What did Gary Stern have to say 30 years ago ?

[swinks]

Interesting what he said about pinball....

[Caveoftreasures]

It took me a while (20 mins) but I read the whole 3 x pages....It just goes to show, that back in 1983, Gary was prepared to do whatever it took to stay profitable by moving sideways, backwards, forwards, whatever it took to stay profitable.....and at that time, pinball was dying from his point of view....so his focus was video games til he saw the wind change direction again when pinball started to get more profitable...

It appears he was smart enough to acquire/buy n sell quite a few bankrupt companies and also sell off some of his own profitable businesses to stay ahead of the game back in 1983...This allowed him to purchase the premises he now has, and alot of the plant/engineering stuff as well...We all know that he got involved with Data East at a later time, then sold that to Sega, then acquired Data East n Sega back from Sega for 10cents in the dollar etc....

Garys talents it seems, is to buy companies, or buy into companies cheaply when their numbers are looking not so great, then turn them into much more profitable businesses.....and he is still going strong today...his survival skills are due somewhat to reading the market, and either holding firm, or making a move to keep the $$$ rolling in....he sells when things are great, and buys when things are crappy....a smart move in Real Estate when buying both companies (intellectual property) and physical buildings full of equipment for low amounts.   

At 67 years he is going strong, and pinball has been back under his name ofcourse for the past 13 or so years......

Even the previous 15 years must have been full of ups n downs with Data East, then with Sega....but he keeps riding the waves and knows when to kick hard or just wait.....he's no dummy...hes not perfect, and when he recently said that he still hasnt got his business model in pinball "right" or "perfected" yet, that showed he is still humble.....a good quality to have in any business....

[pinnies4me]

What did Gary Stern have to say 30 years ago ?

"hey let's copy Williams when they release their new board set. Worked on Bally 10 years ago, lawsuit made us pay $20 per board, way cheaper than R&D"

[Caveoftreasures]

.......fair enough, but doesnt every great idea in this world get copied within ten minutes of it hitting the shelves by 100 companies, pinball is no different......IF it saved him millions, smart him ! At least now he has all his own new boards, with the new set coming out with the next title.

[Extra Ball]

shitty throw-away boards

[Caveoftreasures]

shitty throw-away boards

I have only ever seen 1 x Stern board come accross Beakys workshop in 5 years, and have seen thousands of every other board known to man.....modern Stern boards, rarely ever need a thing doing to them.

If u have a Stern board out of warranty, U can replace the Stern board thru AMD cheaper than the cost of a service call would cost on a older style solder thru board...its 2013...old technology isnt required anymore...all electronics in everything has gone the same way for a reason......parts today are better than they were in the 90's, twenty plus years ago...replacement Stern boards cost next to nothing, IF u ever need them.

[Strangeways]

What did Gary Stern have to say 30 years ago ?

"hey let's copy Williams when they release their new board set. Worked on Bally 10 years ago, lawsuit made us pay $20 per board, way cheaper than R&D"

+1

Gary saw "No future in pinball" in 1983 - He was ready to throw in the towel after the Bally Boardset issues. Luckily, he found something else to copy, and suddenly, pinball is good for Stern again.

I'm grateful Stern are still around - But he is no visionary. Just an astute follower.

[Olivia_jason]

 

[Caveoftreasures]

I am sure the man has had quite a few great ideas in 67 years. lol

[pinnies4me]

IF it saved him millions, smart him !

Absolutely agree, smart move - cheaper to copy and pay the penalty then invest in R&D, no doubt at all.

But it's just early signs of what was to come - Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Stern must be sending thank you notes to JPP - think of all the innovation that will soon be available to copy......

[Caveoftreasures]

but who says Stern will need to copy anything from JJP....???? 

Stern are not going widebody, Gary has made that clear....he is not going 26 inch LCD......his boards are staying in the headbox....and he has his own new computer boards coming and his own new sound system upgrades done as well.....he has his own new modular boards already and has them designed and out onsite with 50 test AC/DC models...that R & D was done ages ago....well before WOZ was ever shown in detail to the public...

what else is left to copy ? nothing really that I can see at all.....

Stern is blazing ahead all by itself with various great titles and variations of its titles with its Pro, Premium and LE models etc......Stern will outsell JJP 6 to 1 in the next 2 years easily.....Stern are doing realy really well. All by themselves. It has absolutely nothing to do with JJP.

Also, what new innovation has JJP really introduced, clear inserts only, Stern were already doing coloured LEDS.....and JJP have a LCD.....Pin2000 had a viewing monitor...nothing new here except technology allows for a 26 inch flat screen instead of a old stle CRT.....so we have a few extra speakers, and clear inserts only....the widebody, the viewing screen,the computer in the base like Pin2000, the various playfields, all been done before 12 or 13 years ago....
This JJP innovation everyone talks about is slightly over rated somewhat dont you think ? Clear inserts and a few extra speakers....but that is it !

[pinnies4me]

but who says Stern will need to copy anything from JJP....???? 

History.

[Caveoftreasures]

It was a good one word answer, I will give u that, but history doesnt always repeat ! lol
I am not a gambler, but I will bet u he doesnt copy anything at all in the next few years plus...why, cause he will want his product and his business model looking nothing like JJP....

........also, it doesnt matter what JJP create, because to alot of people, they cant (or wont) afford 10 grand for a pinball machine, its simply too much money....$6600 is enough...but ten grand.....too much...so JJP could build a machine out of alien techology with diamonds or gold, it will never get past some peoples front doors because some people have a cap on what to spend on any one single pinball title...JJP have worked on their quality, now they must work on their marketing and product costings within the industry to capture site operators and the majority of joe public IMO...I cant see his operation surviving on 1000 units or 1500 units a year....

also, if he builds 25 WOZ machines a day (his target number per day), he will have his WOZ LE orders filled in 40 days....what will his entire floor staff do for the next 17 months til the Hobbitt gets released...he has only sold 100 ish Std WOZ models I am told by JJP....but what about if he had a Pro model WOZ, that might keep his production staff busy...but at this rate, he will have nothing for anyone to do for almost 17 months.....will the place be a ghost town for 17 months.....food for thought...



 

[Olivia_jason]

 

[beaky]

don't forget data east stuck with the "system 11" copies and made them run a dmd instead of designing / copying a new board set