No Star Wars Reveal from Stern Pinball Today?; Will Stern Switch the Release Order of Its Games in 2026?

On Friday I mentioned in my article about Stern Pinball's upcoming Star Wars Fall of the Empire pinball machine that Stern had yet to receive the approval for its “marketing stuff” to reveal the game. I had been targeting today, Tuesday September 9th, as the logical date for Stern to unveil the game. Doubts began creeping in that the game would be ready to show off today or tomorrow as Stern suddenly asked distributors and pinball media people who are attending its in-person preview of the machine to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements for the first time.

It does indeed appear as though Stern does not have the necessary approvals to reveal the game today. They are showing the machine off to distributors as I type this. There are many distributors who did not attend this preview though and Stern still has to hold its regular distributor video call to provide them with details on the game. I'm guessing that means that we are not going to get to see the new Star Wars tomorrow either.

I have been perplexed by this launch schedule for the game from the very beginning. They showed the teaser trailer way before I expected it with production of the Star Wars cornerstone not scheduled to begin until much later in September.

According to people who I have spoken with, King Kong has been the slowest selling Keith Elwin pinball machine that Stern has released, this may be leading to pressure on Stern management to lock in as many Star Wars sales as possible before the end of Q3. I am hearing rumblings that Stern attempted to move the launch date up a little in order to garner as many sales as possible before the end of the month and quarter. Public companies often have a mad rush to hit their quarterly numbers. Stern is not public, but they do have existing investors who want to see results and they are actively courting new investors so they want the numbers to look as good as possible. If true, that would explain why the reveal of the game has been so odd.

Speaking of delays, word on the street (aka this is a rumor) is that Stern's next cornerstone game, which is supposedly based on Pokemon, is running behind schedule. That would not be surprising given the fact that its rumored designer, Jack Danger, recently had shoulder surgery and is stepping away from designing games for Stern. If Pokemon is delayed, Stern may have to flip it with its second cornerstone machine of 2026. I have a pretty good idea of the three games that we will see from Stern next year, but I do not know the exact order yet. To me, the rumored Keith Elwin-designed Fallout game would be the likely candidate to switch launch spots with Pokemon if it isn't ready in time.