Pinball FX 3

Did You Know?

• The Balls of Glory pack was delisted on August 28, 2024.
• The game won the award for 'Game, Special Class' at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards.
• It was nominated for the Central Park Children's Zoo Award for Best Kids Game at the New York Game Awards 2018.

Development

Pinball FX 3 was the first game in the series to target both Microsoft and non-Microsoft platforms, as Zen Studios' earlier Pinball FX titles were on Microsoft platforms and Zen Pinball games on non-Microsoft ones. Zen stated that a majority of previously purchased downloadable content tables from Pinball FX 2 or Zen Pinball 2 would be available at no cost, though licensing issues prevented some tables from being carried over; more than fifty tables would transfer, with only about half a dozen not making the transition. The game launched with three new tables based on Universal Pictures properties: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future, and Jaws, with additional tables in development. The Nintendo Switch version, released in December 2017, included one free table and 29 purchasable DLC tables at launch, and supported portrait mode and device tilting to simulate table tilting. After release, players reported low frame rates and poor graphics on some tables; Zen initially said they were working on a patch but announced in March 2018 that no universal fix existed and they would not patch existing tables. Following negative backlash, Zen reversed course and committed to a summer 2018 performance update that would raise handheld performance to 60fps and docked resolution to 1080p Full HD for all existing tables. The Switch version omitted Zen's Marvel and Star Wars pinball tables; the Star Wars tables were later released separately as a standalone compilation titled Star Wars Pinball in 2019.