Why Pinball FX DLC trophies are going away (and what’s replacing them)

Pinball FX launches on PS5 and PS4 today, 16th February 2023, parting ways with the traditional boatloads of DLC trophies. We asked developer Zen Studios about the change.

As the core Pinball FX trophies went live on PS5 and PS4, we learned from talking to Zen Studios that the new Pinball FX would not include the usual DLC trophies for individual pinball tables. We were surprised to hear these trophies weren't coming back after having been a series staple ever since Zen Pinball trophies first hit PS3. However, according to the developers, it appears the new Pinball FX was "stretching the limits" of just how many DLC trophies some platforms would allow.

Pinball FX DLC trophies are still with us... from a certain point of view.

Pinball FX DLC trophies are getting replaced with in-game collectables

Back in 2012, Zen Pinball 2 changed the way trophies worked for Zen Studio's pinball games. Since the game was listed on the PS Store as a free-to-download title, all the spending a player would do on the game was by purchasing individual themed tables in DLC packs. That meant the core Zen Pinball 2 trophies on the base game list had to be like the new Pinball FX trophies, focusing more on the game's features that could be tracked regardless of which pinball table you were playing.

To give players a trophy challenge related to the pinball table they were playing, Zen Studios attached DLC trophies to each of its tables instead. These DLC trophies would also feature in 2017's Pinball FX 3, but this time around the new Pinball FX would only be including those core trophies. While each table only ever featured one or two small bronze trophies, unlocking these rewards did offer some real satisfaction for players, so it was disappointing to hear they wouldn't be coming back.

To help understand why the new Pinball FX wouldn't be receiving these DLC trophies, we reached out to Zen Studios for some answers. The explanation for the change, according to Marketing Director Ákos Györkei, ultimately seems to come down to the platforms Pinball FX is releasing on: "There are certain platforms where you can have a limited number of achievements. With this much DLC we are stretching these limits."

By "this much DLC," Györkei is referring to the over 70 tables launching alongside Pinball FX — all of which arrive today, and not just on PS5 and PS4, but Xbox platforms, Steam, Epic Games Store, and the Nintendo Switch (the latter of which doesn't even have its own trophies or achievements). Between these various platforms, an upper limit for DLC trophies was apparently about to be hit; if not now, then at some point when new tables are released for the game in the near future.

Still, limits or no, it was disappointing to hear that there would simply not be any individual table trophies to earn. In response to this, however, Györkei was quick to add that there would be an alternative for those looking to maintain that classic DLC trophy challenge: "We elected to create ‘table awards’ in-game so we can have as many [trophies as] we’d like, keep the ‘ding’ feeling, and reward a collectable after you get the award."

Some of the collectables available during Pinball FX Early Access.

"These internal challenges are created in the same spirit for [both] existing and new tables as well. Each one will vary in difficulty, but we’ll definitely have a few hard ones in there. My personal favourite was the Iron Man Wizard Mode one in Pinball FX3, I’m still really, really proud that I got it."

High difficulty? Collectables? A ding? The in-game awards sound more-or-less exactly like the little trinkets we're used to collecting, and in fact, they might just be a little better. The "collectables" in the new Pinball FX take the form of little bits of customisable decor you can use to kit out your in-game pinball room. Collectables shown so far include Marvel and Star Wars-themed posters and carpets, and little displays and action figures to adorn the shelves around your pinball tables.

Will we see Borderlands collectables in there too?

Not to dismiss the power of a bronze trophy — these little markers for success are the lifeblood of the very website you're reading. Though ever since PlayStation Home on the PS3 put the idea in my head, it's been one of my personal dreams to take those bronze trophies and display them proudly in a digital space. If those trophies were instead to take the form of a Baby Yoda plushie or something for having beat the new Mandalorian table, that would be probably just as good.

We'll soon see for ourselves just how effective these new table awards are at replacing our beloved DLC trophies, but at face value, it certainly sounds like a fair trade. Let us know if you'll be checking out the newly launched Pinball FX today, and if so, which table have you got your eyes on?

More Pinball FX stories:

PlayStation 5

Written by Lee Brady

Staff Writer Lee keeps one eye on the future (Shadow x Sonic Generations), one eye on the past (PS1, PS2, and PS3 games), and his secret third eye on junk he really likes (Final Fantasy, Sonic, Kingdom Hearts). A PlayStation fan since childhood, he loves nothing more than to scrutinize PS Plus and PS5 player data.