A new app on the way from Stern and Farsight

[Dutch Pinball ball]

This is the best virtual pinball news ever.

But i have some doubts... Every pin is welcome offcourse. But i just cant believe we will get ac dc,met, twd, star trek, the premiums..

I cant believe that. Cause it would be so awesome i would not sleep for a month and die.

 

[Pinballfan69]

That's AWESOME!!!! Most players can't afford or have room for a real table. Especially tables by STERN. I'm interested to see what the cost of this additional APP will be. I see LOTR in the future My all-time favorite table by STERN.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

I'd be wary of whether this deal actually covers any past tables (and by that, I mean Wrestlemania or earlier). My assumption is that right now this covers Game Of Thrones and any future releases.

It really all depends on how far back Stern started including a "digital reproduction" clause in their licenses, and if they have the ability to go back and re-negotiate some or any of their earlier licenses to include a digital version of the table.

A digital license for LOTR might be just as difficult to obtain now for Stern as it would be for Farsight.

 

[invitro]

Cause it would be so awesome i would not sleep for a month and die.

How did you survive when TZ, MB, STTNG, AFM, MM etc were released?

 

[invitro]

A digital license for LOTR might be just as difficult to obtain now for Stern as it would be for Farsight.

Don't you think companies would be far more likely to deal with Stern than Farsight, due to their much greater age, # of employees, familiarity as a brand, and presumably revenues? I do.

And it's a fact that Stern has experience successfully negotiating for a license for all of their tables, while Farsight doesn't (except for HD3E, STT, RBIoN, and maybe I missed a couple).

I'm not sure what you mean by "covers". The deal is between Farsight and Stern, the licensors aren't included... are you talking about the licensing deals between Stern and their licensors?

 

[WhiteChocolate]

wow well, it goes without saying that all this news news is most excellent!!

invitro ("are we ourselves?" - "and do we really know!" ;0), if i may latch onto a quote there of bobby's: "If we made a digital table and it sold a million copies and it was feasible to build it in the real world, then I think that design would have to be of interest to a manufacturer like Stern," Mr King says...

a -million- copies??? of -any- pinball table, digital or otherwise, would be a -truly phenomenal- event; after all, how many of one individual table has sold the most? 30, 40k units, tops, as currently estimated from what i've seen? (thought i saw recently another thread where peeps were speculating about TPA's unit sales - how many is the best-selling table of TPA's? of zen's? of any real-world manufacturer?)

if there's not much other evidence, i would easily suspect zen selling around a few 100k on one table/title, but slap me if it's proven already they've done much more than that but most of their tables are "holographic tech" and can't be done as rw tables... they just never aimed that direction; farsight did! so i would set the threshold of bk's estimate 10-fold lower - 100,000 in perhaps any format, and you'd have a big winner for running a realworld table on order!

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running alongside that thought, same time as i make it... what is the modern state of pinball manufacturing like, what of its future? i see jj's awesome take on modern tech and wonder, "has 3d-printing" made much impact already in stern and the rest's builds? could they store the toys, even the table layouts/gutters, and 3d-print them whole when ordered? has much gone on 3d printing of parts in pinball manu?? but i digress...

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i'd also nit-pick a bit another quote of his, "Those cost considerations [of the past] are irrelevant when machines are designed only to be built in the virtual world, so imagine what these guys could do if they were given carte blanche." - well, "time = money" no matter how you cut it, and there's time invested in developing/update/upkeep of those tools, so it's certainly not "irrelvant;" it's not like there's no cost... still it's appreciated that on several levels, it cuts on-line dev costs, but not so much "artistic time".

but, just so like the "cab-frenzy" threads (oh i so feel their pain , the "pinball construction set" may be just like that, something that with all the side-cost-cutting always going on, just may take five-ten years to realize, so it seems they're just trying to downplay things into a "corporate perspective" of timeframe/expectations.

p.s. TNT's note: "Pinball Arcade has been downloaded over 12 million times across mobile, console and PC platforms, and has over one million active players each month." WOW, okay, so i'd have to revise my numbers above lol. let's say instead, 250-500k digital units instead of 100k...

hmm, just starting season five - although probably most of us are double-downloads, dual platform players... est. worst, 6 million TPA players, across four seasons is beddy beddy goot! (and imagine everyone we're infecting with the pinball virus too, heh!

p.p.s. invitro's last note about negotiation/licensing clout - i dunno, since fs has had to do a lot of footwork themselves the past some years doing this stuff, i think it's kind of now a "1+1 = 3 or even 4" situation... allies, unite!! ;0

 

[TNT]

I'd be wary of whether this deal actually covers any past tables (and by that, I mean Wrestlemania or earlier). My assumption is that right now this covers Game Of Thrones and any future releases.

I have to say that would really bite. Aside from missing the fantastic tables from up to 2013ish that means a new release what maybe 2-3 times a year? At most? I suppose the one positive from that outcome would be Farsight wouldn't abandon TPA.

 

[Gorgar]

I'd be wary of whether this deal actually covers any past tables (and by that, I mean Wrestlemania or earlier). My assumption is that right now this covers Game Of Thrones and any future releases.

This doesn't guarantee anything, but note that the background to the announcement pic is from the play field of Metallica.

 

[TNT]

One thing I noticed on Stern's website was that Metallica does fall under it's tables and not in the archive section. The good thing though is by that standard there are 8 tables listed as current. If that is indeed what it means.

http://www.sternpinball.com/games

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

One thing I noticed on Stern's website was that Metallica does fall under it's tables and not in the archive section. The good thing though is by that standard there are 8 tables listed as current. If that is indeed what it means.

http://www.sternpinball.com/games

Just means tables they're still currently building.

 

[invitro]

This doesn't guarantee anything, but note that the background to the announcement pic is from the play field of Metallica.

That pic is just from this article:
http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/22/s...-drain-your-savings-to-own-a-classic-machine/

Stern didn't choose Metallica, the article author did, and it doesn't mean anything other than Metallica is an example of Stern's tables.

(This assumes that you're talking about the pic from the facebook post where Stern linked to this article.)

 

[invitro]

I have to say that would really bite. Aside from missing the fantastic tables from up to 2013ish that means a new release what maybe 2-3 times a year? At most?

This would be a good strategy if Stern & Farsight didn't want to make money .

 

[Biff]

Stern didn't choose Metallica, the article author did, and it doesn't mean anything other than Metallica is an example of Stern's tables.

This pic:

on Sterns and Farsights Facebook page.

 

[invitro]

This pic: on Sterns and Farsights Facebook page.

Aha! Thanks for the tip.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

It's also possible they chose Metallica because it's actual art and looks kinda decent, as opposed to some photoshopped mess.

 

[wolfson]

just had a look at Sterns homesite ,oh boy are there some tables there.in the archive section about 30 odd tables which we have 3-4,another 13 odd new tables not counting tables from the 1960`s 70`s 80`s and some from the 90`s.there`s bucket loads there if they use old and new tables.i can now see why they can have a separate app for Stern !!! with all the tables I have and the others on there way ,plus Forza 6,Need For Speed 2015 and Wild Run The Crew on there way boy I not only feel like a kid in a lolly shop but a kid in the middle of a 100 lolly shops !!!

 

[Espy]

It would be nice to see a closer partnership with Stern and Farsight. Would it kill Stern to promote TPA every time a new Stern pinball machine is released? It almost struck me as if they're embarrassed of it.

 

[DA5ID]

It would be nice to see a closer partnership with Stern and Farsight. Would it kill Stern to promote TPA every time a new Stern pinball machine is released? It almost struck me as if they're embarrassed of it.

I think because they are selling $$$ real pinball machines and need to stay on message. I don't think promoting TPA with it's six older sterns (the latest of them (2003) helps them sell KISS LE.

But I agree that yes they should give shout outs to TPA more because farsight is their #1 guerrilla missionary evangelical sales force that is reaching people (and new age groups) and getting them into pinball (myself as an example)

 

[canuck]

I'm just happy Farsight will have a viable product going forward. The err....releases as of late leave much to be desired, running out of 5 star tables and all that.

 

[wolfson]

the deal has only just been announced,early days.i`m sure we`ll learn more in the coming weeks.i`m very very optimistic we`re going to see bundles of Sterns !!!