The Pinball Arcade

Development

The Pinball Arcade is developed by FarSight Studios, which also developed Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection and Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection that were published by Crave Entertainment. Four tables were available initially with the game's launch: Black Hole, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and Theatre of Magic.

FarSight Studios took part in the Steam Greenlight program to distribute The Pinball Arcade for Windows-based personal computers. The game was successfully Greenlit on April 18, 2013. From August until October 2013, the PC version of The Pinball Arcade was in beta-testing. The Windows version of Pinball Arcade was released on November 4, 2013, along with the first 19 table packs. A Macintosh version of the Steam release was released on December 16, 2013. Although tables have to be purchased for each platform separately FarSight buyers of the Steam version are able to play their tables on OS X and Windows.

The option to buy a season pass for an entire season, including unreleased tables in advance, was cancelled in February 2014 on the Mac App Store due to violation of Apple's policies that do not allow sales of unreleased software.

On April 1, 2014, FarSight released a patch that included stereoscopic 3D support for PlayStation 3.

Besides recreations of existing pinball machines, FarSight is also producing its own original-design tables. A Ghostbusters-themed table was released in late October 2014 as a stand-alone application for Android and iOS using the same layout as Haunted House.

The fourth season of DLC tables began on October 10, 2014, when FarSight Studios released Phantom of the Opera, the first Data East table to be re-released as a Stern machine. The removal of all possible Data East logos was suggested by Gary Stern the founder of Stern to avoid legal issues with G-Mode the successing company of Data East. Similarly, logos of other Data East and Sega Pinball machines were removed, as well as logos and names from No Fear: Dangerous Sports, songs from Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Party Zone and the image of Christopher Lloyd on the The Addams Family because of copyright concerns.

In July 2013, Microsoft announced plans to relax its publishing requirements for independent developers on its then upcoming console, Xbox One. At the time, FarSight Studios expressed an interest in developing for the console, but did not commit to doing so. At the Game Developers Conference in March 2014, Microsoft stated that The Pinball Arcade would be one of the first releases in their "ID@Xbox" program. On November 25, 2014, The Pinball Arcade was released on Xbox One's Games Store with all Season One, Two and Three tables.

The Pinball Arcade was previously published by Crave Entertainment for Xbox 360 on Xbox Live. Only the first ten tables were released for Xbox 360 when Crave Entertainment filed for bankruptcy in 2012. FarSight Studios has been unable to ship new tables for the Xbox 360 since then as they fight in court for the return of the publishing rights. Microsoft terminated Crave's publishing license after the company emerged from bankruptcy, forcing The Pinball Arcade to be removed from the Xbox Live Marketplace in July 2013. FarSight Studios is awaiting legal resolution between Microsoft and Crave, hoping to be able to update the Xbox 360 version in late 2013. On April 11, 2014, FarSight Studios announced that Alliance Digital Media would be publishing The Pinball Arcade on Xbox 360 and that all previously released tables have been submitted to Microsoft for approval and release. More than a year later, FarSight announced on its Facebook page that the Xbox 360 edition was approved and set for release on May 11, 2015 with all current content.

DirectX 11 support for the PC version with improved graphics (e.g., dynamic lighting, ambient light settings, and adjustable bulb brightness) was released on July 2, 2015.

A version for Nintendo's Wii U console was initially planned for release as close to November 18, 2012 as possible, the version was not submitted to Nintendo until December 2012. Final submission was confirmed in late July 2013 and it was announced in June that it would release in September 2013, but there was no release. On December 23, 2015 they announced that the Wii U version will be released at a very early 2016 date. Nintendo announced that the game was officially available on the Nintendo eShop on April 21, 2016.

On December 9, 2016, FarSight Studios announced Arcooda Pinball Arcade in cooperation with Arcooda, an Australian manufacturer of arcade and gaming machines. The game is an enhanced version of The Pinball Arcade running in a cabinet.

On January 27, 2017, FarSight Studios added the first table by a fifth distinct manufacturer, Alvin G. and Company, with Al's Garage Band Goes On a World Tour.

Announced

Due to the suggestive themes of some adult-themed tables, FarSight Studios announced on December 24, 2013 that they are planning a spin-off called Pinball After Dark.

FarSight plans to add a Head to Head Mode and Oculus Rift support to The Pinball Arcade.

Linux

On December 24, 2013, FarSight announced that they have begun working on the Steam Linux version of The Pinball Arcade.

New Nintendo 3DS

The Nintendo 3DS version was planned to be called Pinball Hall of Fame and should only feature non-emulated newly scripted electro-mechanical tables and tables using early alphanumeric and numeric displays from Williams and Gottlieb such as Black Knight, Space Shuttle, Pin*Bot, Gorgar, Taxi, Funhouse and Whirlwind. In February 2015, lead Developer Bobby King had confirmed about moving development to New Nintendo 3DS to include all tables.

Kickstarter

FarSight Studios launched a Kickstarter project in order to cover the cost to acquire the necessary licenses to publish Bally/Midway's Twilight Zone table. FarSight Studios pledged to also digitize Williams' Star Trek: The Next Generation table if the Twilight Zone project reached double its $55,000 goal ($110,000). Funding of the Twilight Zone was successful. A total of $77,499 was raised to fund licensing for Twilight Zone. FarSight Studios President Jay Obernolte signed the license agreement for Twilight Zone on June 8, 2012. Surplus funds, after deductions from unfulfilled pledges and processing fees, were applied to a new Kickstarter project for Star Trek: The Next Generation that was launched August 17, 2012. This project was also successfully funded.

On June 21, 2013, FarSight Studios issued a Kickstarter to digitize Terminator 2: Judgment Day. As of July 21, 2013 it successfully surpassed the $59,000 goal with $62,360 raised.

A similar Kickstarter campaign was utilized to digitize The Addams Family for release in February 2015. The $97,640 goal was reached on October 7, 2014, with $17,636 in excess funds being designated towards acquiring their next big-license table.

On December 25, 2015, FarSight Studios announced on Facebook that the next Kickstarter would be for Bally's Doctor Who. The goal of $54,364 was reached on February 13, 2016 with $16,566 in excess.

FarSight's most recent Kickstarter project launched on May 2, 2016 with plans to digitize Stern's AC/DC pinball table for Stern Pinball Arcade; the announced funding goal was $108,435. Due to a new partnership, this Kickstarter was canceled as the intended funding was no longer necessary.

Tables

Tables are available in season packs and pro packs allowing players to buy all tables of a season at once. Although tables are not necessarily released to all platforms and/or regions simultaneously, there are currently 83 published tables. (including The Addams Family: Gold Edition.)

Pro Menus

In late October 2012, FarSight Studios began to release "Pro Menu" upgrades for previously released tables. The upgrade lets the player control the camera to look around the table, control the ball, learn tips from pro players, and view the coin door and use the operator's menu. For Scared Stiff, it also grants the ability to turn off family mode with an uncensored voice-over. Pro Menus are not available on various tables because the mode didn't exist on the actual tables.

Exclusive tables

The Addams Family Special Collector's Gold Edition (The Addams Family table with gold accents as well as software and game play enhancements) is available through "Gold Mode" exclusively to Kickstarter backers who donated over $100.

Future releases

FarSight Studios often promotes future tables on its social media outlets and, if licensing is necessary, on Kickstarter. No future releases are currently announced.

Reception

The Pinball Arcade was well received by critics. It averages 84.83% for Xbox 360, 81.67% for PS3 and 80.00% for PlayStation Vita at GameRankings and 82/100 for Xbox360, 79/100 for PlayStation Vita and 82/100 for iOS at Metacritic. IGN gave 9/10 for the PC and PS4 version of The Pinball Arcade and concluded: "For pinball fanatics or just those curious about gaming’s relatively low-tech past, Pinball Arcade is an excellent starting point for re-experiencing the golden days of quarter-munchers."

The Pinball Arcade won best mobile game of 2012 in X-Play's Best of 2012 Awards and was also nominated for best remake/retro release in 2012. The PC World website listed The Pinball Arcade at number 100 on their top 100 best products of 2012.

A BBC News article described virtual pinball games such as The Pinball Arcade as a way to preserve pinball culture and bring it to new audiences.