I have heard the number $50,000 bandied about as the cost of the licensing for previous stern games. Is it possible the Batman 66 license was just way more expensive than that? Like 100k or 250k? So they have to bust out this crazy price structure because otherwise the games couldn't get made? And thats why it's done by Ka-pow? It's possible that some games can't be made at the lower price point so in exchange they create this crazy LE structure to justify the cost. Kind of how like pinball arcade does its kick starters for licenses that otherwise wouldn't be commercially viable? Just spitballing of course.
As long as Stern still has a $5k ish pro out there for other games I'm not too bothered. I can't afford Batman 66 but it was never made for me anyways.