that has kept Stern Pinball so profitable over the years. and I don't care about twippies, I don't care about Patreon subscribers, everybody needs to hear this because I'm tired of hearing all of the other media just celebrate all of these moves by all of these companies. We need to call it like it is. For all of these years, who has kept Stern Pinball in business? It's been the people that have been buying all of these LEs. It's been the home collectors because your FOMO and your desire to own these great pinball machines is the reason why distributors have been and the other thing that is interesting is that the distributors are able to sell games so quickly. And it's because of the special version of these games, that's the reason why these distributors are able to sell them so quickly. It's also the reason why distributors order premiums and pros because to get a certain amount of LEs, they're also going to order the other stuff. And it was a great golden decade for pinball. Nobody was greedy. Everybody saw the value in every single version of the game they got. We saw the value in the LEs. We saw the value in the premiums. We saw the value in the pros. Everybody had a seat at the pinball table. Everybody was enjoying the meal they could afford. And then you go and do this Stern. You raise a middle finger to the collector community and then you want to try to erase the evidence by taking the price of the game off your website? How do you think the internet works? It doesn't work like this Stern. We remember. We remember what you priced the game at. penetration, president, recreation 3-1 256 pret reconstructions with the free and more. This is not a good business practice. Here's the dilemma for Stern Pinball. Do you want to know why they removed the price from their website? It's real simple people. You don't even have to be as smart as I am. I was private school educated. Here's why they removed the price. Because distributors were not able to sell all 500 machines. Not even close. And so here's the other part. Stern probably gave these games to distributors for $15,000. The game was a $5,000 thank you to every single distributor. But here's what's happening. Distributors can't sell the machine at $20,000 because look at this damn machine. I'm not even going to go over how pathetic it is that we even have to have a conversation about a machine this barren, this ugly, this simple. It's just a simple machine. I get it. It probably shoots great. It's nothing against Keith Elwin's design. But Keith Elwin with a straight face would never sell you this game for $20,000. How to win $20,000 with Sturn Pinball? and this is the most embarrassing moment since I've been covering pinball of punlovras at Goadoom Inco You can Persianeetoy tayupoy ramp shot type thing outBryan Seem co ya anxiety d which once cost and has three times as much in the game Ladies and gentlemen I want to tell you right now there is an entire army of pinball personalities and media that just want you to buy everything There is this narrative spreading through the pinball space that to celebrate pinball we have to celebrate everything and that not the case I love Stern Pinball I owned Stern Pinball machines A never-ending theme alone show. The KT TOM, the Mo Chick preview with its overlay 533 intro btw, was for the not-so-ellerly art Satire and partying Dr service1 that we had a chance to approach two과50, two curtain debates, both for RC2 adventure, for MrFairJudd and its Semented Art section 같 recommending complete and integral intentionally game, of Olá into a supernova context. That's not the reason why I'm opening this, however, for a video layout on one of my most popular videos named The Saenius Kickstarter which can't wait to be published. As with every power, it's a total joke where it's all going. and nobody else wants to say this see this is what's so disappointing I know they're capable of putting more magic into the games how can you design a Lord of the Rings in 2004 with all of that cool stuff in it and then in 2022 we get a plastic sex toy that just bobbles back and forth and that's where pinball is at and then you're gonna charge almost three times as much money for the James Bond I'm telling you right Now labor and material cost and inflation should not have tripled the cost of pinball machine over that period of time. And where either as a community gonna start demanding more. And here's the thing. If people stop running at these things, at these high price pins with half as much in them, the moment you stop running at them, guess what's gonna happen? They're gonna put more magic into the games. They're gonna give you more for your money. and more. It's that simple. And I'm looking at all of you super wealthy Pinball Collectors, you need to pause a little bit. I get it doesn't matter to you that it's only money, but if you keep running at this stuff and you keep just throwing money at barren games like Toy Story 4 and games like James Bond 60th, you're going to hurt it for everybody. Maybe just wait a little bit, take your millions of dollars, go on a Hawaii vacation, do something The game that stands inwich sum learnt existing You should look down at a $20,000 Stern pinballmachine and see some magic. You should see some engineering Marvel. You should see the ball do something it's never done before. You should see a mech you've never seen before. You should see incredible stuff. For $20,000 this Stern Pinballmachine, it should be Twilightzone had a baby with Tales of the Arabian Nights and they both are crack babies. Okay, that's what it should look like. Alright, not this with no inner art blades. and just flat black on the front of the game. You walk up to the most expensive pinball machine ever and it's the most boring pin to walk up to. This is the one question I want all of you to ask. This is a period in time in which pinball is the most expensive it's ever been in the history of pinball. And I want to ask you one simple question. Over the last two years, name me one magical or truly innovative mechanism that has been put into a pinball machine over the last two years byught the iPhoneDP I'm not demanding this stuff. No one's forcing us to buy pinball, but this is the mostexpensive pinball has ever been. And what this James Bond launch has done, for me at least, it's opened our eyes to how little they think of us. And this is the thing. And this is why Kaneda's unpopular with other shows and other people and other personalities because they're all trying to sell you games. And I get it. Everyone in the industry, their livelihood All this is connected to the consistent sale of pinball. Everyone who works at Stern pinball's livelihood is connected to it. Everyone who is a distributor is connected to it. Even the operators are somewhat connected to it. And for the love of everybody's livelihood, the greatest way to preserve the livelihood of all of these people is to make quality games that have the value in them, that make us want to buy them and not question whether or not We're being ripped off. And all you gotta do is go back a few years and that's when we had the golden goose. Everybody was winning, everybody was making money, everybody was happier and you can tell by the vibe of the community that the vibe was so much more positive. We can't let the covid feeding frenzy on prices dictate the future of pinball. Everybody thank you so much for listening to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. ÒI'm doing this because I love this hobby. I get branded as a toxic negative person.Ó It's not toxic and negative to spit the truth like this. If you're not a Kaneda club member, we would love to have you. And if you haven't voted yet in the twippies for favorite pinball podcast, here's your chance. And you know, you know, if we win number six, I'm going to put those cargo shorts on and going to march into TPF and I'm going to hoist that trophy up for each and every Have a good day everybody! Good day America according to the unaware