Mode/rules upgrades would have to be tied to the game and not the specific player playing, that simply isn’t going to work in a home environment.
A small update not really worth editing the OP for: turns out a company called Viget (“a full-service interactive agency that helps plan, design, build, and measure successful websites and digital products”) helped develop Stern Insider Connected.
Their site also has a few more pictures:
Interestingly, the first of these appears to have been used and altered for Stern’s website for the service… only the game names were changed, making the achievements seem nonsensical:
Also, on the topic of the official IC site: several hours after I initially posted about it, the main page was updated to change the price of the All-Access subscription.
Obviously, I’m pretty sure this is not the actual price. At any rate, roughly a day or two later, I checked again and noticed that the “sign up” option was removed entirely:
Since the whole site’s a work-in-progress that’s not really meant to be publicly shown up until Godzilla starts shipping and the actual service launches, these kinds of changes aren’t too surprising. What I’m wondering is if Stern is still planning to keep the price at $40/year or if they’re changing it in some way. (Hopefully not increasing it!)
I will take it for $0.50 an year yes 50 cents an year. But they they want 50 cents an game then they just fuck off
Recent interview Stern posted to their website mentioned that the service was free.
From Nerdist:
“Unlike the pinball machines themselves, the Insider Connected system is free to use. We doubt fellow Godzilla fans will have any qualms about pumping quarters into them though. Available in three models—Pro, Premium and Limited Edition—they don’t need an interactive feature to make them a must-play for movie monster lovers.”
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I think that this is only referring to the basic service, not All-Access. In context, it sounds like it’s saying that you don’t need to pay anything to access achievements and other fundamental features.
I suspect that Stern might still be working out the details about All-Access’s cost, or may simply want to get the core service out the door before they begin to widely advertise their future plans (subscription included).
It may be, but the idea of having someone need a subscription to use a feature on a game in my house is a huge turnoff.
** Guy with paid insider subscription goes to Taylors house, scans in on a game and sets a paid-feature high score
** Taylor, with no paid sub, cannot even attempt to beat the initials now mocking him
Yea, that’d be annoying 
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I kinda hope this is a thing. Haha
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I’ll just stay in self imposed lockdown to prevent this.
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The COGS discussion of the connect kits (included or retrofit) seems to always miss the point that Stern also had to build and maintain an infrastructure on the backend.
Since the basic service with achievements and such things without the speculated “DLC” features is free, no additional revenue is generated from that.
And i would suspect that the majority of players initially won’t spring for the paid service, nor will the Operators if they don’t see a value add.
So i figure they added the cost of development, building infrastructure as well as a couple of years of maintenance at least somewhat into the cost in hopes the paid service part gains traction over time.
Otherwise i would agree that the cost for a QR code reader is minimal.
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Agreed. But they said they don’t want this to be a profit center. That’s where the discussion of the BOM came into play as that could be what we expect to pay for the retro fit stuff. I’m hoping they take a bath on the retro fit stuff to help encourage everyone to get them for all the spike 2 games that didn’t come with it. If they come out for 200-300, I doubt many sell.
They data they are getting from this should be valuable for them. That is what we are paying them for the servers and development and such. Out of the 3 entities involved (Stern, operator and player), I think this is most beneficial for Stern.
For both this and ScorBit achievements, I need the achievements to enhance the game for me to bother. Achievements like “battle and defeat the beast” mean nothing to me, I can already for for that and know if I have it or not (I have it).
What is interesting is things like defeat the beast in X breaking of defence, or in Y seconds. I don’t know if I have done those. It would give me something to try to push for next time I fight the beast. Of course it doesn’t need to be connected for those to happen, they could have added them already, but I am ok with this being the motivation to enhance older games.
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Fair point. Obviously i would love if they would sell the retrofit kit for 99$.
2 things:
Even if they don’t want to generate profits, people underestimate the initial and ongoing cost of such an infrastructure. Development appears to have been contracted out. Someone on Pinside found the company that apparently developed it for them. That is very expensive. Development hours can be several hundred dollars per, and it’s not a small project. And i doubt they have their own data center either.
Recouping the costs even partially in their mind for 200 or 300 bucks per kit i speculate is reasonable to them. Emphasis on speculate, since i have no insight whatsoever into their internals.
Look at prices for toppers and mods and they can’t produce the stuff quickly enough.
Ultimately though, i think it will become a profit center over time, not that that is a bad thing in my opinion.
It may not be in the first few years but i think over time, they are simply investing into the future.
Maybe in a few years they will offer a cashless option to operators where you pre purchase credits in an app for a percentage and such things.
Considering that people scream bloody murder at prices, pay walls and loot boxes and then turn around and participate anyway, Stern has to reason that newer players entering the hobby are already used to those models from other industries. I don’t think that is too far fetched.
But i do agree, that the speculated cost at those prices initially will hamper adoption to retrofit, but new machines will have it anyway.
All being said I’m excited since it adds a new layer that drives participation and is well established in other industries. I feel that people entering the hobby will have a higher adoption and participation rate than people who have been in it for extended periods of time.
Ultimately everyone has to decide and vote with their dollar.
As always this is just pure speculation and opinion.
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I’m in at $150 or under.
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Yeah I get it. That’s why I want them to be comfortable with having some sunk costs to start. Then see benefits down the road from DLC and all the data they are getting.
Just think about how useful it would be for games like Mando and how hard the encounters are. Stern would know right away that no one is completing it, and would work to make it a bit more doable for the player with updates. Like Ian said, that data analysis is being underestimated too.
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I’m not quite sure how they would directly monetize that data in a meaningful way.
The first thing that comes to mind is selling it, but the amount of people and the quantity and quality of data considered, I would surmise that’s negligible.
The next thing is, they could use it to drive development of rules and machines themselves to increase long term adoption and appeal, but I feel they have for that already everything available when they look at the used sales market and customer feedback.
I suppose it would be more concise and wouldn’t involve analyzing external data sources. Not sure if that warrants the cost though, especially given the cadence of new releases and the fact that locations have limited space - if machines keep earning for years as much as a new titles, that actually may discourage operators from buying new machines. They certainly can use the data to avoid future “WWEs” though. There is an interesting thread here about rule complexity where people are saying they are now too complex which contrasts the eternal complaint of “shoot just the blinking arrows”-like rule sets. But I digress…
I rather think they are positioning themselves for paid value add services down the road, going beyond the initial offerings of the Connected All Access / Pro. And I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.
That all being said, if adoption is low and they cannot find an avenue to monetize it in a meaningful way, or at least offset the costs long term it may just die on the vine and be pulled in a few years.
Again, pure speculation from my side.
Good point, I didn’t think about that - adjusting rules based on gathered telemetry even in the initial phase of a release to avoid rapid falloff of revenue for the operator.
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Dead Flip recently streamed the Pro version of Godzilla for the first time, and in the chat Jack revealed when Insider Connected will become accessible to the public:
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I wonder if the existing Stern Insider accounts automatically roll into the Insider Connected system.
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Nevermind, I just read the Stern of the Union release for October and it says that they will.
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