They should rename Pinball FX to Pinball EA. SURPRISE MECHANICS (MERCH): www.yongyea.com PATREON: www.patreon.com/yongyea TWITTER: twitter.com/yongyea TOP PATRONS [CIPHER] - Joseph Lavoie - Mick [BIG BOSS] - Coopster - Devon B - Jonathan Ball - Sarano [BOSS] - Charlie Galvin - Gerardo Andrade - Michael Redmond - Peter Vrba - Time Dragonlord [LEGENDARY] - BattleBladeWar - D Kurtti - TacoBell Call911 - Theron Webb
No. They’re just extremely desperate now since the current always online/live service model is collapsing so they’re just getting all they can before the next crash
I get its a business model to obviously make money, yeah i get it. But with how reviled this practice is and how people revolt against it so quick now with people like Yong and many others bringing attention to it, its just going to even more destroy their reputation. The DLC from prevous iterations was bad enough but passable, but this on the other hand won't go so well in my eyes. The math might add up on paper, in practice not so much these days.
As a fan of the pinball fx series, I knew a video of this was coming sooner or later. We needed this video to expose the bad decision that Zen Studios or their pencil pushing boss stands behind.
@@LazarheaD Kickbeat was cute, but custom songs were completely broken, which killed any replay the game had. Since the campaign was so short, despite being well made, that made it hard to recommend. I highly liked it, and was the world first to get a perfect combo on Kickbeat, but I understand why Zen didn't move forward with it either
@@ShinjiSixteen They're likely not going to move forward with their upcoming RPG game either. All Zen is known for these days is Pinball FX and their dumb anti-consumer decisions is what's gonna kill them if they don't roll them back
This is getting out of control. Even PINBALL FX!? Haven't played it since Xbox live Arcade on the Xbox 360 but I had a lot of fun at with the it back then. Seemed like such a simple little fun game to pass the time with. I can't believe MTX have made their way into a simple little arcade game.
Honestly it pisses me off so much. The amount of people that just don't listen to themselves or apply critical thought at all. Fucking sad state of humanity
@@taags Actually, execution is better. We can't let Natural Selection do its work when the permanent damage is set in like an extinction. Hunt the Poacher, Spare the Endangered
These people really piss me off. It's like people at work that are OK with working through lunch or breaks. They are ruining things for everyone else and they don't see through their own selfishness.
They talked about how this is the only way things can remain "sustainable". Protip: when the business model of an entire industry cannot be sustained without resorting to predatory anti-customer BS, maybe the solution is to change the model so that it's sustainable _without_ the predatory anti-customer BS. Instead, they choose to double down. This is exactly why the industry is destined for another '83-style crash eventually.
they were already dead when they didnt wanna release the table maker cause they want to sell you tables instead, which by the way are mostly just recreations of real life tables which is done better in another pinball game, then they got really lazy and did bare minimum for all the tables especially real life tables. the best tables they have are the originals and like the original 6 when like they realesed a full game as 6 tables, coincidence there i think not
@@MisterVercetti Agreed. I would rather they cool their jets, give us something that doesn't require a large team to "keep up with the Joneses (no pun on recent table intended)" but with a great emphasis on the gameplay and/or good artistic expression, and be able to deliver, with profit, on a more classic business model. If that means anything up to, including, not trying to go all ray-trace crazy and other things, I'm all for it. We've already reached the ability of great art direction a long while ago. It's probably why this past and current gen, a lot of Indie games have been winning me over.
Another day, another game shitting the bed with over-the-top microtransactions Never even heard of this one but it's another to add to the endless list
Right, like I've always wanted to play it just to turn my brain off with some casual pinball and all it's ever wanted to do was run my pockets. Like I don't even think you can play the game without paying for a "map?"
I found Pinball FX 3 to be fair priced. I loved the tables, enjoyed everyone (except shaman) for hours and hours, and paid exactly what they were priced. I dont feel scammed by that. Its a whole different story with the new PinballFX (which I'll boycot).
If they absolutely had to have microtransactions then they should've given all machines for free and only charge 25 cents for the starting 3 balls. They should've also given out a free ball every 10,000 points.
9 plays for 75 cents is a fairly decent price. It's one-to-one with most pinball machines in real life but the experience of the real thing is still superior.
I shouldn't even be surprised at what's monetized in video games anymore. Remember when you could just load up space pinball 3d on windows xp for free without having to worry about microtransactions?
Metalexile is why companies keep deciding to go this route. They _know_ that a non-zero number of their consumers will go along with them. They'll complain but open their wallets nonetheless.
the only thing you can do is step out of the train and hope that some company realizes there are a huge group of people standing at the station with their money. but it seems very few complainers are actually willing to stop buying games. otherwise the profit potential from those people by making normal games would be huge. atleast by looking at youtube it seems there are thousands of gamers who pretty much say "id like to boycot but the only reason i need to buy the game is because i need to review it" as it seems now in social media era everyone is a reviewer and that is their excuse for buying the games and even buying some microtransactions just so they can say how they are. even if they have just a few hundred or thousand followers
This. I've been ditching and avoiding Scamgames for years now. Is it hard sometimes? Sure. Is it impossible though? Hell no. Stop supporting those practices. You loose nothing and you gain a better chance at games not being miserable. With all respect: People who say "oh that's awful but I'll still bite the hook" are the worst. They need to grow a spine.
There's this 80-20 rule - 20% of customers pay 80% of profit. So they're not listening to the 80% of unhappy players, since they're generating almost no money. All MTX bs is aimed at whales.
@@kallemetsahalme5701 No reason to review those games. If the monetization is shit, why give the rest of the game the benefit of the doubt? And even if the game is good, why pay for it if the company is willing to put shit monetization in it? Which is why those reviewers, at least the ones free to choose their path, need to have their characters called into question as much as the companies' showrunners'. At least GT7's reviewers had the excuse of being ambushed.
Thanks for covering this man, a lot of ppl don't realize how great pinball can be. A lot of fans are really upset with what PinballFX is doing, but our voices can feel small. This coverage is great, keep it up!
@@Zeverinsen Or those that want nothing but to have a fun time playing games. When the Acti-Blizz scandal started gaining traction last year one of us in my friend group decided to bring this up to a few of us that still played WoW (I used to play but stop because of shit content). The response he got from one of them was literally, "Heh, it's a matter of opinion." There are also those, few of which I've seen in Yong's comments, that straight up said they don't give a shit, as long as they have fun with their games.
Company: "We're listening to the silent few!" Silent few: *Shakes head* They only listen to people who're conveinent for them and when there's none, they'll turn to "the silent few." What a sham.
Bro every single time I see a pinball game on ps4 or pc, I think to myself "yeah that would be a fun time killer" and then I see the dlc list for 2/3 of the game and I go "Oh no" Now? Bro they just killed their game permanently
LOL, yeah that literally happened to me two days ago. I had an itch to play some pinball, saw I had Pinball FX 3 in my steam Library. I don't even remember how I got it. Installed it, saw the first table was Indiana Jones, lost all my balls and the popup said thanks for trying the table. I went WHAT, you want to tell me they want me to buy every one of these tables to actually play them???? I uninstalled it right there and then. Again I knew nothing about this game, so I came in blind and a bat when I played it. NEVER again.
@@freack3333 You buy individual tables or triple packs. No need to buy EVERY table! Indiana Jones is shockingly priced due to it being the India Jones licence. Avoid it. I recommend the Bethesda or Alien packs. They're like $10 I think. You get Doom/Fallout/Skyrim or Aliens/AvP/Alien Isolation Great tables. $10 isn't bad for 3 tables. Also, you typically should wait for a sale. Lots of packs go on sales. Winter, summer, spring sales they'll often do 50%+ off tables and table packs.
Pinball is great, and I was surprised to learn that every element on a table has its own name. Lanes that go around the outside are called orbits for example.
Pinball is extremely fun! It's more than just "luck".. alot of quick reflexes that require practice. Nudging the table is just as important as activating flippers. Learning the different combos to unlock and activate specials on tables is enjoyable as heck! If you want to get into it, you don't need to look at the new Pinball FX. Just pick up Pinball FX3 and the Williams/Bally packs and look at Zaccaria Pinball for the most accurate and realistic physics in pinball.
If there's anything I'd recommend to a newbie trying to get into pinball, it's to stick with older tables at first. Newer ones are designed with collectors and enthusiasts in mind; as such, their rulesets tend to be extremely convoluted and confusing, enough so to turn a potential newcomer to the genre away. Older tables have much simpler designs and are considerably easier to follow and understand as a result. As far as I've found, the 90s is the absolute sweet spot for tables that are complex enough to be fun and interesting to play, but not so much so that they become impenetrable and frustrating to all but diehards.
@@MisterVercetti The downside to a lot of '90s tables is that they tend to have inflated score values for the sakes of coming off as "advanced" and trying to make novices feel like pros, complicating comparisons with older tables from a pure score perspective.
@@GODSPEEDseven Every little bit of physics matters, from where you launch the ball off a flipper to the ball's velocity, to whether the ball is on the flipper or at a distance from it and how much thereof, and even the speed of the flip and the ball's movement during the flip are important. And that's just the actual flipping aspect.
Wow! Didn't think this was going to be covered here to be honest.. glad it is! Pretty big pinball fan here. This new Pinball FX isn't worth it so far and is a microtransaction-ridden gimmick. I uninstalled it after trying it; their "new" old tables don't have the physics right and don't play much different than the old Pinball FX3 tables (floaty, physics-free balls). I won't dish out a single penny to buy all the same tables I already have again just for new extra visual fx. No thanks! And having to buy tickets to buy tables and gimmicky decorations? NOPE! I'm out. RIP Pinball FX.
I'm calling it now. Step 1: make stupid decision. Step 2: get lots of free press Step 3: "listen" to fan feedback and reverse stupid decision Step 4: Look like good guy for "listening" to fan feedback Step 5: Profit Don't fall for it everyone.
People have already been calling them out with their Apple Arcade scheme in the past. As for whether or not it's been effective, probably not, because they've instead double down on the Apple Arcade.
I absolutely love the break down of the history of pinball in general. Let alone of course the info you are giving so far. Thanks Yong For your Content But Thank You! For Being You
I was into Pinball when I was younger (and still am on the rare occasion I visit a classic arcade), but dang I had no idea it could go to these kinds of lengths.
Pinball FX has had shit monetization for a decade now. Just look at how they sell individual tables in all their apps and games on all consoles/mobile device markets
@@zynet_eseled They had compilation versions but we're like $30+. Marvel Pinball Collection Vol.1 had like 15 tables and was $30/40 Star Wars Pinball has 20 tables and is about $30 too.
@@durrclips746 stupid. I think that comps should reflect a deal value. Like, 8 for a couple dollars is a good value. 12 for 4$ and maybe 20 for 7. That's fair imo
"Everyone loves our games and monitization!" after cherry picking 2 positive comments from their pile of thousands of negative comments. If they are going to lie, lie better then peter molyneux and todd howard.
I’m 41 am I’m so glad that I’ve have a great time in my life gaming, but this new age of gamers gonna have it hard. But a lot of people (younger) like this crap and that’s why it’s here 🤦🏽♂️ I’m so glad that I buy single great games like eldenring,horizon etc. I feel bad for the future of gamers going forward.
Dude, Fifa and PGA golf has already been there for years. Hasn't stopped most idiots buying these monstrosities. I'm so tired of this bullcrap now - I haven't bought any new games in months.....
@@douglochery8641 I think FIFA is the worst of them all. Like how EA was caught copy-pasting THE SAME GAME, then just changing the the title in which year it perceived as, yet people still buy it anyway. People that buys those garbage deserved to get robbed by corporations. No wonder a lot of these publishers are getting aggressive with how games/products are monetized, cause people are idiots and buys these awful trash.
Thank you so much for making this to bring awareness to the issue. I was literally thinking the last week that man it would be amazing if you shined a light on this otherwise they will prob get away with it ( and still might ) I’ve bought every table before this on PlayStation and switch and a bunch on my Mac and they just spit in my face . Thank you for helping the community have a voice
Thank you so much for addressing this. Been playing ever since Zen Pinball on ps3. A few tables didn’t make the cut due to licenses, but we could all import our purchased tables we had in our collection for years into FX3. There’s absolutely no reason for Zen Studios not to apply the same for Pinball FX outside of course, $$$.
Oof! I got introduced to PinballFX back when it was available as Zen Pinball on PS3. I did repurchase a few tables on Steam just have them on PC. It would have been nice to add to the collection when cool tables came out. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
NGL, after seeing the news that Saber Interactive bought Zen Studios, it’s already clear in who’s pulling the strings. Also, even though it is them responsible, let’s not forget WHOM agreed to have the studio be bought by and it’s no doubt the members in charge of Zen Studios agreed to this. Something tells me that Zen Studios lost all senses of compassion and sold their souls to the devil, which is Saber Interactive. So, not only is Saber already destroying the company, but man, it is sad to say that Zen Studios chose money over fans. Such a disappointment since I love the pinball themes on FX3. Oh well, guess this new year will be what other company will betray the consumers by being converted to greed or sell their company to another greedy company for money.
Thanks for covering this. I'm a big fan of digital pinball and was so upset and angry to see Pinball FX go down this route. I feared it would go unchallenged due to the small community, so I'm glad larger youtubers are criticizing these scummy practices.
The whole “we need to optimize premium currency” thing got me to laugh because it’s such a blatant lie because you don’t need effectively a AI to optimize exchange rates to be the most fair to the players. It’s more likely that system is going to be used to to make their monetization more egregious.
Im suprised your covering this. I cut my ties with them when they became a epic exclusive when i own all tables from fx3 on steam. They pissed me off to no end. Will not ever get money from me, and thats saying something because pinball is already niche. So if they cant win over pinball fans...
That doesn't even matter if it weren't an exclusive. I own FX3 on PS4 and switched over to PS5. Now PFX comes out a few days ago, which is both for ps4 and ps5 but all your tables on FX3 stays there. Its BS. Now that its out, they have "Coins" their own MTX, its awful.
I've been a pinball fan for most of my 43 years. I loved playing Pinball Arcade, and took part of Crowd Funding to get the license for some tables. Then they lost the licenses to the big brands to the Pinball FX brand. I owned all versions (1, 2 & 3), with all tables, and also bought the VR versions. After hearing what they are planning on doing with this, I decided to not support them this time around. I'll settle for the games I already have, or the alternatives that are out there.
I feel the same way. Believe it or not, after these announcements I fired up an Amiga and went back to playing Pinball Dreams and Pinball fantasies. If I'm going to play with crappy physics I'm at least going to do it without data mining and MtX strategies. Forgot how much I loved those games :-)
I have an arcade bar near where I live, and every time I go there, the pinball room is by far the busiest. Same goes with an annual arcade expo that my city has; it has everything from classic arcade games to retro consoles, but the pinball tables always have the biggest crowds. As someone who's been fascinated by pinball ever since I was a little kid, it warms my heart to see it making such a roaring comeback.
Well Yong, I'm a player of FX pinball for some time now, and i think most of the changes are great, In fact I don't think there's any greed in those choices, most of them will greatly improve the Nah I'm just shitting you all
Epic exclusive = not only no buy, but entire developer/publisher (whoever made the decision, in this case Zen Studios) = permanent boycott. Welcome to my list. Although looking through their back catalog, looks like a bunch of mobile shit, so no great loss.
I believe these companies are seeing a combination of inflation going up and the economy technically improving in certain parameters, and are under a wildly false assumption that because of these two things, people must have more money to spend- and thus price hikes are just keeping up with all the money people are making. I assure them that most of us do not, in fact, have more money.
I miss Pokemon Pinball, it was the only pinball game I cared about outside of actual pinball machines (though I do want to play Metroid Prime: Pinball)
I loved Pokémon Pinball (GBC) and Pokémon Pinball Ruby/Saphire (GBA). I started with Kirby's Pinball Land. I thought Mario Pinball (GBA) Had weird physics, but was still somewhat fun. Metroid Prime: Pinball was fun at times, but was kind of weak on replaying, but was the first rumble game on the DS... before the GBA slot was removed on the DSi. It's been a long while since a Nintendo Pinball game has come out...
Paradox did this bullshit too with the mobile version of Knights of Pen and Paper II. Full game was $5.99 and they updated the shit to reset everyone's progress to zero and force them to gain progress that was originally unlockable for free through micro transactions.
I used to love Pinball FX, but their microtransactions have been getting shittier and shittier for years. I gave up on it a long time ago when they wanted me to keep rebuying tables I owned before and just started pumping out a ton of crappy Marvel-themed tables. Sad to see but not a surprise.
I LOVE Pinball. Playing on the "free play" machines in my church's youth room was a huge part of my childhood. But yea Pinball FXs business model already made sure i stay the heck away from it. And this only made it significantly worse.
Man... this is heartbreaking. I'm a big fan of pinball games and Pinball FX3 reinvigorated my nostalgia for an era gone by, since I don't live near arcades and most of the ones I visited went out of business. I just don't feel like driving out into parts unknown to play some tables or finding these games again, so like a good emulator like MAME/Fightcade I was happy Pinball FX3 came around. Pinball Arcade lost their Williams/Bally license so that sucked, and Virtual Pinball is so-so. Blows my mind that for how it went for Ubisoft and anyone else, these companies would take a moment to be like, "Hm, maybe this isn't a good idea," but it just feels more like, "Feedback? What's that even mean, bro? Let's do it anyway!"
Just stick to FX3. That game is still decent. Show them with your wallet. Don't give them more money. The new FX doesn't even offer anything worth "upgrading" for.
"I have learned one thing in life: there is no such thing as bad press. There is not. That's a fundamental truth. The more bad things said about you, the more power they give to you." ~ John McAfee
Thank you Yong for doing this story on “Pinball FX”, I didn’t know that a new version of the game was coming out. Now I am a long time player of these games(having played FX 1-3). I also own all the tables for FX 3 as well. To buy all those tables having them bundled is what makes them affordable to buy since there are over 100 tables in the game. Having bought all of them at a discount I might add I have probably spent around $80-100 over the years getting all the tables. Them not allowing the transfer of those tables to the new game is just a middle finger in the face to all the people that play this game own all the tables. Last thing is if you want to make the tables cross platform playable just make everyone that owns tables make a Zen account that you can link your account from the platform that you own all the tables on and pow you can now play on all platform with your tables. A subscription service for this game at that price is completely absurd. No one wants to pay a subscription to play pinball machines just buy them so you can play them whenever without having a monthly sub price looming over your head. This without a doubt is them being super greedy and shitty to there player base. Now I need to get back to playing “Pinball FX3” I want to shake the machines since I am annoyed so much from this. Lol
glad to see this get more attention. im not big on pinball scene but all companies deserved to be called out for scummy practices, no matter how big or small they may be
I wonder why everithing is going to microtransactions and live services... is it for the nature of being a publicly traded company? like 10 years ago it was just some games but man now at days everything is monetized.... is just pure greed or literally every company has to put this to not get sued by investors? sad times man...
man, space cadet of good old windows xp actually had like a noticeable progression, lighting up the yellow lights was used to like "upgrade" lasers which changed the colors of the mushroom looking things, and one of the ramp thingies lead towards a refuelling station that you had to hit every so often it's really sad to hear that a game as niche as pinball is getting destroyed this badly
Tragic. One of the true niceties about the move from FX2 to FX3 on my Xbone was the fact that my FX2 table library carried over into FX3 without so much as a single new purchase. That sort of thing goes a long way toward building goodwill, but that same goodwill is very easily lost through moves like this.
@@MisterVercetti and unfortunately, people who are deluded into parasocial white-knighting relationships with corporations who don't care about them seems to be a growing breed
People like this are the single largest problem with the gaming industry. Why do big game publishers continue to double and triple down on the predatory, anti-consumer BS? Because people like this chump enable it. That's why I've given myself a new policy: if it contains predatory microtransactions and/or subscriptions, I don't buy it. Period. I don't care if it's from a franchise or studio I've supported for decades. I don't care if it looks like the best game ever made. The moment I see this garbage, my decision not to purchase the game is final. It's the only way this $#!+ is going to stop.
Player (On Epic Games): I have a question! Zen: In the future we'll answer that! Player (on console): What about this bug? Zen: In the future we'll answer that! IGN: Zen studio shuts down after making no head way or profit since their controversial change Zen: In the future we'll answer that!
Every time I see a question dodged, I would love to see reporters begin to say, "That's great, but [Re-ask same question]?" I know that interviewers generally don't do that for fear of shutting down the rest of the interview prematurely, but damn would I love to see scumbags squirm in recorded interviews.
@@Antaiseito again, as someone who wishes for that, I understand why an interviewer would not want to do that. An interviewer who's out for blood when they know that this BS is happening can continue to ask heavy hitting questions to sweat something more juicy or at least show the public that a person isn't to be trusted.
This is what happens when you attempt to apply mobile pricing models to a PC release. The community should flat out not buy this game due to their obvious fleecing mechanics. I wouldn't be surprised if an indie dev steps in and makes a pinball game
I used to be HUGELY invested in the Pinball FX and Zen Pinball series. Those games, FX in particular, are love letters to the arcade scene. Every table you get comes with descriptions of the historical significance of each machine, what features were introduced in each one and how it revolutionized the game, things like that, as well as the promotional material that companies would send to arcades to convince them to buy their tables. And, yes, it was the best-feeling pinball physics I'd seen in game-form. But, just like with the recent Gran Turismo 7 shitshow taking a beloved sim franchise that pays tribute to its origin being ruined due to sheer unabashed greed, Zen is looking to do the same thing. I really hope they get a huge kick in the ass over it and never pull a stunt like this again.
It's hilarious they think they can charge the same price as Gamepass for a subscription to a pinball game. It's not like it costs a ton of money (compared to video games in general) to create new pinball tables. Pure greed at work.
Up until last year...i have purchased every single table probably over 10 years now. Been there since the start. Its the best pinball game you can get...but over the years i have seem the greed go up and up and up. So when i had seen indy jones table at £14, im done. Im not purchasing all the upgrades...why should i. I have it on wiiu ps3 ps4 and switch, i already had to purchase them all again to have them on switch on the go. Not a chance im upgrading to ps5 and repurchase again. Also they went the route of multiplayer that decreases over time if you dont play daily. Dont these companies understand..we have hundreds of games to play. Its egotistical to think we are going to sit on one game.
I love pinball! The physicality of it makes it way better than any video game. I'm fortunate enough to live near a big pinball arcade, so I get it if most people don't understand what I'm talking about.
Well,the option could be to ONLY buy new tables. And keep playing the old ones on the system one have them installed on. (The have not removed any ability to play the games one already have installed. On pbfx 2 or 3). Either way I agree that this is Greed.. Nothing else.
It is time to make all purchasable ingame currencies illegal. Get rid of all coins, tickets, credits, GTAdollar or whatever they're called in games. Every single ingame purchase should require a clear real-life currency (dollar, euros, pounds etc.), in order to avoid this whole shady mismatching currency value bullshit. No longer would an item be sold at 40 "tickets" when you can only buy them in 100-ticket amounts, for example. This shit is making money by simply stealing a few dollars and cents from every single customer, having leftovers in their accounts that they cannot spend on anything until they pay for the next credit bundle.
Any game that does Epic exclusivity, whoever made the decision (developer or publisher) - permanent boycott. In the case of Metro Exodus, the developers were against it, but the publisher (Deep Silver) did it anyway. That resulted in Deep Silver being permanently boycotted...if a game has their name on it, I will only play it via piracy. But I don't hold 4A responsible since it wasn't their decision, if they release something with a different publisher I'd still play it. Take Two has also done Epic exclusivity, so entire publisher is boycotted, I passed on a few good games because of it, but morals are more important than games. When Crytek did it, I boycotted the developer itself, so I will never play another Crytek game. Moon Studios (who made the Ori games - excellent developer) is making an action RPG of some sort, but it's published by Private Division (who was responsible for Outer Worlds, and is also a subsidiary of Take Two anyway), so I will not be buying it no matter how good the game is. I am not at this time boycotting Unreal Engine itself...if a developer uses Unreal and doesn't do Epic exclusivity, I'm still ok with it. It wouldn't surprise me if Epic tries to tie the engine to their store in the future though...IF that happens, I won't be playing ANY more Unreal Engine games. If I have to, I would quit gaming rather than support this shit. There will always be indie games that avoid this though, and Nintendo wouldn't do Epic exclusives either.
@@Blood-PawWerewolf Really informative. Zen Studios has now been added to my permanent boycott list...I wasn't aware of them before. Going through their history though, I'd say this is no great loss, looks like most of their catalog is mobile shit anyway.
My boyfriend doesn’t play video games, not into it, but he will play pinball. I tried yokus island express, I was miserable at it, he offered to help, and played for 6 hours, it was awesome to bond that way. I’m sad it’ll be harder to share this fun with him after this story. Have fun while you can folks 😞
I absolutely HATE when companies do this entire "premium currency" bullshit. I don't know if you guys know, but some companies even hires special people to price those virtual items so that you will always have some spare currency after purchase, so that you may want to buy additional pack of tickets/gems/whatever. I wonder how would it work in the real world. "Good morning, i'd like that bread for 2 dollars". "Emm no you have o spend 4.50 on 45 tickes, bread costs 20". "But that would leave me with 25 tickets". "Well you can buy more tickets and purchase our premium soda for 30 tickets" "But that would leave me with more tick--" "OR OUR NEW GROCERY PASS!"
@Confusion personified. Same. I have a friend of mine who loved Pinball FX 3. I looked at it, briefly played the portal table but that's far as I was interested in. Plus, Demon's Tilt scratches a rare itch in occult themed pinball games in English. For example, a lot of good SNES pinball games and even on the Dreamcast were only released in Japan.
I love Pinball. It is so fun that I have always wanted to buy a full Pinball machine but they are expensive and loud. I have bought Pinball games before, but never encountered the FX games. Now I am kinda glad at that, I couldn't be back stabbed like the FX fan base has been.
They should rename Pinball FX to Pinball EA.
SURPRISE MECHANICS (MERCH): www.yongyea.com
PATREON: www.patreon.com/yongyea
TWITTER: twitter.com/yongyea
TOP PATRONS
[CIPHER]
- Joseph Lavoie
- Mick
[BIG BOSS]
- Coopster
- Devon B
- Jonathan Ball
- Sarano
[BOSS]
- Charlie Galvin
- Gerardo Andrade
- Michael Redmond
- Peter Vrba
- Time Dragonlord
[LEGENDARY]
- BattleBladeWar
- D Kurtti
- TacoBell Call911
- Theron Webb
This. So much this.
Pin...Ball...Game
Take-Two Balls
Yes this should be called "Pinball EA"
They should have called it Pinhead, FU!
YongYea has the remarkable ability to calmly make me mad at a game in a genre I really haven't gotten into.
I've never thought about it but I would've said that pinball game on winXP was the only digital pinball in existence....
@@OkieDokieSmokie fuck I miss those days. 90s rocked lol
@@OkieDokieSmokie Space Cadet, or some shit. Played it every time I went to my grandma's haha.
I'll give him bonus points for being consistent, no matter the game when it comes to microtransactions
@@meligoth absolutely. I wouldn't watch him otherwise.
Honestly its like these companies WANT us to hate them. So out of touch its insane
No. They’re just extremely desperate now since the current always online/live service model is collapsing so they’re just getting all they can before the next crash
When you actually realize 'out of touch' is they way managers learned economics. If the math adds up, no matter how scummy, how nonsense, you do it.
I get its a business model to obviously make money, yeah i get it. But with how reviled this practice is and how people revolt against it so quick now with people like Yong and many others bringing attention to it, its just going to even more destroy their reputation. The DLC from prevous iterations was bad enough but passable, but this on the other hand won't go so well in my eyes. The math might add up on paper, in practice not so much these days.
@@Blood-PawWerewolf "Single-player is dying" -someone once said. It didn't aged well
@@sandcrakes “single player is dying” but only for AAA games.
As a fan of the pinball fx series, I knew a video of this was coming sooner or later. We needed this video to expose the bad decision that Zen Studios or their pencil pushing boss stands behind.
I just want another KickBeat...
@@LazarheaD Kickbeat was cute, but custom songs were completely broken, which killed any replay the game had. Since the campaign was so short, despite being well made, that made it hard to recommend. I highly liked it, and was the world first to get a perfect combo on Kickbeat, but I understand why Zen didn't move forward with it either
@@ShinjiSixteen They're likely not going to move forward with their upcoming RPG game either. All Zen is known for these days is Pinball FX and their dumb anti-consumer decisions is what's gonna kill them if they don't roll them back
I have a son with autism who loved this game and the pricing has been obscene for a long time. Thank God he's not hooked on it anymore
This is getting out of control. Even PINBALL FX!? Haven't played it since Xbox live Arcade on the Xbox 360 but I had a lot of fun at with the it back then. Seemed like such a simple little fun game to pass the time with. I can't believe MTX have made their way into a simple little arcade game.
"went to early access on the Epic Games Store" is a hell of a way to start any trainwreck
It’s how you know a company’s main priority is money
@@tuerry - Yes, so fuck Remedy.
@@michaelmonstar4276 Remedy? Control was published by 505.
My thoughts exactly. Every game that has any deal with Epic is already a game I dislike and a publisher I despise.
@@NicolasREVA7X satisfactory?
“I’m going to be there buying these on day one, but man, you’re going to upset people.”
Yeah, bro, you’re why these companies do this crap.
Honestly it pisses me off so much. The amount of people that just don't listen to themselves or apply critical thought at all. Fucking sad state of humanity
People like that should be put in jail.
@@taags Actually, execution is better. We can't let Natural Selection do its work when the permanent damage is set in like an extinction.
Hunt the Poacher, Spare the Endangered
These people really piss me off. It's like people at work that are OK with working through lunch or breaks. They are ruining things for everyone else and they don't see through their own selfishness.
@@khashoggiship And usually the same people that sabotage any attempt at improving conditions or pay.
Ah the classic, "We are creating a system to deal with the problem we created out of greed." Anytime a company does that, they are just dead to me.
They talked about how this is the only way things can remain "sustainable".
Protip: when the business model of an entire industry cannot be sustained without resorting to predatory anti-customer BS, maybe the solution is to change the model so that it's sustainable _without_ the predatory anti-customer BS. Instead, they choose to double down. This is exactly why the industry is destined for another '83-style crash eventually.
they were already dead when they didnt wanna release the table maker cause they want to sell you tables instead, which by the way are mostly just recreations of real life tables which is done better in another pinball game, then they got really lazy and did bare minimum for all the tables especially real life tables. the best tables they have are the originals and like the original 6 when like they realesed a full game as 6 tables, coincidence there i think not
Agreed.
@@MisterVercetti Agreed. I would rather they cool their jets, give us something that doesn't require a large team to "keep up with the Joneses (no pun on recent table intended)" but with a great emphasis on the gameplay and/or good artistic expression, and be able to deliver, with profit, on a more classic business model. If that means anything up to, including, not trying to go all ray-trace crazy and other things, I'm all for it. We've already reached the ability of great art direction a long while ago. It's probably why this past and current gen, a lot of Indie games have been winning me over.
"No need for such a system, we already have one in place, it's called not buying your products and spreading the word ^_^"
Another day, another game shitting the bed with over-the-top microtransactions
Never even heard of this one but it's another to add to the endless list
A tale as old as time.
"People are still playing our games all these years later" so obviously that means it's time to do everything we can to stop that going forward.
Pinball has been getting away with microtransactions and scammy stuff for years
I always seen it in store but never wanted to buy it because it was screaming micro transactions
Right, like I've always wanted to play it just to turn my brain off with some casual pinball and all it's ever wanted to do was run my pockets. Like I don't even think you can play the game without paying for a "map?"
I found Pinball FX 3 to be fair priced. I loved the tables, enjoyed everyone (except shaman) for hours and hours, and paid exactly what they were priced. I dont feel scammed by that.
Its a whole different story with the new PinballFX (which I'll boycot).
If they absolutely had to have microtransactions then they should've given all machines for free and only charge 25 cents for the starting 3 balls. They should've also given out a free ball every 10,000 points.
9 plays for 75 cents is a fairly decent price. It's one-to-one with most pinball machines in real life but the experience of the real thing is still superior.
I shouldn't even be surprised at what's monetized in video games anymore. Remember when you could just load up space pinball 3d on windows xp for free without having to worry about microtransactions?
The good ol' days.
What a time to be alive!
@@666slateran666 no one cares if no one is suprised its still shittey thing to do.
Pepperidge farms remembers
Even that was a demo that no one knew about.
Full Tilt Pinball is what you're looking for.
Metalexile is why companies keep deciding to go this route. They _know_ that a non-zero number of their consumers will go along with them. They'll complain but open their wallets nonetheless.
the only thing you can do is step out of the train and hope that some company realizes there are a huge group of people standing at the station with their money.
but it seems very few complainers are actually willing to stop buying games. otherwise the profit potential from those people by making normal games would be huge.
atleast by looking at youtube it seems there are thousands of gamers who pretty much say "id like to boycot but the only reason i need to buy the game is because i need to review it" as it seems now in social media era everyone is a reviewer and that is their excuse for buying the games and even buying some microtransactions just so they can say how they are. even if they have just a few hundred or thousand followers
This. I've been ditching and avoiding Scamgames for years now. Is it hard sometimes? Sure. Is it impossible though? Hell no. Stop supporting those practices. You loose nothing and you gain a better chance at games not being miserable.
With all respect: People who say "oh that's awful but I'll still bite the hook" are the worst. They need to grow a spine.
There's this 80-20 rule - 20% of customers pay 80% of profit. So they're not listening to the 80% of unhappy players, since they're generating almost no money. All MTX bs is aimed at whales.
@@kallemetsahalme5701 No reason to review those games. If the monetization is shit, why give the rest of the game the benefit of the doubt? And even if the game is good, why pay for it if the company is willing to put shit monetization in it? Which is why those reviewers, at least the ones free to choose their path, need to have their characters called into question as much as the companies' showrunners'. At least GT7's reviewers had the excuse of being ambushed.
@@CarbonRollerCaco That's easy for us to say, because it's not our job.
Thanks for covering this man, a lot of ppl don't realize how great pinball can be. A lot of fans are really upset with what PinballFX is doing, but our voices can feel small. This coverage is great, keep it up!
The AAA game industry is such a nightmare hellworld that they can't even release a simple pinball game without overloading it with microtransactions.
I still remember all those prats constantly saying "if you don't like it you don't have to buy it"
To be fair, not buying something is the only way to get the message across anymore
@@NightMotorcyclist That's easier said than done because of the sunk cost fallacy, minors, addiction and people who just aren't in the know.
@@Zeverinsen Or those that want nothing but to have a fun time playing games.
When the Acti-Blizz scandal started gaining traction last year one of us in my friend group decided to bring this up to a few of us that still played WoW (I used to play but stop because of shit content). The response he got from one of them was literally, "Heh, it's a matter of opinion." There are also those, few of which I've seen in Yong's comments, that straight up said they don't give a shit, as long as they have fun with their games.
Company: "We're listening to the silent few!"
Silent few: *Shakes head*
They only listen to people who're conveinent for them and when there's none, they'll turn to "the silent few."
What a sham.
As if the "silent" ones are necessarily all on board with corpo crap.
Pinball FX OG's: there should be a discount for the people who previously own content from the original.
FIFA OG players: first time?
The modern gaming industry: “We hear you-just don’t mistake it for us caring.”
😂👍
Bro every single time I see a pinball game on ps4 or pc, I think to myself "yeah that would be a fun time killer" and then I see the dlc list for 2/3 of the game and I go "Oh no"
Now? Bro they just killed their game permanently
LOL, yeah that literally happened to me two days ago. I had an itch to play some pinball, saw I had Pinball FX 3 in my steam Library. I don't even remember how I got it. Installed it, saw the first table was Indiana Jones, lost all my balls and the popup said thanks for trying the table. I went WHAT, you want to tell me they want me to buy every one of these tables to actually play them????
I uninstalled it right there and then. Again I knew nothing about this game, so I came in blind and a bat when I played it. NEVER again.
@@freack3333 the platform is a free download, so that’s why you have it and no content. What exactly is the outrage here?
@@freack3333 You buy individual tables or triple packs. No need to buy EVERY table!
Indiana Jones is shockingly priced due to it being the India Jones licence. Avoid it.
I recommend the Bethesda or Alien packs. They're like $10 I think. You get Doom/Fallout/Skyrim or Aliens/AvP/Alien Isolation
Great tables. $10 isn't bad for 3 tables. Also, you typically should wait for a sale. Lots of packs go on sales. Winter, summer, spring sales they'll often do 50%+ off tables and table packs.
Where's space pinball when you need it!
Dead because of MTX 🤣
Lol back in 1998 where it belongs
@@steverobinson5048 it came out with XP in 2000…
@@ElZamo92 LMAO
@@ElZamo92 ya my point exactly. Tht sht older than I am 😂
so glad you took the time to cover this one yong. more people need to see what zen studios is doing to their game. it's really sad.
Pinball is great, and I was surprised to learn that every element on a table has its own name. Lanes that go around the outside are called orbits for example.
Pinball is extremely fun! It's more than just "luck".. alot of quick reflexes that require practice. Nudging the table is just as important as activating flippers. Learning the different combos to unlock and activate specials on tables is enjoyable as heck!
If you want to get into it, you don't need to look at the new Pinball FX. Just pick up Pinball FX3 and the Williams/Bally packs and look at Zaccaria Pinball for the most accurate and realistic physics in pinball.
If there's anything I'd recommend to a newbie trying to get into pinball, it's to stick with older tables at first. Newer ones are designed with collectors and enthusiasts in mind; as such, their rulesets tend to be extremely convoluted and confusing, enough so to turn a potential newcomer to the genre away. Older tables have much simpler designs and are considerably easier to follow and understand as a result. As far as I've found, the 90s is the absolute sweet spot for tables that are complex enough to be fun and interesting to play, but not so much so that they become impenetrable and frustrating to all but diehards.
@@MisterVercetti The downside to a lot of '90s tables is that they tend to have inflated score values for the sakes of coming off as "advanced" and trying to make novices feel like pros, complicating comparisons with older tables from a pure score perspective.
@@GODSPEEDseven Every little bit of physics matters, from where you launch the ball off a flipper to the ball's velocity, to whether the ball is on the flipper or at a distance from it and how much thereof, and even the speed of the flip and the ball's movement during the flip are important. And that's just the actual flipping aspect.
What surprised me is all the anti-cheese stuff. Like spikes on the bottom of the machines to stab any hands that try to smack them
18:59 Kirk: "It's not sustainable."😭
21:02 Kirk: "We're doing well." 😎👍
Well, Captain...
WHICH ONE IS IT NOW??
Wow! Didn't think this was going to be covered here to be honest.. glad it is!
Pretty big pinball fan here. This new Pinball FX isn't worth it so far and is a microtransaction-ridden gimmick.
I uninstalled it after trying it; their "new" old tables don't have the physics right and don't play much different than the old Pinball FX3 tables (floaty, physics-free balls). I won't dish out a single penny to buy all the same tables I already have again just for new extra visual fx.
No thanks!
And having to buy tickets to buy tables and gimmicky decorations?
NOPE!
I'm out. RIP Pinball FX.
I'm calling it now.
Step 1: make stupid decision.
Step 2: get lots of free press
Step 3: "listen" to fan feedback and reverse stupid decision
Step 4: Look like good guy for "listening" to fan feedback
Step 5: Profit
Don't fall for it everyone.
People have already been calling them out with their Apple Arcade scheme in the past. As for whether or not it's been effective, probably not, because they've instead double down on the Apple Arcade.
I've been following zen long enough to know that's not the case 😂 they're actually just bad
I absolutely love the break down of the history of pinball in general. Let alone of course the info you are giving so far. Thanks Yong
For your Content
But Thank You!
For Being
You
That what I like about Yong, he gives breakdowns instead of just rushing out 10 minute videos for ad revenue.
@@iaqh sometimes he does ramble tho, 20+ minute videos for something that can be said in 8
I was into Pinball when I was younger (and still am on the rare occasion I visit a classic arcade), but dang I had no idea it could go to these kinds of lengths.
Pinball FX has had shit monetization for a decade now.
Just look at how they sell individual tables in all their apps and games on all consoles/mobile device markets
It would be better to buy table packs. Like, 12 tables for 4$. That is a very good deal
Sure. But at least you could transfer most of your content from one game to the next iteration. Now, they've crossed that line.
@@zynet_eseled that’s what I do because it’s comparable to arcade visit spends
@@zynet_eseled They had compilation versions but we're like $30+.
Marvel Pinball Collection Vol.1 had like 15 tables and was $30/40
Star Wars Pinball has 20 tables and is about $30 too.
@@durrclips746 stupid. I think that comps should reflect a deal value. Like, 8 for a couple dollars is a good value. 12 for 4$ and maybe 20 for 7. That's fair imo
"Everyone loves our games and monitization!" after cherry picking 2 positive comments from their pile of thousands of negative comments.
If they are going to lie, lie better then peter molyneux and todd howard.
I’m 41 am I’m so glad that I’ve have a great time in my life gaming, but this new age of gamers gonna have it hard. But a lot of people (younger) like this crap and that’s why it’s here 🤦🏽♂️ I’m so glad that I buy single great games like eldenring,horizon etc. I feel bad for the future of gamers going forward.
Same here.
Future probably will be another game industry crash
@@mjetektman9313 It's going to be a soft crash, unless Nintendo really messes up on their next console.
This is the dystopian future kids. EVERYTHING a fuckin' subscription.
AND YOU OWN NOTHING!
@@HUYI1 "YOU WILL EAT THE BUGS LIVE IN THE POD AND BE HAPPY THATS A ORDER"
Well, Sports game fans, here is the ultimate endgoal. Selling literally exactly the same thing again for more cash.
Aren't they already doing that with Madden ?
Yeah, Sports games might be the worst genre when it comes to squeeze money out of costumers. Love this industrie
Dude, Fifa and PGA golf has already been there for years. Hasn't stopped most idiots buying these monstrosities.
I'm so tired of this bullcrap now - I haven't bought any new games in months.....
@@douglochery8641
I think FIFA is the worst of them all. Like how EA was caught copy-pasting THE SAME GAME, then just changing the the title in which year it perceived as, yet people still buy it anyway. People that buys those garbage deserved to get robbed by corporations. No wonder a lot of these publishers are getting aggressive with how games/products are monetized, cause people are idiots and buys these awful trash.
@@Xport9 Ah yes, the "Lecacy" titles.
Damn, EA have a lot to answer for regarding the ruinous monitisation of games and shady release strategies.
Thank you so much for making this to bring awareness to the issue. I was literally thinking the last week that man it would be amazing if you shined a light on this otherwise they will prob get away with it ( and still might ) I’ve bought every table before this on PlayStation and switch and a bunch on my Mac and they just spit in my face . Thank you for helping the community have a voice
The space pinball game years ago was free
So many red flags
- Epic games exclusive
- Monetized to hell
- monetize PINBALL in general
And bought out by a company that is likely Chinese-led using them as non-Chinese fronts.
@@Aereto oh my lord
"I'm not... SUPER... into Pinball."
I think Yong loves Pinball, he's just not ready to make that big step in their relationship.
Pinball games and their tables were already aggressivly monetized when aggressive monetization wasn't even a thing yet.
Thank you so much for addressing this. Been playing ever since Zen Pinball on ps3. A few tables didn’t make the cut due to licenses, but we could all import our purchased tables we had in our collection for years into FX3. There’s absolutely no reason for Zen Studios not to apply the same for Pinball FX outside of course, $$$.
Pinball FX forces players to repurchase old content
EA: Write that down, WRITE THAT DOWN!!!
Thank you for covering this, we need it to be more visible to hopefully shame them into changing things.
*_”The Deep” is the greatest digital pinball table ever made, that’s unfortunately not supported by any current mobile software._*
Oof! I got introduced to PinballFX back when it was available as Zen Pinball on PS3. I did repurchase a few tables on Steam just have them on PC. It would have been nice to add to the collection when cool tables came out. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
I'm legit surprised Yong covered this. Didn't realize the Pinball FX stuff was big enough news.
@Confusion personified. It sucks, but having it brought to the forefront is at least doing some needed sunlight cleansing.
Probably because of the egregious MTX scheme. Which seems to be a common theme lately in video game world...
NGL, after seeing the news that Saber Interactive bought Zen Studios, it’s already clear in who’s pulling the strings. Also, even though it is them responsible, let’s not forget WHOM agreed to have the studio be bought by and it’s no doubt the members in charge of Zen Studios agreed to this. Something tells me that Zen Studios lost all senses of compassion and sold their souls to the devil, which is Saber Interactive. So, not only is Saber already destroying the company, but man, it is sad to say that Zen Studios chose money over fans. Such a disappointment since I love the pinball themes on FX3. Oh well, guess this new year will be what other company will betray the consumers by being converted to greed or sell their company to another greedy company for money.
So no wonder why this has all gone pearshape, zen studios really had some nice tables back in the day, a shame
It's also possible that, whoever the greedmongerers are, the licensors of the pinball tables and/or the associated IPs are among them.
this hurts, I have FX and FX2 and bought tables a good number of the tables. They will not get another cent from me now....
Thanks for covering this. I'm a big fan of digital pinball and was so upset and angry to see Pinball FX go down this route. I feared it would go unchallenged due to the small community, so I'm glad larger youtubers are criticizing these scummy practices.
The whole “we need to optimize premium currency” thing got me to laugh because it’s such a blatant lie because you don’t need effectively a AI to optimize exchange rates to be the most fair to the players. It’s more likely that system is going to be used to to make their monetization more egregious.
Im suprised your covering this. I cut my ties with them when they became a epic exclusive when i own all tables from fx3 on steam. They pissed me off to no end. Will not ever get money from me, and thats saying something because pinball is already niche. So if they cant win over pinball fans...
Same. Will stick to FX3 and when I get bored I won't purchase any new tables. They're never getting another nickel from me.
That doesn't even matter if it weren't an exclusive. I own FX3 on PS4 and switched over to PS5. Now PFX comes out a few days ago, which is both for ps4 and ps5 but all your tables on FX3 stays there. Its BS.
Now that its out, they have "Coins" their own MTX, its awful.
I've been a pinball fan for most of my 43 years. I loved playing Pinball Arcade, and took part of Crowd Funding to get the license for some tables. Then they lost the licenses to the big brands to the Pinball FX brand. I owned all versions (1, 2 & 3), with all tables, and also bought the VR versions. After hearing what they are planning on doing with this, I decided to not support them this time around. I'll settle for the games I already have, or the alternatives that are out there.
I feel the same way. Believe it or not, after these announcements I fired up an Amiga and went back to playing Pinball Dreams and Pinball fantasies. If I'm going to play with crappy physics I'm at least going to do it without data mining and MtX strategies.
Forgot how much I loved those games :-)
I love playing pinball when we take the kids to the arcade. It’s such a great time without being too difficult for the kids to play with me.
Yeah, the arcades is great! Pop a few coins in, get that high score. It's great fun.
What Pinball FX has done, is fucking killed that fun.
Pinball's amazing, absolutely love it.
I have an arcade bar near where I live, and every time I go there, the pinball room is by far the busiest. Same goes with an annual arcade expo that my city has; it has everything from classic arcade games to retro consoles, but the pinball tables always have the biggest crowds. As someone who's been fascinated by pinball ever since I was a little kid, it warms my heart to see it making such a roaring comeback.
Absolutely based commenter. I fucking LOVE pinball
Me remembering pinball eating ny coins at the arcades:
*Just like the simulations*
Lmaoo
watch your balls go right down the middle out of flipper range
But worse
“So why is this game moving to a worse payment model with a subscription on top of MTX?”
“…..Well the chart says…”
“Fuck the chart!”
Well Yong, I'm a player of FX pinball for some time now, and i think most of the changes are great, In fact I don't think there's any greed in those choices, most of them will greatly improve the
Nah I'm just shitting you all
Epic exclusive = not only no buy, but entire developer/publisher (whoever made the decision, in this case Zen Studios) = permanent boycott. Welcome to my list. Although looking through their back catalog, looks like a bunch of mobile shit, so no great loss.
I believe these companies are seeing a combination of inflation going up and the economy technically improving in certain parameters, and are under a wildly false assumption that because of these two things, people must have more money to spend- and thus price hikes are just keeping up with all the money people are making. I assure them that most of us do not, in fact, have more money.
Nah, they know we don't have more money to spare, they just DON'T CARE.
It's not "Surprise Mechanics" if it's "Astonishing Procedures with Amazing Logistics"!
-2022 Pinball FX
There was a pinball game I was looking at on PSN about 5 years ago, but I was revolted by the TOS/EULA. I THINK it may have been a Pinball FX game.
I miss Pokemon Pinball, it was the only pinball game I cared about outside of actual pinball machines (though I do want to play Metroid Prime: Pinball)
I loved Pokémon Pinball (GBC) and Pokémon Pinball Ruby/Saphire (GBA).
I started with Kirby's Pinball Land.
I thought Mario Pinball (GBA) Had weird physics, but was still somewhat fun.
Metroid Prime: Pinball was fun at times, but was kind of weak on replaying, but was the first rumble game on the DS... before the GBA slot was removed on the DSi.
It's been a long while since a Nintendo Pinball game has come out...
Paradox did this bullshit too with the mobile version of Knights of Pen and Paper II. Full game was $5.99 and they updated the shit to reset everyone's progress to zero and force them to gain progress that was originally unlockable for free through micro transactions.
When I was little in the early 90s I remember pinball tournaments was a big thing. Pinball machine sounds added to the charm of arcades back then.
Its funny how everyone complains about it and yet they still give them there money. The companies know that the consumers will just keep consuming.
Exactly my observations now too
I used to love Pinball FX, but their microtransactions have been getting shittier and shittier for years. I gave up on it a long time ago when they wanted me to keep rebuying tables I owned before and just started pumping out a ton of crappy Marvel-themed tables. Sad to see but not a surprise.
Same
I LOVE Pinball. Playing on the "free play" machines in my church's youth room was a huge part of my childhood.
But yea Pinball FXs business model already made sure i stay the heck away from it. And this only made it significantly worse.
Man... this is heartbreaking. I'm a big fan of pinball games and Pinball FX3 reinvigorated my nostalgia for an era gone by, since I don't live near arcades and most of the ones I visited went out of business. I just don't feel like driving out into parts unknown to play some tables or finding these games again, so like a good emulator like MAME/Fightcade I was happy Pinball FX3 came around. Pinball Arcade lost their Williams/Bally license so that sucked, and Virtual Pinball is so-so.
Blows my mind that for how it went for Ubisoft and anyone else, these companies would take a moment to be like, "Hm, maybe this isn't a good idea," but it just feels more like, "Feedback? What's that even mean, bro? Let's do it anyway!"
Just stick to FX3. That game is still decent. Show them with your wallet. Don't give them more money. The new FX doesn't even offer anything worth "upgrading" for.
@@TheOnlyToblin Yeah, seems like it. :/ I was gonna grab the Indy Jones pinball one they just added.
"I have learned one thing in life: there is no such thing as bad press. There is not. That's a fundamental truth. The more bad things said about you, the more power they give to you."
~ John McAfee
Thank you Yong for doing this story on “Pinball FX”, I didn’t know that a new version of the game was coming out. Now I am a long time player of these games(having played FX 1-3). I also own all the tables for FX 3 as well. To buy all those tables having them bundled is what makes them affordable to buy since there are over 100 tables in the game. Having bought all of them at a discount I might add I have probably spent around $80-100 over the years getting all the tables. Them not allowing the transfer of those tables to the new game is just a middle finger in the face to all the people that play this game own all the tables. Last thing is if you want to make the tables cross platform playable just make everyone that owns tables make a Zen account that you can link your account from the platform that you own all the tables on and pow you can now play on all platform with your tables. A subscription service for this game at that price is completely absurd. No one wants to pay a subscription to play pinball machines just buy them so you can play them whenever without having a monthly sub price looming over your head. This without a doubt is them being super greedy and shitty to there player base. Now I need to get back to playing “Pinball FX3” I want to shake the machines since I am annoyed so much from this. Lol
It reminds me on Jim Sterling’s review of a modern day Tetris; how can you mess up such a simple game? And yet, they actually find a way to do so!
One of your best videos, Yong.
I'm not interested in playing Pinball at all, but I still watched the whole thing.
You know shit's about to go down when Yong says, "egregious"
glad to see this get more attention. im not big on pinball scene but all companies deserved to be called out for scummy practices, no matter how big or small they may be
I wonder why everithing is going to microtransactions and live services... is it for the nature of being a publicly traded company? like 10 years ago it was just some games but man now at days everything is monetized.... is just pure greed or literally every company has to put this to not get sued by investors? sad times man...
*And this is exactly why VirtualPinball and FuturePinball were such important programs, pre-Zen Pinball FX.*
This video can be summed up with this "imaging paying everytime you want to play the game" the culling tried it, killed themselves in process.
man, space cadet of good old windows xp actually had like a noticeable progression, lighting up the yellow lights was used to like "upgrade" lasers which changed the colors of the mushroom looking things, and one of the ramp thingies lead towards a refuelling station that you had to hit every so often
it's really sad to hear that a game as niche as pinball is getting destroyed this badly
Yep this seems like something that belongs in the epic games store. Screw them for all that exclusivity stuff.
Tragic. One of the true niceties about the move from FX2 to FX3 on my Xbone was the fact that my FX2 table library carried over into FX3 without so much as a single new purchase. That sort of thing goes a long way toward building goodwill, but that same goodwill is very easily lost through moves like this.
I'm getting to the point where I'm barely buying any games at all. I'm saving lots of money by not buying microtransaction filled garbage anymore
It's going to be a point where a small few single player games will not have the microtransactions or everything goes to subscription service
RIP the game industry
Even a deaf, dumb and blind kid that sure played a mean pinball can see this is a bad deal.
Nice
How many times does this have to happen for people to finally say enough and mass boycott these companies
12:10. Look at it hard, and look at it good.
As long as people like this chump exist, it's _never_ going to stop.
@@MisterVercetti and unfortunately, people who are deluded into parasocial white-knighting relationships with corporations who don't care about them seems to be a growing breed
12:10 - imagine recognizing the problem and agreeing that it's bad but still giving the company money anyway.
People like this are the single largest problem with the gaming industry. Why do big game publishers continue to double and triple down on the predatory, anti-consumer BS? Because people like this chump enable it.
That's why I've given myself a new policy: if it contains predatory microtransactions and/or subscriptions, I don't buy it. Period. I don't care if it's from a franchise or studio I've supported for decades. I don't care if it looks like the best game ever made. The moment I see this garbage, my decision not to purchase the game is final. It's the only way this $#!+ is going to stop.
They're basically saying that this is fine, since they have enough whales.
Oh god, soon we will see Pacman with microtransaction.
Shh, don't give them ideas!
@@vladimirpishchalnikov6154 Let's face it, they have that idea. Since some people are stupid enough to buy microtransaction.
There is already a pac man game with microtransactions I think it's called 256
Player (On Epic Games): I have a question!
Zen: In the future we'll answer that!
Player (on console): What about this bug?
Zen: In the future we'll answer that!
IGN: Zen studio shuts down after making no head way or profit since their controversial change
Zen: In the future we'll answer that!
Every time I see a question dodged, I would love to see reporters begin to say, "That's great, but [Re-ask same question]?" I know that interviewers generally don't do that for fear of shutting down the rest of the interview prematurely, but damn would I love to see scumbags squirm in recorded interviews.
Wishing for this as well for a long time already. Don't let empty answers and dodging a topic fly.
@@Antaiseito again, as someone who wishes for that, I understand why an interviewer would not want to do that. An interviewer who's out for blood when they know that this BS is happening can continue to ask heavy hitting questions to sweat something more juicy or at least show the public that a person isn't to be trusted.
“A ton of people love this subscription service!!! Those people I also call investors…”
This is what happens when you attempt to apply mobile pricing models to a PC release. The community should flat out not buy this game due to their obvious fleecing mechanics. I wouldn't be surprised if an indie dev steps in and makes a pinball game
I used to be HUGELY invested in the Pinball FX and Zen Pinball series. Those games, FX in particular, are love letters to the arcade scene. Every table you get comes with descriptions of the historical significance of each machine, what features were introduced in each one and how it revolutionized the game, things like that, as well as the promotional material that companies would send to arcades to convince them to buy their tables. And, yes, it was the best-feeling pinball physics I'd seen in game-form. But, just like with the recent Gran Turismo 7 shitshow taking a beloved sim franchise that pays tribute to its origin being ruined due to sheer unabashed greed, Zen is looking to do the same thing. I really hope they get a huge kick in the ass over it and never pull a stunt like this again.
It's hilarious they think they can charge the same price as Gamepass for a subscription to a pinball game. It's not like it costs a ton of money (compared to video games in general) to create new pinball tables. Pure greed at work.
Up until last year...i have purchased every single table probably over 10 years now. Been there since the start. Its the best pinball game you can get...but over the years i have seem the greed go up and up and up. So when i had seen indy jones table at £14, im done. Im not purchasing all the upgrades...why should i. I have it on wiiu ps3 ps4 and switch, i already had to purchase them all again to have them on switch on the go. Not a chance im upgrading to ps5 and repurchase again. Also they went the route of multiplayer that decreases over time if you dont play daily. Dont these companies understand..we have hundreds of games to play. Its egotistical to think we are going to sit on one game.
I loved Pinball FX, had like all the tables from the 360 to more recent ones. Too bad they had to go ahead and ruin things.
I love pinball! The physicality of it makes it way better than any video game. I'm fortunate enough to live near a big pinball arcade, so I get it if most people don't understand what I'm talking about.
I remembered playing that pinball game that came with those old windows. Good times. How do you have microtransactions in a pinball game
Its the corporate greed mentality.
The complete season Pinball Arcade is the best Pinball experience you will ever find.
Well,the option could be to ONLY buy new tables. And keep playing the old ones on the system one have them installed on. (The have not removed any ability to play the games one already have installed. On pbfx 2 or 3).
Either way I agree that this is Greed.. Nothing else.
It is time to make all purchasable ingame currencies illegal. Get rid of all coins, tickets, credits, GTAdollar or whatever they're called in games. Every single ingame purchase should require a clear real-life currency (dollar, euros, pounds etc.), in order to avoid this whole shady mismatching currency value bullshit. No longer would an item be sold at 40 "tickets" when you can only buy them in 100-ticket amounts, for example. This shit is making money by simply stealing a few dollars and cents from every single customer, having leftovers in their accounts that they cannot spend on anything until they pay for the next credit bundle.
It's always a red flag when a game goes with Epic exclusive. They know the game won't sell so they take the Epic money.
It’s an EGS exclusive? Well, no wonder!
Any game that does Epic exclusivity, whoever made the decision (developer or publisher) - permanent boycott. In the case of Metro Exodus, the developers were against it, but the publisher (Deep Silver) did it anyway. That resulted in Deep Silver being permanently boycotted...if a game has their name on it, I will only play it via piracy. But I don't hold 4A responsible since it wasn't their decision, if they release something with a different publisher I'd still play it. Take Two has also done Epic exclusivity, so entire publisher is boycotted, I passed on a few good games because of it, but morals are more important than games. When Crytek did it, I boycotted the developer itself, so I will never play another Crytek game.
Moon Studios (who made the Ori games - excellent developer) is making an action RPG of some sort, but it's published by Private Division (who was responsible for Outer Worlds, and is also a subsidiary of Take Two anyway), so I will not be buying it no matter how good the game is. I am not at this time boycotting Unreal Engine itself...if a developer uses Unreal and doesn't do Epic exclusivity, I'm still ok with it. It wouldn't surprise me if Epic tries to tie the engine to their store in the future though...IF that happens, I won't be playing ANY more Unreal Engine games. If I have to, I would quit gaming rather than support this shit. There will always be indie games that avoid this though, and Nintendo wouldn't do Epic exclusives either.
@@StormsparkPegasus it’s even a buggy mess!
@@Blood-PawWerewolf Really informative. Zen Studios has now been added to my permanent boycott list...I wasn't aware of them before. Going through their history though, I'd say this is no great loss, looks like most of their catalog is mobile shit anyway.
@@StormsparkPegasus they’ve always been a mobile developer. So yeah. No big loss really
My boyfriend doesn’t play video games, not into it, but he will play pinball. I tried yokus island express, I was miserable at it, he offered to help, and played for 6 hours, it was awesome to bond that way. I’m sad it’ll be harder to share this fun with him after this story. Have fun while you can folks 😞
"it's crappy to rebuy something you already have" ... FIFA wants to know your location.
I absolutely HATE when companies do this entire "premium currency" bullshit. I don't know if you guys know, but some companies even hires special people to price those virtual items so that you will always have some spare currency after purchase, so that you may want to buy additional pack of tickets/gems/whatever.
I wonder how would it work in the real world. "Good morning, i'd like that bread for 2 dollars". "Emm no you have o spend 4.50 on 45 tickes, bread costs 20". "But that would leave me with 25 tickets". "Well you can buy more tickets and purchase our premium soda for 30 tickets" "But that would leave me with more tick--" "OR OUR NEW GROCERY PASS!"
Demon's Tilt on Steam is a great pinball game on the cheap. No bullshit DLC tables to purchase.
@Confusion personified. Same. I have a friend of mine who loved Pinball FX 3. I looked at it, briefly played the portal table but that's far as I was interested in.
Plus, Demon's Tilt scratches a rare itch in occult themed pinball games in English. For example, a lot of good SNES pinball games and even on the Dreamcast were only released in Japan.
I love Pinball. It is so fun that I have always wanted to buy a full Pinball machine but they are expensive and loud. I have bought Pinball games before, but never encountered the FX games. Now I am kinda glad at that, I couldn't be back stabbed like the FX fan base has been.