Honestly, the more that comes out the more I believe that Andy is or was firmly stuck in his formative years as far as creative inspiration is concerned. Motorbikes, Alien, Queen and Playboy - can you get more 80s?
The sad part is that this whole endeavour could have been a success if he had only listened to those around him. He’s the classic ‘visionary’ manager who believes that if he can imagine something, it’s both possible and viable - we’ve all likely worked for someone similar.
Visionary managers aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but they have to be both receptive to constructive criticism, and have an ego that’s firmly in check. Unfortunately it sounds like Andrew believed that if he could dream it, someone else could make it - and was unwilling to compromise his vision for the sake of reality. A visionary manager with an out of check ego and little practical experience in his or her industry is a recipe for complete disaster, as we’ve seen here
Yes, there’s more to the story, and Andrew made a catalogue of other poor decisions to compound the situation - but it does seem that his total inability to listen to anything but his own ideas and ego led him down a path that was unsalvageable.
It’s a shame. A UK based pinball company could have been a great thing - but in broad terms, a salesman is not CEO material.