Quoted from YKpinballer:In 2013 pro models were being released at ~$4600 shipped to your door. LOTR is a pin that has already been developed and requires very little tweaking. Am I missing something here?
Yes. It's a Whitestar game. They're not going to do another run of Whitestar games. The SAM system is practically on its way out. It would have to be re-coded for SAM (or the new system) ...so, that's porting the game to a new system...that's more than "very little tweaking". Also, if it was re-coded for SAM, they'd likely have to remaster all of the audio.
Also, LOTR has far more going on than most Pro models. Releasing a game with "Premium" level features at a price point of their current Pro line won't make their current Pros look very good.