The release of outside licensed tables will depend on us

[PiN WiZ]

People have been saying (myself included) that they want to see outside licensed tables such as Addams Family, Star Wars, T2, etc. This will all depend on how many people are willing to buy their first major outside licensed table at a premium. I believe if the first doesn't sell well, FarSight may not go through the trouble of acquiring outside licenses for the rest of these tables. Remember, acquiring outside licenses cost money, so expect the price of these tables to reflect that and if you're not willing to pay the premium, then don't expect to see many more (if any) in the future. We as gamers/customers have the power (to some degree) to keep a good thing going or simply run it into the ground before it even has a change to take off. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[Nik Barbour]

I'm willing to pay a premium.
Man i'd love T2.
Quality goods deserve a quality premium.
And i'll bet those licences don't come cheap!

 

[Gord Lacey]

I think everyone that signs up and posts here would pay a premium, but will the general public? That's the problem that FarSight faces.

 

[Bowflex]

Ripleys is licensed and the price isn't that bad. Different licenses will have different price points but I think tere are lots of non-fanatic people that do get excited about Addams family or certain other tables at any price. These are the casual folks that would pass on a theater of magic or circus Voltaire, even if it was 99 cents but would pay 10 bucks for st:tng

 

[Patrick McBride]

I'll be buying pretty much anything with a DMD And, of course, some earlier ones I love such as Funhouse!

 

[gsxrboy]

Release it and i'll buy

 

[Chris Dunman]

If Farsight asked at the time of licence acquisition which table out of say, 3 they were prepared to work on, could they not gauge demand from that?

In any event, I'd buy whatever was offered, but if it was a question of choice for a special project as such, costing a bit more, what's the harm in Farsight looking at potential revenue for such a project. Bearing in mind all the other work involved in bringing all the great things they have lined up in the future....

 

[Dumahim]

It will really depend on the table, but I'm sure they have a pretty good feel for which tables will bring bigger sales. I'm sure there's some out there I would not want to buy, regardless of the price. The big unknown is probably how many lost sales there are for raising prices.

This is why I'm sort of in favor of the kickstarter idea. Let us know what tables are up for grabs and give a goal for us to reach.

 

[djwille]

I will pay for licensed tables. If a table such as T2 or Addams Family cost 10 dollars each then i will pay that amount.
I think it's for almost everybody who loves pinball a big dream that one of the great pinball machines wil be released.
And there for i hope FarSight will bring such tables in the future.

 

[superballs]

I'm imagining that Farsight didn't just set their price point on a whim. Nor did they set about releasing TPA on a whim. We can't use forum membership or Facebook likes to accurately guage their sales figures as I'm sure there are a lot of people that don't bother coming here or posting on the facebook page. Not to mention that there are sales for 6 platforms to consider and if I'm correct they only need to aquire a license once.

I'm sure we won't start off getting huge licenses. And some of these licenses i couldn't give a rat's behind about like GnR and stuff like that. There are plenty of awesome tables that will probably have pretty inexpensive licensing to them that we will all enjoy. What Farsight needs to do is get a large core audience like us who are in it for the pinball, not the licenses. Those of us who will buy any table and possibly multiple times. From me, they are pretty well guaranteed 2 sales of any table they release, even if I'm not that interested in a table, it could be more that i've simply not given it a chance. Case in point, I would have passed over BoP if I were being selective and I would have been a tard for doing so.

I have some trust that Farsight have performed the feasability testing and market research to know that this is a viable venture and as the product improves the user base will increase. As the little niggling details get polished up, fans of VP and FP and the like will start to take notice.

I've seen what is coming with Mediaval Madness and if the 360 demo and the iOS version have anything to say, the bounciness of the ball has been toned down to a better level and i think they've adjusted the flipper mechanics a bit to make multiball passing, while not perfect yet, more possible as I've pulled it off a few times.

 

[szycag]

I'd pay 10 or 15 bucks for Addams Family or Twilight Zone if I had to.

 

[ZiN]

Get Adams family and I know a few people who'll get pinball arcade just for those games. But if it's Adams Family, Star Trek TNG or T2 I'll pay whatever they like. Meanwhile I'll just buy every table and support two more tables a month, until the tables get really boring at least.

 

[RetroBlast]

My attitude is we got the game ROCK BOTTOM CHEAP at 10 bucks with 4 tables and each month we get 2 tables for 5 bucks! In NYC two slices of pizza costs over 5 bucks, add a 20oz soda and its 7 bucks! So when they trow a premium table at me, I'm buying it, I feel like I owe them already!

 

[Blunt Fish Games]

My attitude is we got the game ROCK BOTTOM CHEAP at 10 bucks with 4 tables and each month we get 2 tables for 5 bucks! In NYC two slices of pizza costs over 5 bucks, add a 20oz soda and its 7 bucks! So when they trow a premium table at me, I'm buying it, I feel like I owe them already!

Well said, fellow NYer! (Actually, I'm in Brooklyn, just a couple blocks from DiFara - ONE slice for 5 bucks, I'm not kidding.) Given how much I've spent on the machines in pool halls, arcades, laundromats, and in gas money to get down to Asbury Park NJ for the Silverball Museum, why the heck would I NOT pay however much they ask to have it in my home? It'll still be a bargain.

 

[Hinph]

There are so many great non-licensed tables to be made that I'm really not too worried about this issue... that said, I am absolutely willing to pay a premium for great licensed tables.

At least they were able to get the rights to the Universal monster stuff. I'm surprised that The Twilight Zone is such an expensive license and it doesn't instill much hope for bigger IP.

 

[RetroDude]

Some folks here apparently are spoiled by growing up enjoying bootlegged movies, music and games. By being so used to not paying for things that they should have paid for, they want everything either free or dirt cheap.

I grew up paying for my music, movies, games, and everything else.
I respect copyrights and licensing fees.
I'm willing to pay a reasonable amount to get the games I want.

In the case of games like Twilight Zone, Addams Family, etc. ... I'm willing to pay a LOT more than $2.50 or $4.00 or whatever.

Think about how much it would cost to go into a real arcade and play any of these games for a several hours.
I'd GLADLY pay that to get to play virtual versions of these games as many times as I want for years to come.

Sure, the cheaper the price, the more tables I'll buy.. but I wouldn't think twice to pay $20 each (or perhaps higher) for each of those two tables.
It's still an incredible value for pinball play at that price and higher.

 

[George Klepacz]

I'm not sure I'd pay over $20 for premium tables. And then I really doubt I'd get them for multiple systems. Which leaves me in a dilemna since the consoles are so far behind and probably always will be because of the long approval processes.

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

I played whole night on ipad 1 from a mate again, and man... this game is so great.


But have been thinking about the licenses costs. Cause 50k is alot of money, much more then i expected if i am honoust. Now, i gave a brainstorm suggestion about selling caps, which is a bit clumsy when you need 50k. I still think it would benefit the company if they would sell caps, shirts, mergandise. But thats extra, not enough for licenses.

Ok, but we still want to move on, from one table to the next one. TZ is now being kickstarted. I am afraid we will not reach it in time (why is there a time deadline anyway?). And if we do, i think next table will be very difficult.

So, we need another plan to raise 50k for a license, and i have been thinking. Now, maybe its again, not a very good idea, but so far, i cant see why it would not work.

The mission:

- raise 50k

The plan:

- Sell a brandnew Stern pinball machine, for example Tron pro. Lets for the easyness of this example say that one is 5k. (exclusive shipping)

- Farside is selling the machine for 60k. But instead of selling it for 60k to 1 person (that person would be insain, ;-) ), they sell 10 dollar lottery tickets, 6000 of them.

- every pinball fan in the world can buy 1 or more tickets.

- when all tickets are sold, they will take 1 winning ticket (under supervision of laywer, for rights and stuff). That man wins the machine, and he will get it shipped to his house.

- Farside earns 60k - 5k machine - shipping costs - some extra little costs = around 50k minimum.

- Farside is gonne use that 50k for the next license to buy.


What do you guys think, does these sort of ideas make any sense? I think its possible to do it like this.

I think this would work, and not once, but they can do it maybe once a year. I would go for it, for 10 dollars supporting Farside AND have a chance for a brandnew pinballmachine.

And i think thousands of fans will do it. We need 6000 of them, but looking at the kickstart pledges, there will be many guys that buy more then 1 ticket, so we dont need 6000 unique buyers, but less.

I think it can be done.


But maybe i am thinking like 'The Happy Wanderer' ;-)

 

[Brian Clark]

Who is "Farside"? As mentioned in another topic, the company's name is "FarSight" (technically FarSight Studios).

 

[Dumahim]

A raffle for a table is a neat idea, but I think there's a lot of legal hoops that they would need to jump through in order to do that. If I recall, I think they can only be run in some states for charity and other states just flat out illegal.