It's pretty easy for me to draw some parallels between what's happening with Skytrak, and some themes in one of my other favorite hobbies - pinball.
Yes, they still make pinball machines. They never stopped! There was one company that carried the torch after most major manufacturers ducked out in 1999. They're still in the game, and the only "real" pinball manufacturer in the world - Stern Pinball. The hobby has picked up some steam in the last 5 or so years, which is where some of the parallels begin to take shape...
There was an opening for competition, since Stern had operated since 2000 without any real competition at all. Jersey Jack Pinball was born, and made several promises - one of the most infamous being that their game would not ship without completed code (software). Code is integral to the machine, and one of the complaints many hobbyists shared about Stern Pinball - they would deliver games in a timely manner (no small feat), but failed to deliver games with completed code, meaning that consumers were playing buggy games with incoherent or boring rules. Every game is different, and the rules in a pinball machine can be surprisingly varied - learning the rules is hugely important to understanding that there's more to the game than preventing the ball from draining... but I digress..
Jersey Jack (JJP) announced that it would produce the Wizard of Oz as their first machine, and put together a seemingly realistic production schedule. People quickly parted ways with $7500 (or abouts) in order to gain a place in line. It ended up taking nearly 3 years to ship an actual game, and code took another 1.5 years to become adequate. You'd think they'd learn their lesson, but somewhere close to 3 years ago, they announced The Hobbit as their second game. They started taking preorder money for that game, well before anyone had received their Wizard of Oz machine... Bold. There have been several rumors about whether or not they have the money to complete The Hobbit, and to date, no one has received this title.
To understand why people would dish out this kind of money into something unproven, you really have to look no further than where we stand with Skytrak. People were ready to shake things up, there was excitement over creating competition in the market. Unfortunately, the burden of giving these companies a kickstart is often placed on the consumer. In pinball, things got much darker than what I've described above...
Besides JJP, there were other companies (or individuals) entering the arena near the same time. One of those was John Papaduik. He was a well-known designer at one of the companies that decided to pull out of pinball in the 99. He first announced one game, and took preorder money (somewhere near 10k each), then another game, and took more money, and then a 3rd game, and took more money. It was recently discovered that there was no way he could even deliver the first game, and it looks as though anyone that has money in on any of his games is out of luck. I believe they're exploring legal action now, but this scumbag is STILL accepting money from unsuspecting hobbyists, even after he had been outed. He plays dumb, though he may legitimately be stupid, that doesn't mean he's not a criminal.
Another one - there was a company started by a couple of young guys, and they planned on creating a Predator pinball. They eventually got all of their preorder money for a limited run of machines, but it was discovered that they never had the licensing approval.. It was also questionable whether they'd ever be able to fulfill their orders, even if the licensing had gone smoothly. This is another one that has disappeared with nearly a million dollars worth of money.
Another one... There's a company that popped up before all of the doomsday scenarios above. They promised to deliver a Big Lebowski pinball machine. It was a "grail" theme for me, so I actually jumped in on this one. They had promised delivery of the first games in Q2 2015. I gave them a little bit of time, but considering I had 8500 invested into this machine, my patience was wearing thin, particularly because of what was starting to happen to the other "boutique" pinball manufacturers. I waited to see the machine at the pinball expo in fall, and after seeing that not much progress had been made from the year before, I decided to pull out. I had a bad feeling about leaving my money in with an overseas company, and I regret ever getting in in the first place. This machine looks like it will eventually be delivered, but when is anybody's guess.
One good one to end it - Spooky Pinball threw their hat into the ring a little before the Big Lebowski guys. They were up front, and provided an ACTUAL realistic production schedule. Their games were reasonably priced (something like 6k, compared to others at 10k), and they were always up front with customers. They delivered all of their games (I'm pretty sure they're finishing up the last models now), and have announced their second pin - Rob Zombie. This is one of the few companies in the hobby that people trust, and for good reason.
Sorry for all of that, but I think it's interesting to see some stories from other hobbies. Stern still catches a lot of complaints about their code at release, but they've come a long way since some competition entered the hobby. Hopefully Skytrak will get a fire lit under them at some point, too..
Yes, they still make pinball machines. They never stopped! There was one company that carried the torch after most major manufacturers ducked out in 1999. They're still in the game, and the only "real" pinball manufacturer in the world - Stern Pinball. The hobby has picked up some steam in the last 5 or so years, which is where some of the parallels begin to take shape...
There was an opening for competition, since Stern had operated since 2000 without any real competition at all. Jersey Jack Pinball was born, and made several promises - one of the most infamous being that their game would not ship without completed code (software). Code is integral to the machine, and one of the complaints many hobbyists shared about Stern Pinball - they would deliver games in a timely manner (no small feat), but failed to deliver games with completed code, meaning that consumers were playing buggy games with incoherent or boring rules. Every game is different, and the rules in a pinball machine can be surprisingly varied - learning the rules is hugely important to understanding that there's more to the game than preventing the ball from draining... but I digress..
Jersey Jack (JJP) announced that it would produce the Wizard of Oz as their first machine, and put together a seemingly realistic production schedule. People quickly parted ways with $7500 (or abouts) in order to gain a place in line. It ended up taking nearly 3 years to ship an actual game, and code took another 1.5 years to become adequate. You'd think they'd learn their lesson, but somewhere close to 3 years ago, they announced The Hobbit as their second game. They started taking preorder money for that game, well before anyone had received their Wizard of Oz machine... Bold. There have been several rumors about whether or not they have the money to complete The Hobbit, and to date, no one has received this title.
To understand why people would dish out this kind of money into something unproven, you really have to look no further than where we stand with Skytrak. People were ready to shake things up, there was excitement over creating competition in the market. Unfortunately, the burden of giving these companies a kickstart is often placed on the consumer. In pinball, things got much darker than what I've described above...
Besides JJP, there were other companies (or individuals) entering the arena near the same time. One of those was John Papaduik. He was a well-known designer at one of the companies that decided to pull out of pinball in the 99. He first announced one game, and took preorder money (somewhere near 10k each), then another game, and took more money, and then a 3rd game, and took more money. It was recently discovered that there was no way he could even deliver the first game, and it looks as though anyone that has money in on any of his games is out of luck. I believe they're exploring legal action now, but this scumbag is STILL accepting money from unsuspecting hobbyists, even after he had been outed. He plays dumb, though he may legitimately be stupid, that doesn't mean he's not a criminal.
Another one - there was a company started by a couple of young guys, and they planned on creating a Predator pinball. They eventually got all of their preorder money for a limited run of machines, but it was discovered that they never had the licensing approval.. It was also questionable whether they'd ever be able to fulfill their orders, even if the licensing had gone smoothly. This is another one that has disappeared with nearly a million dollars worth of money.
Another one... There's a company that popped up before all of the doomsday scenarios above. They promised to deliver a Big Lebowski pinball machine. It was a "grail" theme for me, so I actually jumped in on this one. They had promised delivery of the first games in Q2 2015. I gave them a little bit of time, but considering I had 8500 invested into this machine, my patience was wearing thin, particularly because of what was starting to happen to the other "boutique" pinball manufacturers. I waited to see the machine at the pinball expo in fall, and after seeing that not much progress had been made from the year before, I decided to pull out. I had a bad feeling about leaving my money in with an overseas company, and I regret ever getting in in the first place. This machine looks like it will eventually be delivered, but when is anybody's guess.
One good one to end it - Spooky Pinball threw their hat into the ring a little before the Big Lebowski guys. They were up front, and provided an ACTUAL realistic production schedule. Their games were reasonably priced (something like 6k, compared to others at 10k), and they were always up front with customers. They delivered all of their games (I'm pretty sure they're finishing up the last models now), and have announced their second pin - Rob Zombie. This is one of the few companies in the hobby that people trust, and for good reason.
Sorry for all of that, but I think it's interesting to see some stories from other hobbies. Stern still catches a lot of complaints about their code at release, but they've come a long way since some competition entered the hobby. Hopefully Skytrak will get a fire lit under them at some point, too..
Comment