This looks like a good game, and I expect it will sell well. I'm pleased that JJP is lowering the standard price. Look, we all love how JJP went balls-out on some of their builds, but there's a sweet spot between price and features. If you go too far one way or the other, you cut into sales. Stern sometimes goes too cheap, and it bites them. JJP sometimes goes too balls-out, and that's gotta be hard on a newer, smallish company. I love my PotC. Absolutely love it. It's my GOAT pin. But even my standard was a lot of freakin' money, and I think JJP realized they were pushing that envelope too much.
Dial back a *little* on features while still staying a solid notch above Stern in features at every tier, to justify overall higher price structure and occupy a different place in the market.
All that being said, I won't buy this one, despite the fact that it looks like a fun flipper... mainly because buying PotC this year tapped me out on pin purchases for like the next century. It's a nice unit, though... and the screen animations are A+, as usual with JJP. I think this is a winner. Not the GOAT... no, no. But a winner. And the better pricing structure is VERY welcome IMHO.