New Pinball FX delayed until 2022!!!

[Scared Stiff]

Well some really bad news today on The Pinball Show. Worse than I thought. Not only will the new game be delayed, but it won’t even be out until next year! Probably March for early access and not until Summer 2022 for full release and on consoles. At least they added the previous gen consoles to what they will release on eventually. But man, this delay is going to push things out even further for Steam players, and now I am wondering when the one year exclusive will actually begin? Just making that multi-year dry spell stretch out even further. This is kind of a disaster really. But that being said it does sound like they are working on some great things, including some new Williams tables that Mel indicated were “big”.

 

[vfpcoder]

Yeah … The March 2022 release really sounds like a “late Beta” since Mel said they are looking for lots of feedback from the PC community at that point. Since this release will be exclusive to the Epic storefront, I’ll probably skip it *unless* the cabinet support has been ramped up. If the full cabinet support is there, though, I’m in!

 

[yespage]

The bad news, more time to wait. The good news, more time to appreciate all that has already been released through Zen and Zaccaria and Farsight. Things got too good it seems and our expectations grew larger and larger. Some of the top tables ever are already out on Zen in FX3.

 

[timxtr]

Lame

 

[curtis]

On the plus side, Zen will be releasing a new publication/book titled "How to Alienate and Disappoint Your Customers". I'm sure it'll be out *soon*.
Seriously though, how many failures (including exclusivity) can they expect to endure? VR only, Apple Arcade only, Epic Store only, blah blah.

 

[HighFive]

Like seriously, just give a new god damn WMS pack to your customer on FX3 so the wait can be less draining... Was expecting a news of another halloween theme like Addams Family and Dracula, but no... an incredible delay...

Were getting trolls, and not speaking about Pinball Arcade Party here...

 

[Scared Stiff]

On the plus side, Zen will be releasing a new publication/book titled "How to Alienate and Disappoint Your Customers". I'm sure it'll be out *soon*.
Seriously though, how many failures (including exclusivity) can they expect to endure? VR only, Apple Arcade only, Epic Store only, blah blah.

I think that Zen’s actions should definitely be taught in business schools everywhere as what NOT to do. Could you imagine any other type of business operating this way? Let’s say you are a Department store, like Nordstroms. Or a Steakhouse serving steaks. You tell your best customers you aren’t going to have anything to sell to them for awhile, going to sell to some other people first when you resume, and that turns out to be YEARS down the road before you get back to your original best customers. Years without food or clothing for your customers? It would never work. So why is it okay in the software world? It’s just not good business no matter how anyone tries to spin it.

While I think the move to a different engine was a good move, the execution of it was decidedly NOT and has been handled just about the worst way imaginable. I am hopeful for the future, but MAN what a long twisted torturous road this has been. It didn’t have to be that way.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

I think that Zen’s actions should definitely be taught in business schools everywhere as what NOT to do. Could you imagine any other type of business operating this way? Let’s say you are a Department store, like Nordstroms. Or a Steakhouse serving steaks. You tell your best customers you aren’t going to have anything to sell to them for awhile, going to sell to some other people first when you resume, and that turns out to be YEARS down the road before you get back to your original best customers. Years without food or clothing for your customers? It would never work. So why is it okay in the software world? It’s just not good business no matter how anyone tries to spin it.

While I think the move to a different engine was a good move, the execution of it was decidedly NOT and has been handled just about the worst way imaginable. I am hopeful for the future, but MAN what a long twisted torturous road this has been. It didn’t have to be that way.

Alright, let's lay things down first:

Pinball FX is an Epic Exclusive on PC, starting March 2022. That's given. My best guess relates to what Supergiant Games did with Hades; it doesn't matter what state the game is in when it releases to the public. The countdown clock to Steam starts then. And it's not just Steam that gets to suffer at first, I do agree on that.

Zen's original pinball titles were on consoles shortly before making their way to Steam -- FX2 (and likewise ZP2) were available before the Steam version in summer 2013. Besides, we don't know that PC is the best-selling platform for their pinball products, only Zen does. Even with Zen's care package back in 2020, FX3's peak on Steam was just short compared to FX2. Then again, what do I know?

The Early Access state is also Epic only, I can imagine to refine online networking bugs before going wide-scale. Once Early Access is lifted, expect a release across PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and Switch in summer 2022.

Operencia: March 8, 2019 -> March 31, 2020 (389 days)

Dread Nautical: April 29, 2020 -> October 27, 2020 (exception to that rule)

CastleStorm II: September 23, 2020 -> ??? (For all I know, best guess is mid-late October 2021)

Pinball FX: March 2022 -> April 2023 (CONFIRMED as of 10/20/2021 https://www.pinballfx.com/?page_id=7115)

Do keep in mind about Star Wars VR and Zen Pinball Party also having new tables locked behind those, but YMMV on the themes and difficulty of each game. Regardless, we'll see what Zen reaps from now until summer 2022 (and eventually 2023 -- heck, their newer titles are even on GOG. I'll have to keep an eye out for that).

EDIT: Reading back into what you were saying regarding "YEARS": Yeah, I totally get it. At this rate, looks like a 2 and a half year drought before Steam sees anything. I know there's Zaccaria but most of what they put out lately aren't really that fun. Time to get out the ol' backlog of games in the meantime!

EDIT #2: You guys also realize FX2 started out as a Windows 8 exclusive for PC before Steam?