Why is Zen so much Better than TPA at Acquiring Licenses?

[Richard B]

TPA has to do a KS for TZ, STTNG, T2, and TAF, but Zen is able to score dream licenses like Marvel, Star Wars, The Walking Dead, and now South Park, no KS, seemingly no effort, just "hey, here's our next table!" Imagine how awesome it would be if TPA had that kind of clout (a whole Season of new Sterns?) but . . . they don't. Will TPA ever reach that point? Is Zen really that much more successful, or are they better schmoozers, or what else is going on?

 

[Espy]

They're a bigger company, they sell more, have more appeal to the casual market, their product has a better visual polish, get more gaming press coverage... take your pick.

On the other side, you could say getting the Marvel license was a lucky break, and they handled the license so well that they impressed other companies to get involved.

At the end of the day... when you've done Star Wars, no-one else is likely to say no. You've made it.

 

[David T. Melnick]

They're a bigger company, they sell more, have more appeal to the casual market, their product has a better visual polish, get more gaming press coverage... take your pick.

On the other side, you could say getting the Marvel license was a lucky break, and they handled the license so well that they impressed other companies to get involved.

At the end of the day... when you've done Star Wars, no-one else is likely to say no. You've made it.

-------
Yea...bigger/more press says it all. World history can easily tell one that.

 

[Kolchak357]

Every pin TPA releases has a license fee attached. Don't forget that Williams, Gottlieb, Stern, etc get their cut.

 

[Xanija]

Well, they don't have to pay for the license to the original Pinball manufacturer to begin with. They also don't need to buy an original table to be able to start working.

 

[Kratos3]

Zen doesn't use the actor's voice or likeness either, except for South Park. I also wonder if recreating actual tables is more expensive. I suppose you have to pay for the Williams, Gottlieb and Stern licenses. Music licenses on some tables. Etc.

Edit: I started my post like 30 minutes ago, so yeah, what they said.

 

[Dedpop]

 

[Tann]

Too bad Zen is such a disappointing "pinball" game. Despite the big licenses, I find Zen so boring (I played it before TPA because it was the only pinball game on PS3).

I wouldn't trade one ST:TNG in TPA against dozen of Zen "big licenses" tables.

 

[Dedpop]

Too bad Zen is such a disappointing "pinball" game. Despite the big licenses, I find Zen so boring (I played it before TPA because it was the only pinball game on PS3).

I wouldn't trade one ST:TNG in TPA against dozen of Zen "big licenses" tables.

Me either.

 

[canuck]

Too bad Zen is such a disappointing "pinball" game. Despite the big licenses, I find Zen so boring (I played it before TPA because it was the only pinball game on PS3).

I wouldn't trade one ST:TNG in TPA against dozen of Zen "big licenses" tables.

IMO, Zen make arcade games, TPA is a pinball simulator.

 

[vikingerik]

There's a selection bias in the data points that we see. Multiple endpoints. We only see Zen's successes. We never see what they couldn't manage. Zen has the luxury of a wide open range of material. They can go with easy licensors and ignore the difficult ones.

Farsight/TPA doesn't have that luxury. They're working from a limited constrained pool of material, that already has popularity in its own right regardless of the difficulty of the licenses. The licenses that TPA can't get are very visible sore points. The licenses that Zen can't get are invisible to us because they just do something else instead.

It's not that Zen is better, it's that we notice when TPA fails and don't notice when Zen does. Zen must have difficult or failed deals behind the scenes too, but it doesn't matter since we never see them, they can go do something else instead and that's all we will see.

This should cut to the chase. Neither TPA nor Zen has done a Simpsons deal with Fox. Only TPA gets heat for it. Zen doesn't.

 

[jbejarano]

There's a selection bias in the data points that we see. Multiple endpoints. We only see Zen's successes. We never see what they couldn't manage. Zen has the luxury of a wide open range of material. They can go with easy licensors and ignore the difficult ones.

Farsight/TPA doesn't have that luxury. They're working from a limited constrained pool of material, that already has popularity in its own right regardless of the difficulty of the licenses. The licenses that TPA can't get are very visible sore points. The licenses that Zen can't get are invisible to us because they just do something else instead.

It's not that Zen is better, it's that we notice when TPA fails and don't notice when Zen does. Zen must have difficult or failed deals behind the scenes too, but it doesn't matter since we never see them, they can go do something else instead and that's all we will see.

This should cut to the chase. Neither TPA nor Zen has done a Simpsons deal with Fox. Only TPA gets heat for it. Zen doesn't.

+1 This is exactly the issue. Couldn't have said it better.

 

[Pete]

Zen is owned by sony which already has a plethora of licenses to work with as well as partnerships with other large companies that make it a whole lot easier to acquire other licenses. these big companies buddy up on allot of things like soundtracks for their movies and having been already setup to buy things from each other on a regular basis it makes the wheels so much easier to squeak. My question is, with all those great licenses why can't zen make a pinball game I actually like playing?

 

[vikingerik]

Heck, put it this way. TPA is BETTER at licensing.

TPA has done deals with Universal, Elvira, CBS (TZ), Paramount (STTNG), Columbia/Sony (T2), Paramount again (TAF), several individual actors across the tables, plus of course Williams, Stern, and Gottlieb themselves.

Zen has done deals with Lucasfilm, Marvel, Capcom, Popcap (Plants Vs Zombies).

Now who's better at licensing?

If you don't make the mistake of judging TPA on what it hasn't done compared to what Zen has done, TPA is doing just fine.

 

[TomL]

Number of pins that TPA has recreated that I have played in real life:
7: FH, STTNG, TZ, T2, DD, BK, BK2K (8, if you count TAF)

Zen: zero

TPA wins!

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Number of pins I have played in real life that TPA has recreated:
7: FH, STTNG, TZ, T2, DD, BK, BK2K (8, if you count TAF)

Zen: zero

TOTAN, ToM, FH, BoP, MM, NGG, CftBL, BK(?), AFM, STTNG, TZ, Scared Stiff, Dr Dude*, FP*, F2K*, WW, Pin*Bot, WH20, CBW, Victory*, Tee'd Off, T2, FT, BR(?), BK2K*, HS(?)*, JY, Diner***, BSD, TPZ**, TAF

* First played real table post-TPA.
** Making assumptions here, but I've played TPZ for real.
*** Played before TPA but after it won the poll.
(?) Memory is fuzzy on these.
(?)* Definitely played post-TPA, but maybe before.

 

[Reagan Dow]

I'm already bored with Zen's South Park but I still play whirlwind and funhouse regularly. Zen tables are just video games with a pin ball thrown in as an after thought. TPA does reproductions if actual tables that we've all grown up playing and have staying power. In the long run TPA should have the staying power while Zen many people will tire of. IMHO

 

[kinggo]

+1

Apple and oranges. FS has licences for real deal while ZEN has licences for characthers/stories that can be good or bad as tables. If you ask me ZEN wasted them all.

 

[IGoFirstIndy]

Hopefully now that TPA has licensed some pretty big tables with some major studios it will be easier for them. Obviously the Marvel license was a big deal for zen and opened up a lot of doors.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Zen is owned by sony which already has a plethora of licenses to work with as well as partnerships with other large companies that make it a whole lot easier to acquire other licenses. these big companies buddy up on allot of things like soundtracks for their movies and having been already setup to buy things from each other on a regular basis it makes the wheels so much easier to squeak. My question is, with all those great licenses why can't zen make a pinball game I actually like playing?

Whaaaaat? Sorry, but Zen is a completely separate company, just as FarSight is. The popular term these days is "indie." They aren't owned by any larger company.