When will the next Pinball Arcade table be released?

[trash80]

Well, in a scenario where Stern switches to or cross-licenses to Zen, absolutely I'd want that.

But if that doesn't happen, then BK3 is pretty much stuck in digital limbo, isn't it?

I don't think Farsight has ever had an "official" exclusive agreement with Stern regarding digital pinball recreations. I actually remember Gary saying something about a handshake and having a good relationship with Farsight... but that was a few years ago.

 

[chany60126]

I still can't understand why they haven't released any Gottlieb tables recently. There are plenty of tables they could do that are unlicensed which shouldn't cost much.

 

[jaredmorgs]

I still can't understand why they haven't released any Gottlieb tables recently. There are plenty of tables they could do that are unlicensed which shouldn't cost much.

Because they are "lame" apparently.

 

[Citizen]

My favorite part is how easy it is to guess which FarSight employee you guys were talking about.

 

[Blkthorne]

I posted this in the Blahcade podcast YouTube video but will post it here in the vain hopes that some Farsight employee might actually see the list and think it would be a good idea to digitize these tables:

Still plenty of great tables for Farsight to bring out, ton of EM's, especially Abra Ca Dabra, Quicksilver(86), Seawitch(90), Star Gazer(102), Catacomb(103), Cheetah(107), Nine Ball(128) and Stars(153) on Pinside around the top 150 tables for Stern Electronics. Time Machine(71) and Laser War(157) for unlicensed Data East tables, then you have Spirit(73) and Joker Poker(111) for Gottlieb tables and Mystery Castle(110) by Alvin G. Just sad they think there isn't any decent tables left to do, apparently Norman was the heart and soul of pinball for them.

Some more tables that might be "decent" enough to digitize:

#169 Count-Down(Gottlieb '79)
#174 Meteor(Stern Electronics '79)
#180 Stingray(Stern Electronics '77)
#181 Hot Shots(Gottlieb '89)
#190 Torpedo Alley(Data East '88)
#191 Big Game(Stern Electronics '80)
#194 Robo-War(Gottlieb '88)
#197 Title Fight(Gottlieb '90)
#218 Devil's Dare(Gottlieb '82)
#222 Galaxy(Stern Electronics '80)
#225 Alien Star(Gottlieb '84)

Gottlieb EM's as well:

Abra Ca Dabra, World Fair, Royal Flush, Surf Champ, Cross Town, Bank Shot, Atlantis, Fast Draw, Jungle Queen, and Slick Chick etc.

 

[Citizen]

Good list, but they already know what's left. Those tables have been pointed out to them countless times here and on Facebook, and FarSight is fully aware of IPDB and Pinside. They just don't want to make them. Perhaps they've decided that what's left won't give a worthwhile return on investment. Maybe they somehow think that every one of those tables is actually lamer than Premier El Dorado, Bone Busters and Goin' Nuts. Who knows.

All we can do is sit back and wait to see what the new Stern table will be. That's pretty much now the answer to the question this thread poses.

 

[shutyertrap]

So much for “preserving pinball history for future generations”. Now it’s DMD or it didn’t happen.

 

[wilbers]

Is there anyway to get a ballpark estimate of how much one of those older tables would cost to make? No. of man hours being the most important number. Triple that, divide by likely cost of table and that would need to be a number that they would be likely to sell; any that don't will have been non-starters (which could even be all of them).

If they've worked out that sales will be <15% of one of the more recent licensed tables currently in Stern packs 1 & 2 could be a reason none have appeared. Also telling that they never did sort out the repackaging problem for anyone who had all the season packs.

 

[wolfson]

TPA thanks for the 100 tables . as it looks like you are doing jack s... about any more tables , goodnight Irene .

 

[Rayder]

Seems they aren't going to do anything about the remaining bugs in the PS4 version either. sigh.....

 

[Citizen]

Seems they aren't going to do anything about the remaining bugs in the PS4 version either. sigh.....

I mean, they didn't about the PS3/V ones, so it shouldn't be surprising.

 

[Lroy]

I hadn't realised it was pretty much accepted here that FarSight are done with THE PINBALL ARCADE? I'm buying up packs that are available on Switch and sincerely hope we haven't heard the last of FarSight or this game. Also what happens to STERN PINBALL now? That selection of tables is fantastic, I have the physical release and again would like to see more support and further tables added. Is this all highly unlikely now then? Are FarSights pinball games, at least as far as the Switch is concerned, done and dusted now?

Is anyone on these boards from FarSight? Perhaps I've not looked in the right places but it just seems to be a deafening silence for many months now? What are FarSight working on?

 

[1adam12]

They are certainly not as open as other companies. Their lack of social media presence is pretty astounding.

I have two other favorite game apps and they both keep active forums on Reddit and provide updates regularly.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

 

[shutyertrap]

I hadn't realised it was pretty much accepted here that FarSight are done with THE PINBALL ARCADE? I'm buying up packs that are available on Switch and sincerely hope we haven't heard the last of FarSight or this game. Also what happens to STERN PINBALL now? That selection of tables is fantastic, I have the physical release and again would like to see more support and further tables added. Is this all highly unlikely now then? Are FarSights pinball games, at least as far as the Switch is concerned, done and dusted now?

Is anyone on these boards from FarSight? Perhaps I've not looked in the right places but it just seems to be a deafening silence for many months now? What are FarSight working on?

Stern Pinball Arcade was a contract job for FarSight, which probably explains why they not only have never updated the Steam UI to match the much better Switch version, but also why Big Buck Hunter and Whoa Nellie weren't put into it but instead dropped into TPA. Pinball Arcade is the one and only game that was self produced by FarSight. It is theirs to do as much or as little as they want without upsetting a client.

Everyone put TPA on death watch as soon as news broke of losing the Williams license a year ago, and FarSight did little to dispel those impressions other than to say they weren't done with pinball. Since then, there's been the work they did for Arcooda (a project started at least a year prior), Stern VR which was a contract job for Oculus, and the release of BBH/WN on TPA with very little fanfare. It's been 7 months since any release with only mention of a mystery table, and who even knows when that might see light of day. After 6 years of steady releases, the silence is deafening.

They are certainly not as open as other companies. Their lack of social media presence is pretty astounding.

I have two other favorite game apps and they both keep active forums on Reddit and provide updates regularly.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

This wasn't always the case. They were on this forum a lot, communicating with us. That sort of bit them in the butt eventually though, as people were holding them to promises and comments that were made in a less than official capacity. The Xbox 360 update mess is a prime example of stringing along customers with promises of "we're working on it" and "soon", only to later essentially abandon it. They don't have a PR person, and they no longer have a dedicated community manager like they did to start. They are working on other projects that have nothing to do with pinball, so there is no reason for them to post non-news just to keep us interested.

 

[1adam12]

The only glimmer of hope I've had is that tournaments returned after an extended absence. They seem to have them regularly, but haven't worked that to their advantage by having long term leaderboards or anything.

Their failure to think outside the box in so many areas has doomed them.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

 

[shutyertrap]

They had turned tournaments over to Major League Pinball (or something like that) a while ago, so maybe that fell apart and that's why the long gap? Or maybe someone realized how easy it is to set up something after seeing what Zen has allowed users to do?

FarSight's handling of leaderboards in general has never been ideal. Too prone to fake scores, scores from other tables populating each other's boards, how impersonal the boards feel. I stopped playing the tournaments because it was such a slog to do, and with no rotation of rules or attempt limits, it just felt exceedingly repetitive.

 

[Blkthorne]

I hadn't realised it was pretty much accepted here that FarSight are done with THE PINBALL ARCADE? I'm buying up packs that are available on Switch and sincerely hope we haven't heard the last of FarSight or this game. Also what happens to STERN PINBALL now? That selection of tables is fantastic, I have the physical release and again would like to see more support and further tables added. Is this all highly unlikely now then? Are FarSights pinball games, at least as far as the Switch is concerned, done and dusted now?

Is anyone on these boards from FarSight? Perhaps I've not looked in the right places but it just seems to be a deafening silence for many months now? What are FarSight working on?

Only thing most people have heard from Farsight is from their Twitch streams and that they are working on tables, and that is plural according to Mike Lindsley, and the aforementioned unreleased/unannounced table that most fans think will be Elvira 3 but that is only a rumor.

 

[shogun00]

Only thing most people have heard from Farsight is from their Twitch streams and that they are working on tables, and that is plural according to Mike Lindsley, and the aforementioned unreleased/unannounced table that most fans think will be Elvira 3 but that is only a rumor.

Another thing that was mentioned was that they want to do bundle releases going forward. It wouldn't surprise me if they just do 2 bundle releases a year.

 

[Pete]

I was really holding in there thinking something would happen but now that zen is teasing stern i think were officially screwed. Like its done. Over. Doubt they can pull a come back off with just old Gotleibs. They should have digitized the entire old school stern 70's 80's set but they didnt and wont. jay olbernolte has failed us.

 

[Kolchak357]

I was really holding in there thinking something would happen but now that zen is teasing stern i think were officially screwed. Like its done. Over. Doubt they can pull a come back off with just old Gotleibs. They should have digitized the entire old school stern 70's 80's set but they didnt and wont. jay olbernolte has failed us.

Sure seems like they don’t have any interest in doing any more pins.