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Pinball Expo 2025 Pre Show
PodcastAnalysis updated yesterday1 hr 6 min listen
Scott and Josh are going over all what they are excited for and what to expect from the manufacturers there.
Highlights
- Star Wars Fall of the Star Wars: Fall of the Empire shot is rejecting 80% of the time and players are avoiding the multiball due to risk-reward balance
- Stern experienced a personnel shuffle on the factory floor with more new workers, correlating with increased quality control issues post-Avengers release
- Harry Potter Potter demand exceeds manufacturing capacity, with spring 2026 availability estimates (5-6 months out)
- Harry Potter license deal included a 2-month production delay due to licensing restrictions
- Stern's media day for Star Wars was less attended than typical due to proximity to Expo, with major content creators (Cary Hardy, Triple Drain crew, Joel) opting to wait for Expo coverage
- Spooky Pinball next game Beetlejuice is expected to be revealed in December after Evil Dead production wraps end of December
- Media day attendance directly impacts content creator reach metrics more than corporate sales
- X-Men was 'half baked' when released and needed more development time before launch
Notable quotes
“when it's rejecting 80% of the time... People are avoiding the Death Star because it's just too hazardous”
“do you think this is a quality issue? A couple years back, supposedly they went through a shuffle of the people on the floor, and they've gotten a bigger percentage of people on the floor are now new”
“You spend $7,000 to $13,000 on this game brand new in box, and you want them to work”
“we're on par with what Stern's releasing right now for views... if you start figuring in our podcast numbers we're we're double at least”
“they don't have the manufacturing capability to keep up... I'm not seeing a ton of these out in the wild. I mean, they're all going into homes”
“if you're going to pay that much for a license, there's going to be a lot of contingencies on anticipating that this is going to be a long-term license”
“whether or not you did bring up Stern putting out official stuff, well, that can be a mixed bag because anytime you have something coming from the company, it's going to be viewed as a PR move”
“if you're not going to allow your designers to take risks or take challenges, then great make medieval madness and slap a new sticker on every time”
Entities
- Flip N Out Pinball· company
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Spooky Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Chicago Pinball Expo· event
- Beetlejuice· game
- Harry Potter· game
- Star Wars: Fall of the Empire· game
- The Wizard of Oz· game
- X-Men Pinball· game
- Cary Hardy· person
- Jack Danger· person
- Josh Roop· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Nicole Minney· person
- Retro Ralph· person
- Scott Larson· person
- Tom Graff· person
- Travis Moseman· person
- Zach Minney· person
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