Quoted from cpr9999:For LE owners I will say in all fairness Sterns business model (until very recently) has been to hype the shit out of the game and sell LEs out long before code hits 1.0 or greater.
Stern is trying to change this by releasing games at 1.0 (as of very recent); however most people buying LEs still expect decent code updates. That was Sterns long-standing business model!!!! Hard to think past what they created.
Unfortunately for Munster LE owners the double hit / change happened at same time. Stern sticking to new 1.0 view (code is “done”) and Munsters was coded as a simple coded, throw back machine.
Let the data speak....review the LE read me files on Sterns website and you will see “healthy code updates” on most of their recent games post 1.0. Unfortunately not for Munsters LE so far. This is from a longtime LE buyer of many Sterns (well .....no longer). Sold 5 of my Stern LEs in 18 months!
Fool me once...never again.
I will buy used LEs or wait for the premium.
Stern definitely pulled a fast one on Munsters buyers, starting with changing the number of LEs right out of the gate. The LEs sold out almost instantly long before the now infamous Dwight comments. There was *zero* discussion at TPF of “the code is pretty much done” and no reason for LE buyers to think the game was going to be different than any other recent game. I had a day 2 LE order that I cancelled because I really couldn’t wrap my head around the art package and decided to get a Premium because the b/w art package was awesome.
TPF was a great reveal, there was great energy for the game, Borg’s session was awesome and then *poof* - Stern pulled the rug out. And they know what they did because Munsters sales just dropped almost instantly after Dwight’s video. Stern has since added code to support the topper and very little else. Every single LE buyer (most of whom had to commit before it was even possible to play a game) got shafted IMO because, all of a sudden, it was “we want to ship 1.0 code at release, so what you see is what you get”.
No other recent game has had so little attention given to it post-launch. I’ve always been pretty sure the rumors of “a big update is coming” was started by a dealer who saw orders dry up as soon as Dwight’s comments were made. And I’ve hoped, without any peep from Stern, that was true. But the longer we hear nothing the more I think Stern is perfectly happy letting this wonderful title just fade away.
Stern seems to take LE buyers for suckers. Why aren’t they produced last after all the kinks are ironed out? Because LEs have the highest margin and Stern wants to sell as many to super fans of the theme as fast as they can before anyone knows what’s what.
I am still pissed at what Stern did to Munsters and feel for so many who decided to move on, not because Munsters is a bad game but because Stern was hellbent on pushing out a throwback game to address a problem that never actually existed and then did nothing when they realized collectors weren’t clamoring for that kind of experience.
All of my Sterns have been NIB LEs. But I can’t be in the LE FOMO camp any more because I have little faith Stern will do right by those folks.