Quoted from brundaged:This is a thoughtful point. I'm not sure I can see it working that way though. The fact that people are so emotionally invested here suggests they can be pulled back.
Manufacturers can absolutely pull back.
This is not a new concept.
Stern has done it before in the mid 2000s when sales slumped.
Unfortunately, the damage is normally already done at this point, and hard to repair the "trust".
Ask old WMS management what happened in the mid 1990s regarding operators trust and game prices.
Owners might recall the term, "production overstock closeout".
The games STILL did not sell, at reduced prices (and the games were actually GOOD such NGG, MB, JM, CV, etc) and operators were still unwilling to buy.
AGC, Capcom, DE, GTB, and Sega games went dirt cheap at times as well, sometimes at the point, they were left sitting on loading docks.
However, trust was not the only problem, the final latter point was also caused by WMS completing against their own older titles, and pinball interest was waning again.
It was not due to a "market flood" of new titles, although operators did have a lot of choices.
They just chose not to buy any more pinball machines.
Why is this important you might ask?
Private owners have replaced operators not only as a primary market, but the ones that manufacturers have to gain "trust" from in the first place.
Are they really making an outstanding effort to meet the market's expectations at the current time?
Build quality decreases yet price continue to increase of proportion of the economy or owner market?
People waiting over 2+ years for pre-order with constantly changing production dates?
Physical game date releases that are based on fantasy rather than actual production?
Hard to maintain trust in these situations in the long haul.
People are started to get a little wanky on these problems.
Stern has done an amazing job of alienating many long time hardcore collectors in a extremely short period of time with the BM66 shenanigan, mostly out of the the visibility of "here we go again" mentality with price testing.
Many are just sitting back and watching now, and would prefer to not get involved let alone emotionally invested.
It just does not matter.
We just focus on other pursuits until times change again, or buy older games while the spotlight is one the newer titles.
There are plenty of choices beyond BM66, DI, Alien, TBL, GB, Full Throttle, WoZ, TH or anything else released in the last 5 years.
Many EMs are still very affordable, and a fantastic buy for starting owners.
Things come into focus in time.
However, no one can stop the money train of newer collectors until it derails.
We need maximum manufacturer competition to balance pricing in the market.
My vote is for American Pinball if they can get Houdini into a new padlocked, watertight, pinball manufacturer shipping box that actually plays.
I would prefer to have those who "trusted" on MG to get their games first.
Priority in my opinion.