Did Stern Pinball Just Confirm that Pokémon is Coming Soon?

As we wait for Stern to officially reveal 2024 Cornerstone Number 2, we have something else to talk about this morning. Yesterday on its Facebook page, Stern Pinball posted the following message:

“What are some of your burning pinball questions that you’d like us to answer?”

That question drew a ton of responses from pinball fans, but one in particular caught my eye…

Q: “When will we get POKÉMON!!!!”

A: “stay tunedddd”

I’ve suspected for some time that we are getting a new Spike 3 board system Metallica by John Borg after the next release and Pokémon after that sometime this winter. Now I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what is going to happen.

I know that some of the Pinside curmudgeons view a potential Pokémon pinball machine as too juveline for them, but Pokémon is an absolutely MASSIVE IP. It’s literally the highest-grossing media franchise of all-time! It’s earned over $92 Billion dollars (see graphic below), significantly more than Star Wars, which despite a lackluster reception from many collectors is one of Stern’s most and longest produced pinball machines ever. And that number is old. According to more recent estimates, "Pokémon has grossed an estimated $150 billion in lifetime revenue as of 2023. This includes an estimated $30 billion grossed from video games and $100 billion from licensed merchandise sales." (https://vgsales.fandom.com/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon)

Stern has plans to do even more cool stuff with its Insider Connected system and Pokémon would be absolutely perfect for that. Players could collect all of the different monsters in their accounts as achievements, there’s literally over a thousand of them many of which are so popular that they’re nearly household names, like Pikachu, Snorlax, Charizard and Squirtle.

I’m not personally a huge Pokémon person, yet I still have fond memories of playing the super popular Pokémon GO app with my sons years ago when they were little. And I’m totally addicted to Insider Connected achievements and badges. I’m super excited about the possibilities for a Stern Pokémon pinball machine.

Here’s my latest forecast for Stern’s upcoming games…

1. John Wick, probably sometime early next week, but I’m keeping an eye out for it this week just in case. As a disclaimer, there’s been some whispers that the next theme might completely surprise us. I still think that it’s Wick, but that’s out there.

2. Metallica 2 in the Fall, designed by John Borg using the new Spike 3 board set. It’s been a while since we’ve had a Borg release from Stern. Word is that’s because he was working on Indiana Jones but had the plug unexpectedly pulled on that game.

3. Pokémon this winter, most likely early 2025 like when we saw Jaws in January 2024.

4. After those three games, my crystal ball gets a little cloudy. I personally think that Cornerstone 2 of 2024 will be based on Dungeons and Dragons. I’m a huge D&D fan. I play D&D games on my Steam Deck, like Baldur’s Gate 3 (which won almost every Game of the Year award), almost daily. The possibilities for creating and leveling up D&D characters using Insider Connected are endless.

So that’s something to talk about and tide us over until we see the next Cornerstone. Hurry up Stern ;), I can’t wait to see it!