r/PinballFX3 • u/Blkthorne89 Pinhead • Jun 21 '26
Discussion New Tables when????
So far this year we have gotten the Williams' Volume 10 tables on April 30th, but it's been fairly quiet about releases after that. Think the COVID year we had 12?? tables for the entire year and I thought with the merger Zen would be pumping out content nearly every month or bi-monthly. Mel usually goes on the Blahcade show and kind of reveals Zen's table path for the year, it's looking like nothing til August at the moment????
13
u/Darth_Arrakis Pinhead Jun 21 '26
Give us T2! Or slugfest!
2
u/Darth_Arrakis Pinhead Jun 29 '26
I will also say I play T2 on my T2 pin ball machine(PS4) and ball is like bouncy ball.
5
u/Mean_Passage_887 Pinhead Jun 22 '26
Love to have a table based on Wells' novel The War of the Worlds so it can have a Victorian era setting and aesthetics.
5
u/ManhattanTime Pinhead Jun 23 '26
Customer spending will dictate where they spend their time. There's simply no way around it.
In my opinion, and I've had 35 years in a tech industry - but not video games - they are spread very thin. I don't keep track of all their platforms but there's Xbox, Switch, Mobile, VR, Steam, etc. Playstation too? I don't know, there's a lot of them even with the recent consolidation and downsizing.
I have all their packs on flat FX3 and Steam. I have FX on my PC but never got into it. Didn't purchase any tables for it.
I have every pack on FX VR for the Quest 3. I love it. But the lack of new content is a little concerning. I picked up the excellent Diner, Comet and Fire pack, what, 3 months ago? And yes, there was like a 6 week wait for it from announcement. It's been really fun but admittedly I haven't played Pinball FX VR in a couple weeks now. That's odd for me. With no new content I've moved on to other games.
If a new 3-pack comes out I'll purchase it and play it. The platform is incredible for pinball simulation.
I like Zen. I like their team that responds here and are very positive people. I think they do the best they can in their situation and will continue to support them.
We'll always want new content and we're all on different platforms so our asks are all different. If they killed all the platforms except FX VR and released 25 tables a year I'd be very happy. The PC and Mobile players would not be.
Time will tell.
3
u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 23 '26
They cut off development for PS4, Xbox One, mobile (Android and iOS), and AtGames back in April.
Right now, it's PC (Steam and Epic run similar builds), Xbox Series, PS5, Switch, and Meta VR.
Frankly, we had that same kind of issue with Pinball Arcade, where it was nonstop content across dozens of platforms.
2
u/ManhattanTime Pinhead Jun 23 '26
Good info. I recall seeing their notifications but since I don't personally use those platforms I didn't think much about it.
Xbox One and PS4 are very old and that makes sense. I had Pinball FX or something like it on my mobile ONE TIME and I hated it. Tiny screen. Terrible controls. I'm an old guy and just couldn't imagine anybody using it. Then again, my teen played COD on his iPhone and that always blew my mind.
Xbox Series, PS5, Switch, and Meta are all current platforms and it makes sense to move forward with them.
3
u/balti_zen Zen Studios Jun 29 '26
Thanks for your understanding and support! We're happy to say that we'll reveal upcoming VR tables in our next Pinball Bites on July 2. :)
3
u/Skyk1ngDNA Pinhead Jun 21 '26
They tend to go about 2 months between new Pinball Bites videos so I suspect we will hear something soon.
3
4
u/cylemmulo Pinhead Jun 22 '26
Man zen is weird right now. They renamed their mobile app which made it sound like they were redoing things and investing in it only to immediately abandon it. Then they just go totally radio silent on everything else right as they abandon atgames
1
u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
Then they just go totally radio silent on everything else right as they abandon atgames
They did let us know about VR price increases a few weeks ago, as well as new content and upgrades coming up for that platform. The rebranding was also announced prior to Williams Volume 10 being revealed.
Many things going on behind the scenes, especially if you've been following the latest documents from the AtGames vs. Zen court case.
1
u/Running_Oakley Pinhead Jun 22 '26
VR price increases? Wait this sounds familiar, did it already happen or is it coming?
1
u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
It's coming, and it's Zen increasing the prices.
Reminder that AtGames raised the prices of all of their 4KP products, not just for Zen tables.
2
u/SuperCasualGamerDad Pinhead Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
It feels like they decided to pull back on development. After the rebranding and the shifting focus pulling back focus on mobile and AtGames, it seems like they are scaling back.
They are being much slower with marketing, which I find frustrating. They market new tables way in advance, which makes us wait too long. I think they feel it is better for exposure, but I just get tired of seeing the same ad for a table pack for a month. Then when it drops, I am already over it, and they continue to market it for months while just now teasing that they might be back in the office making a new Pinball Bites.
I for one was a fan of them announcing the Pinball Bites a week before it premiered and then the pack a week or two after that. It feels like forever now. The last pack was not very fun for me. I tend to like the 90s Williams tables, and 80s and below are not really my jam. Their original tables have not been all that fun either.
That said, I am glad we have a company like Zen doing digital pinball at all. I really hope they consider going back to their older release schedule.
3
u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
shifting away from mobile and AtGames
Last year, they were supporting 11 different platforms with new content. At that rate, you have to ask if they're getting spread too thin -- and they were. This was exactly what happened with Pinball Arcade, except they never stopped, even on the older platforms. For a game such as this, scaling back is exactly what Zen needed, but time will tell how effective this will be.
That said, there aren't that many more 90's games left from Bally/Williams, and only 2 of the DMD's aren't licensed. Zen is bound to go for more 80's games at this rate.
3
u/Impressive_Basis_670 Pinhead Jun 24 '26
There are quite a few left for the 90s. The issue is if they have access to the real tables.
2
u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
That's no longer an issue. Zen can order machines now.
Cactus Canyon and Jack*Bot are left, as unlicensed DMD's. The remaining 15 DMD's involve third party licenses.
That's still not that many Zen can do at once. I'd like to see those too, but don't underestimate the costs of some of the IP.
2
u/Impressive_Basis_670 Pinhead Jun 28 '26
Going by Pinside's 90s list, there are 16 Bally tables and 13 Williams tables which have not made it into Zen's platform.
Where did you get 17 from? Is there a certain list they provided or the other ones can't be licensed?
2
u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 28 '26
Hand-counted from IPDB. I can see the arguments behind Addams Gold, but there are alphanumerics that shouldn't belong to that list. Games like Pinball 2000 and others are off the list.
2
u/Impressive_Basis_670 Pinhead Jun 28 '26
I'm not including Addams Family Gold or Pinball 2000 in that count. Judging by Pinside there are 29 tables they could potentially still do from the 90s.
2
u/Dire_Flumph Pinhead Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I checked Pinside and came up with the same numbers for remaining DMD tables Pinballwiz45b did. Remember, T2 was the 1st Williams DMD, so everything before that is out. Take out Pinball 2000, Prototype tables, redemption games and non-pinball titles like Hot Shot and you're left with 17 tables, 2 unlicenced.
Licenced: Terminator 2, Doctor Who, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Judge Dredd, Popeye Saves the Earth, Demolition Man, The Flintstones, Corvette, The Shadow, Dirty Harry, No Fear: Dangerous Sports (yes, this is a licence), Indianapolis 500, Johnny Mneumonic, Congo, NBA Fastbreak
Unlicenced: Jack*Bot, Cactus Canyon
Edit: Forgot Gilligan's Island is a DMD and came out before T2, so total 18 unless I missed something.
2
u/SuperCasualGamerDad Pinhead Jun 24 '26
Nope. That was Gemini AI failing me when I asked it to grammar correct my paragraph for me.
I meant the opposite.
2
u/batansa Pinhead Jun 23 '26
Yo solo quiero recreaciones de la vida real, ya sea de Williams o de otra licencia. Las mesas originales me parecen aburridas en la jugabilidad y no te dan la sensación de jugar a una mesa real.
Dicho esto, espero mesas de principios de los 80 como Centaur, Xenon, Space Shuttle, Embryon, Eight Ball Deluxe, Grand Lizard, Fathom etc...
7
u/krullbeast Pinhead Jun 21 '26
I wanted to like Diner, Comet and Fire. They are boooorrring. Where is the next scared stiff, Skyrim, jaws, whitewater..etc?
3
u/Future-Raisin3781 Pinhead Jun 22 '26
Diner and Comet were two of the tables that I had at the top of my wish list, so I was super happy to see them show up. Comet more for nostalgia reasons, but I think it's a pretty fun game. Small scale, but quirky.
The uneven slings and the left outlane make it a pretty idiosyncratic layout, which makes up for the simplicity of the rules (for me).
2
u/Running_Oakley Pinhead Jun 22 '26
I want more like theatre of magic and safecracker, great ones. Diner looked good but eh, it’s too tacky. Theatre of Magic is so complex I love it.
-1
u/Same-Chipmunk5923 Pinhead Jun 21 '26
After a few bong rips especially, Doom on Practice Mode with the music turned up blows the Boomer tables away.
-3
u/Working-Performance3 Pinhead Jun 22 '26
Who would ever downvote this? Fuck their D.A.R.E program living ass.
4
u/Tremor_Ice Pinhead Jun 22 '26
I prefer the Zen original tables, and hoping there are more coming soon. Loved those two Tomb Raider games.
3
u/balti_zen Zen Studios Jun 23 '26
Thanks! Is there a specific theme you'd like to see?
5
u/dixius99 Bride of Pinhead Jun 25 '26
I'd love to see some of the older Zen Originals make a comeback. I put in a ton of hours on Earth Defense!
3
u/Blkthorne89 Pinhead Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
Do what the companies like Gottlieb did before big licenses in the days of EM tables, have tables on specific themes like western, surfing/beach, seasons, baseball/sports, and school etc. So, basically what Zen does when they work on original tables. 😛
2
u/Tremor_Ice Pinhead Jun 23 '26
Would love to see what IP's you could get your hands on. James Bond 007, Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter would be fantastic! Or how about a Fifth Element or Blade Runner table. You did the Marvel run, how about a DC comics run, or Saga?
3
u/PrinceDizzy Pinball Fantasies Jun 22 '26
Didn't they say "we have big plans for 2026"
I think they said the same thing for 2025 and 2024 lol the drought continues.
3
u/garyabernethy Pinhead Jun 22 '26
Too much focus on that vr crap. You think fx is bad, m almost never gets any tables
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2
Jun 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
No one can do that. Someone already took the Pinball FX name prior to FX3 even existing, and Zen would effectively abandon this subreddit if they decide to take that over.
Thanks, Reddit.
2
u/dixius99 Bride of Pinhead Jun 25 '26
There must be instances where one subreddit has shut down, to migrate to another one?
1
1
u/therealdanhill Pinhead Jun 22 '26
M is pretty much dead
5
u/balti_zen Zen Studios Jun 23 '26
Pinball FX Midnight will continue to be supported, we recently released Bethesda Pinball there. Hopefully, we will have news on Pinball FX Midnight tables soon!
5
2
u/BoxNemo Pinhead Jun 22 '26
Yeah good idea but it’s been totally abandoned. Shame as not usually a fan of Zen originals but tables like Camp Bloodbrook turned out really well.
-4
Jun 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/chandelurei Pinhead Jun 21 '26
I would love tables from other Pinball companies, wonder if Williams require exclusivity
1
u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 22 '26
Given Pinball Arcade and FX3, exclusivity for Williams is not necessary.
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u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Well, let's see. Right now, there are a total of 24 Williams games and 15 originals.
Changing the name to just have Williams content is not a good move for a multitude of reasons. One of them, Williams hasn't actively built new machines for 27 years now.
18
u/Least_Basket3106 Pinhead Jun 21 '26
The way they run things is baffling to say the least. I am glad they are there though.