Pinball FX is click-clacking its way to PlayStation 5 this year as previously reported – but existing fans of the franchise may not be thrilled to learn that you’ll need to repurchase any tables you may already own. Zen Studios has, historically, allowed you to transfer your content across – but it’s starting from scratch with this next-gen version.
The Hungarian developer has justified its decision by explaining that any legacy tables that it ports will be retrofitted with its new physics engine, which obviously requires significant development effort and tuning to realise. A lot of its tables are also based on licenses like Marvel and Star Wars, which will probably require some renegotiation.
Nevertheless, the news will certainly disappoint franchise faithfuls, who’ve become accustomed to taking their library with them across platforms. This author alone probably owns somewhere in the region of 30 to 40 tables, so it’s certainly disheartening to see all of that content left behind. Hopefully the team gets its pricing right.
In terms of the game itself, new features include Pinball Royale, a Battle Royale-inspired multiplayer mode, as well as new challenge modes and revamped competitive play. There’s no word on DualSense support, but this feels like the ideal accompaniment to the adaptive triggers, so we’d expect Zen Studios to put in some good work here.
The developer has also teased “original tables featuring brand-new IPs set to be revealed as launch approaches”, so feel free to share some suggestions in the comments section. Is there any franchise in particular that you think would make for a great Pinball FX table? Nudge us down below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 27
Won't be getting a penny from me - I have a massive set of Pinball Arcade tables (complete with the Williams tables before they were removed due to licensing issues) and it's still awesome. The graphics are ok, but most importantly for a pinball game, the physics and table accuracy is spot-on.
I prefer pinball on Switch anyway - TATE mode with the Flip Grip.
@ShiningStar Pinball Arcade? Is that the one published by System 3?🤔 Didn't fork out for a huge amount of extra tables,(a buddy bought a few more than I did),but I enjoyed it!👍
Never made sense to me that Zen grabbed the rights to the table sets but has been far slower rolling out their own version!
Miss the days you could buy a pinball game & get a decent set of tables up front rather than be gouged for dlc!
I own dozens and dozens of tables, so this is pretty sucky news. If bundles go on sale for 80% off down the line maybe I’ll pick a few up but I’ll never try to flesh out my entire collection again. Like when you go from DVDs to Blu Ray so you only replace the cream of the crop. One problem is now that they’ve done this I can’t buy with confidence as I used to, so I’ll be spending far, far less with them in the future. They should have just charged 99¢ a table as an upgrade charge or something. This is a poor decision as its difficult to cultivate good will and shockingly easy to lose it. Once it’s gone, it’s usually gone for good as people just move on to other things.
@Robocod Pinball Arcade was by Farsight Studios, I believe. I probably bought a few more packs than I should have done really
Got them all on sales, but I end up playing my favourite Williams tables most of the time anyway! I guess I'm a sucker for it because I love the real thing, but Zen never really clicked for me when I tried the demo's. Whole thing felt too arcade-like with pop-up screens and the like.
@ShiningStar
Same. I've got nearly every table on Steam, not a chance in hell I'm rebuying all of them again. Seems like this was massive misfire on Zen's part, haven't seen a single comment anywhere that's happy about any of this.
I'll stick to my BC PS4 tables then.
@ShiningStar That's the one,pretty sure System 3 published it,(at least the physical version anyways),but the dev sounds familiar! Haven't touched the Zen/FX series in ages,but compared to Pinball Arcade,agree it defs. felt more "floaty".
Whilst thankfully you retained the tables you'd bought,it really stripped what they had available when their deal for the Williams tables etc.,expired. Tables could be a bit pricey,but no question Farsight put in a great effort on what they released.
Yeah i will stick with the version i have that i sunk a load of cash into if its all the same.
@ShiningStar Do you have a PS5? If so, have you noticed any problems with Pinball Arcade on it? I'm asking because Pinball Arcade was on the list of games that boot but with issues on the PS5. I have all the tables myself and I would hate to run into issues whenever I get a PS5.
@Robocod @RevengeFan Yes, there wasn't much left once those tables left the game...I remember it all being announced suddenly as well, had a bit of a scramble to ensure I got the ones I wanted before they went. And as you point out, years on from that it's not like Zen pinball has even exercised their rights on many of them, a shame.
Mercifully, they do all still appear when I boot the game up on my PS5, which I wasn't necessarily expecting. Gameplay seems fine too, at least for the tables I've played.
Makes sense that you have to re-buy the tables. If they don’t make money, they go out of business, and pinball video games have a somewhat niche player base.
I’m just bummed that Zen hasn’t done anything to move the pinball game genre forward. We all play on widescreen tvs, yet Zen’s pinball tables are all vertical. Why? Because Zen keeps making vertical tables...but they don’t have to be. It’s a video game and not reality, so break the standard conventions and make some crazy tables.
@ShiningStar Did the Williams tables include Earthshaker?
@hobbes242 Yeah, that's there!
My favourites tend to be the classics: Medieval Madness, Tales Of The Arabian Nights, Attack From Mars. Junkyard, Fishtales and No Good Gofers are a lot of fun too. All of which are sadly unavailable for purchase now
They sort of broke the chain earlier between PSVita+PS3 and the PS4 versions, so hearing the PS4 versions won't carry forward isn't a surprise.
A dumb strategy and one more reason X-stuff is looking better than PS5 from someone still on the fence.
Sorry, but I'm not spending money on any tables I already purchased unless there is a small charge.
Considering the last Gen upgrade carried over the tables for free with the new game engine this is disappointing...
Perhaps go the Wii U Virtual Console route and offer a large discount for those rebuying tables they've had before, to separate them from outright new purchasers. Like an upgrade payment option....
... waiting for PSVR2, LOVED the pinball on PSVR.. Really fluid and looked amaze(pin)balls..
@deathaxe Sucks that Zen were bought, that explains the greed.
As for a Pinball Museum, there's one in Berlin. It's called the Flipperhalle and it has over 50 tables. Most of the classics and it's just a £10 entry and all tables are on free play. Can't recommend it enough!
There's a bit more to this than has been reported. Yes the tables have been remastered with the new physics and graphics engine, but they also announced...
1. All existing FX3 tables with the exception of Portal and The Walking Dead will be made available for Pinball FX, but not all at launch
2. More will be announced in terms of pricing, with some special offers and bundles to 'soften the blow' for existing owners
3. The more realistic 'pro' physics and graphics mode (currently optional only on the Williams tables) will be enabled on all other tables
I'm a huge fan and own all tables, so I'm probably biased but also hugely disappointed that they won't carry across. I'd be happy to pay an upgrade fee, or even pay full price for the base game, but that wouldn't work for new players who would then also have to buy the tables as well. The only other viable option for them in terms of revenue would be a subscription model, which I definitely wouldn't want.
Would have to be a tremendous sale for me to even consider rebuying my favorite tables again on ps5!
I own all but 3 tables (96 of 99 tables) I still need to purchase them. I look forward to playing new tables on PS5. But I doubt I will purchase every table again if any at all. Maybe with a 50% discount for people that already own them.
I was so grateful that Zen allowed free upgrades to the tables from PS3 to PS4. I made a commitment to purchase every table I did not have and every new table they made. Also The PSVR tables. I will be open to continue to purchase all New PS5 tables but not what I already own on PS4.
Tables I would love to see are:
Elvira
anything very old and new SyFy
themes from video games
themes from holidays
@GeneJacket even if you could have imported it wouldn't have been possible in any case as apparently on PC the game is going to be released exclusively on the Epic store, which may be another
'Epic fail' for them!
I honestly don’t think Zen is going to get a lot of people on here. This is viewed more as a service with tables to purchase and I don’t see many people okay with rebuying all their tables again.
Wait, what? I can proudly say i own all 99 tables. You can imagine how much that cost me. And now they want me to buy all of them AGAIN? No way in hell.
@glassmusic That would still be 99$ for me.
@jgrangervikings1 id be okay with buying the game for like 29$ again since its PS5 version but i cant and i wont buy all 99 tables again!!
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