AP should really be pumping out 1 or 2 new games a year. With actual known licenses. Stop trying to make your own IP you have seen that does not work to well. Spend the money please and get something

AP should be creating more buzz than one post every 2 weeks.

Calm before a small storm perhaps? Contrary to previous posts and such, Ryan is still assisting AP in finishing their next game. Hopefully we see something in the next few weeks. Time will tell…

From the videos I’ve seen AP was basically non existent at TPF. This company eased absolutely destroyed by its former captain. Making a bbq game absolutely no one wanted to a game that looks like a tank. I’ve said it before they are the ones who don’t listen to what players want. BBQ should have never been made or just limit it to 25 games. I really wanted AP to succeed but at this time I can not see them being successful. They squandered a what could have been a great TPF showcase. Guess they didn’t want to hear people talk bad about them again

I love tanks! And some of my friends owning a GTF LE absolutely enjoy it. When I first played it I was instantly hooked, the dubstep music, the scifi theme, the retro feelings and the goofy animations. And there is ice cream in it... Damn! A flying cow? WTF... It's hilarious.

For sure it's a special theme but there are people out there that enjoy something like that.

This is the price I saw in the signature edition for the show game at TPF. I bet with all cash you could have walked away with with it for $7k.

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That would be tempting.

I thought the same thing.

I love tanks too. And campy sci-fi. Hell I just landed a Flash Gordon. I was super hopped up on GTF until I played it. I won’t list pros/cons again but needless to say it still appears to be a bit of a hot mess with an uncertain future.

I liked it when I played it at the Chicago show, but I wasn't a fan of the huge target bank in the middle of the PF - seemed to block a lot of the shots. And every AP I played at the show and at a nearby arcade had issues. And even now, the code isn't sorted out. So even at $8K for the signature edition (a pretty amazing price), I wouldn't bite.

While at AMOA.. the ICB remake guys said they are going to have American Pinball provide manufacturing for their games.

I just didn't have the heart to challenge him about the decision given the more recent changes. Note.. he did say AP, not Aimtron too.

More like... Opportunity lost yet again due to their inability to get the product to market when critical.

Up next they have both an Elwin release from Stern, and JJP's next game.... plus BoF will be revealing a game.

AP lost their opportunity to have a window without a ton of competition. Now they'll be facing a crowded field if they think they can stroll up to MGC and tease the game up there, etc. So after that.. there is no major event they can easily ride on. Shows like Allentown, etc aren't good for a launch. They gonna make a video again? lol..

The next 6months are a minefield.

Holy crap. The sign reads $7,000 off. Is that a typo?

Is it a new (show-only) game?

A little misleading. Nib was $15k from AP but I saw one distributor having a close out sale on NIb at $9995. I don’t think there were a lot of the 200 purchased but used or show demos for 7-8k doesn’t seem too crazy knowing their situation

Not sure if it is new. I didn’t inquire further. But it looked nice and clean.

I mean, how many plays could it possibly have on it?

I don’t disagree that the next six months are going to be rough for anyone releasing a game that is not JJP or Stern, but that’s assuming AP even plans to release a large number of Cuphead. I’m hearing the release numbers, especially for the limited edition, are going to be very conservative. Just enough to meet contractual obligations, but I could be wrong.

Also, that’s assuming people who would want Cuphead are also in a market for a King Kong or Harry Potter. I am a huge fan of the Cuphead game and would probably buy that over those other two games. I don’t need another Godzilla, and if Harry Potter is just another Godfather, no thanks…

Yes, it was a new out of the box Signature Edition. Pinball Traders got a special deal on these, and $8000 is an absolutely insane price for what you are getting in that package. What shocks me is how any are still available since they only made 200 of them, but I would like to think at $8,000 they might finally sell them all.

Also, not sure if people are aware of this, but the two GTFs at the show were running brand new code on them which resolved a whole series of issues. AP
Plans to release this code on their website soon.

Got a sneak peak at the new game. Common sense says it’s pretty risky to buy anything from AP, but I guess I’m gonna be living dangerously. Looks like it’s going to be great and possibly the best collaboration I’ve seen with a licensor.

The only reasons to try to make the release small is because they literally don't think they will sell. Which doesn't bode well either. The "We're only making 100 super duper limited edition games" FOMO attempt isn't going to work for a brand with a damaged past.

Smaller runs cost them more per game. It limits your upside while driving up your COGS. They'd be stupid to not build 200-300 more standards if they actually thought they could sell them. Every game they build gets cheaper for them in time and economies of scale. Sales is what limits a company that isn't already crippling themselves somehow.

But hey, marketing has been Aimtron's failure since the beginning.. so why should we expect any different now.

Yeah, have heard the same thing from various people. I got some feedback on what the limited edition art package might have and it has me a bit torn as the standard art package sounds more appealing to me, but I’ll probably get the limited one anyway, lol.

How recently was your sneak peak? Last update I got was maybe a month ago, but it seemed to be coming along.

Very cool to read. I've never played Cuphead or watched the show, but the theme is appealing to me and I almost never care about theme. Hope they're able to get it out and somehow have it be a success.

Just this weekend. The cabinet and backglass art were good, but not amazing. Those could use a little sprucing up.

Probably not a good sign of confidence if you say the art is only "good" when the main attraction of Cuphead is its art and 1930's cartoon aesthetic. I do hope it looks great in the end, and I want to see AP succeed with a great theme.

I agree with HydrogenHuman, this game studio is known for having mind blowing art, so it being only good? Hmm…

Did you get to see both art packages or just one of them? I was told that there were two art packages and that the higher end one might be somewhat polarizing.

Cary Hardy did say the art had a LOT of yellow, so that’s not exactly secret info or anything. That’s really about all I know regarding the art.

If we are looking at Yellow Powder coated rails and legs that’s kinda iffy, because it’s very hard to pull that off well on a game. Avengers Infinity Quest LE was hideous with the yellow, and that new Merlin Arcade game doesn’t look too snazzy with it either. Yellow is just a very hard color to nail on pinball art packages.

Anyway, don’t want to get you in trouble or anything, I’m glad the game is progressing well. Look forward to seeing something soon…

Don’t look into it so hard. I’m a huge Cuphead fan and this has me very confident in it delivering what I would hope it would.

Is AP still in business? They don't respond to any of my emails or service request. I am so disappointed in this company. I don't even know what to say who is running the company how many employees do they have? Are they building games? It's so sad to see All their games devalued. I own GTF and Valhalla and they're worth nothing. I don't plan on selling them as I enjoy playing the games but it's really disappointing to see what's happened to this company. It's just awful anyway I'm just venting cause I'm pissed off. they don't respond to anything you send them.

Umm, this is all pinball at the moment. It’s a total buyers market right now...

AP games might be valued a bit less than everyone else, but you can get Sterns that are only a few months old for thousands less! I wouldn’t be buying any games to flip right now. I bought a GTF to keep, not sell.

AP is not producing their own games anymore and are instead going the contract manufacturing route. We don’t really know what this means for them long term, but Cuphead is still coming…

Thought this was still speculation? They’ve created a separate business to produce contract games but that doesn’t mean they will forego their own titles. I know there are plenty of reasons to believe API is done but hopefully they’ll miraculously turn it around. Allowing a distributor to fire sale GTF Signatures prior to issuing the announced Classic Edition or Cuphead is actually the strongest sign yet to me that they are hopeless - even more than BBQ.

Can't distributors charge whatever they want once the game is open and used?

I'm genuinely asking. I don't know how that all works. I just know that if the game is still NIB, they can't discount it until the manufacturer tells them they can.

They are very short staffed so if you need anything you have to call. Happy you are still enjoying your valhalla!

Distributors can always sell for whatever price they want. MAP (minimum advertised pricing) is just a contractual agreement with the manufacturer to sell for the same price everywhere. No company can force someone to sell for a set price however because that violates price fixing laws. Worst that could happen to a distributor is they might lose their relationship with the manufacturer. But if the manufacturer has also breached the contract that makes everything free game. Up to the distro if they want to sell at a loss to clear inventory.

(Reputable) distros are unlikely to risk losing their contracts - and livelihood - with a large manufacturer (i.e., Stern) by breaking the selling agreement.

The distributor is also selling them NIB for $8250. Would be surprised if API gave them permission to sell that low since other distributors are still advertising much higher. Seems like a sign that the distribution community is more interested in clearing inventory at this point than maintaining a relationship with API.

Why not just release a limited run of Cuphead to build back some goodwill, and then remarket GTF with complete code. GTF is an amazingly fun, unique game. Unfortunately, appears they’re just looking to recoup as much cash as possible with close to zero risk and wind things down.

Word on the street is that AP doesn't want to start production of cuphead until all the inventory for the old games is used up, so if true, AP has an interest in moving stuff too.

aka - I don't want to sink more cash into this...

Which is why you
- eliminate all your OpEx by eliminating all your staff
- shake out all the change you can from your pockets (sell off everything you can)
- do nothing until you've collected enough change to fund the thing and do it extremely limited

None of which is what you do to grow a business. It's what you do when you are trying to squeeze the last drops out of a worn out part.

I mean, back in October they had 50-80 GTF SE in boxes on their factory tour. It could be a while and even the 8k deals could seem too expensive in 6 months.

They need to clear this space for new production run games (Cuphead, etc) and Polycade units. I was informed it’s primarily space related.

If the price keeps dropping I’d love to buy a GTF . Fun game ! ( yes , I understand there are problems but I’ve played and liked it quite a bit ) . It’s almost criminal they didn’t stick with this one ( I know code was just released - so not totally abandoned) and make more Deluxes with a little fine tuning . It’s a good game and should’ve been a hit .

I enjoyed playing it (tho the center target bank blocks too much), but it's been out for 2 years and the code still isn't fully working, let alone finished. And apparently the updated code at TPF still has problems. I can't imagine buying a game from a company that can't get the basic code right in 2 years.

If the GTF code has problems let AP know about. THere are 2 programmers (remote and onsite) and they want you to enjoy the game so if you notice something isn't right, tell them and they'll fix it.

Think about it.. you're a business getting ready to make a product run that you hope will generate over $4million in sales... when your business is basically collecting zero right now. You are going to put all that on hold indefinitely because you need to free up some space from boxed games?

See through the spin man.

Sitting inventory can be stored elsewhere cheaply. That inventory is sitting there because it's not been able to be sold.. this is not like waiting 2 weeks waiting for some conflict to clear. They are basically selling you the smoke screen that they can't move their business forward because of a few cointainers worth of games are taking up space they need...

It's BS - if it were really the limiting factor they could work with their distributors who operate warehouses right in town or pay for temp storage.

See it for what it is... they want to liquidate that inventory for the $$ before putting a bunch more into production of another title that could potentially eat up capital.