Episode 1197: "Pokemon LE Prices Hold Strong & A Juicy Spooky Beetlejuice Rumor"
Pokémon LE arriving soon with strong secondary market, exclusive Beetlejuice crew games rumor, competitive landscape shifts.
Plus David VanEs all but confirms Dungeon Crawler Carl is coming....just not next.
Synopsis
Kaneda discusses Pokémon LE's imminent arrival (10 days out), predicts secondary market pricing will stabilize around $20k, and examines Stern's rapid production strategy. He also shares an exclusive rumor about Spooky making 30-50 additional unnumbered Beetlejuice machines for Tim Burton film crew/cast, addresses Spooky Speak reliability issues on Beetlejuice, and speculates on upcoming reveals (Barrels of Fun's next IP, Transformers mech innovation). Commentary on industry competitive shifts, American Pinball branding struggles, and Pinball Brothers' Predator underperformance (only 200 units made, poor sales).
Highlights
- Pokémon LE will be manufactured at full capacity in 2 weeks with all 750 units produced and shipped
- Two Pokémon LE machines sold for $18,000 each within two days
- Pokémon LE secondary market will settle around $20k long-term
- Pokémon ships with code version .80 with significant updates planned
- Spooky made more than 80 show games for Beetlejuice, plus an additional 30-50 unnumbered machines for Tim Burton film crew/cast
- Only 40 Winchester games shipped after 6 months since reveal
- Spooky Speak feature has reliability issues and doesn't work consistently
- Pinball Brothers Predator will only have 200 total units produced
- Barrels of Fun is making Dungeon Crawler Carl (not as next game)
- Stern has recovered competitive position with Pokémon and Transformers is reported to feature innovative mech
Notable quotes
“In just two weeks time, all 750 Pokémon LE games will be made and shipped to customers. Two weeks? Not like a year. Not like six months.”
“I am hearing that Spooky Pinball has also made, and the number here is a little foggy, I heard like 30 to maybe 50 more games of Beetlejuice...for the Tim Burton Beetlejuice folks. For the folks over at the movie company associated with the film.”
“Spooky Speak...it's a little bit of a gimmick. It is a little bit of a marketing gimmick.”
“If you put Beetlejuice and Winchester next to each other, both of those can stand their own next to Harry Potter and then Stern is like a distant fourth.”
“Five years ago if I asked you, 'Who do you want to make your dream theme?' all of you would have said Stern. All of you...So now look how the tables have turned.”
“They put a crane in Batman. There's not even a crane in the Batman storyline. Okay, so...You think they're going to make a transforming Autobot base under glass?”
“This company just needs to hit timeout. I should fly over there and meet with these guys...You shouldn't have revealed all your plans. You shouldn't be making different logos every month.”
“Nobody cares anymore because they treat their customers like crap. So nobody cares.”
“The game's like $13,000. The tariffs killed them. I don't know what Pinball Brothers does next. How do you recover from this?”
“It's going to be an amazing year, people, because in just like two months, we're gonna get Sonic the Hedgehog. I think so. We'll see.”
Entities
- American Pinball· company
- Barrels of Fun· company
- Chicago Gaming· company
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Pinball Brothers· company
- Spooky Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Beetlejuice· game
- Harry Potter· game
- Pokémon· game
- Predator· game
- Sonic the Hedgehog· game
- Transformers· game
- Winchester· game
- Brian Madigan· person
- Cary Hardy· person
- David Van Ness· person
- George Gomez· person
- Kaneda· person
- Tim Burton· person
More from Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast
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Episode 1229: "Something We Can All Agree On"
Kaneda condemns Stern's incomplete game launches and urges community to withhold support until quality improves.
Everyone wants the same thing, but we won't get there if we keep buying right away.
Episode 1228: "The Shills Coming for Kaneda & Everything Happening in Pinball Right Now!"
FRIDAY SHOW SPECTACULAR!