Not correct. There's 2 versions. The $9000 LE and the $12,500 "collectors edition". I think you have until the end of the year to order a CE, if memory serves.

SUSTAINABILITY. All the doom and gloom....I never played pinball in my life until a couple years ago...I now own 7. It's all gonna be fine, there's a ton of people out there. I hope they start innovating the playfield in more exciting ways. If they make them irresistible...

Batman '66 is most certainly a cash grab.

Actually, brundaged, you have very little knowledge of market economics. A company finding the "most profitable price" for their products is almost always trading an immediate-term gain for a longer-term loss.

Markets are strengthened when they can be broadened and product purchases are repeatable. Extracting every last dollar narrows the customer base by shrinking potential buyers while decreasing the likelihood of repeat purchases for expanded offerings. Price elasticity is the subject of basic business economic courses through Masters and Doctorate level programs.

Simply put, Stern and JJP are scavenging their own customer base while alienating those who could become potential customers.

OP already dismissed that.

The only thing you leave out in your calculations is the frustration that you lay on your consumer base.

For example, here in Canada we get gouged on Telecom services because there are only 3 big fish (Bell, Rogers, Shaw/Telus). These three big guns increased pricing for no real reason for years on internet, tv, mobile and phone services. Then netflix came along and completely changed the rules. This year alone, I'm one of 260K canadians that cancelled their TV service and went streaming solo only. I'm not even close to going back they pissed me off so much that I don't even bother looking at their offerings. Rogers tried launching shomi (netflix ripoff) and failed, Bell as craveTV but I'm sure they are not doing as well as netflix.

Point is, piss off someone long enough and you lose them as a client even if you lower the price of your items. When I cancelled they tried taking 60% off the price I was paying which a) pissed me off even more and b) proved to me that there entire platform was based on gouging.
To offset these loses they keep increasing the price... sometimes you can't even find the logic in it. It's like they are starring down a loaded barrel and don't even bother getting out of the way.

It might not relate exactly with pinball but principle is the same. A pissed off client base is never good for business even if you make record profits in the short term. It's shortsighted. I'm sure Bell still wonders where Netflix came from.

I don't have the answers here, but do you think that extra $180k is worth it to Stern in a strictly-dollars-and-cents way given the extra R&D, prototyping, etc. that must have gone into the SLE? Not to mention the costs of running that contest and the time that went into figuring out who should get offered one etc...? Maybe those costs are relatively small, I don't know, but overall the SLE seems more like a big promotional thing as well as a sort of market probe.

The 12k LE, though, that's some cash-grabbing right there...

That right there is well said.

Yeah well. He's incorrect.

My friend Taxman is getting 2 Batmans and 2 Dialed In.

Costs of running the contest? You mean jared looking at his email while hes watching netflix? Please now.

That's the problem, there is no more low end in NIB purchases.

80SLE x $15,000 = 1.2 million for 80 games...definitely a cash grab now. A company of this size would definitely like to add $750,000 profit to their bottom line for the year.

I wonder how much the girl swallowing a coat hanger cost at the Stern party. Or how much to have the bat mobile or Ecto-1 there. Charge outrageous amounts for for rebadged games and then spend money frivolously. Way to test your pricing market.

Agreed^^^

2016 seems to be the year two of the major pinball manufactures lost touch with the majority of their customers or at least me. So focused on large margin items or short term gains that they have actually damaged their reputation a little bit in my opinion. I've bought 5 NIB total from both companies in the last 12 months and I'm done with those two unless things change. For Stern to basically come out with a Pro Premium LE model and basically double the price doesn't sit well. This is America and it's their right as a business to operate as they see fit, but I won't support it. I'm a big fan of their pins, just not what their doing right now with respect to pricing and what you get.

Those new games have severe down side in my opinion and I just couldn't stand losing $2-4k each time I sold one. I'm gong to support other manufactures right now or buy nice used pins.

Generating profit for future development? First off, until recently they were using the pre-order model, so they were working with their customer's capital to profit. I've never heard of any consumer product so fortunate to have such a model: minimal capital outlay, predictable sales and very little financial risk. It's the equivalent of a casino giving you $25 to put in a slot machine that will pay you out $50 every pull.

Even with that model gone, what future development? There is very little extra tooling or capital outlay needed. They control they flow and volume of product. Their machines are just variations on an theme from an engineering sense. If this was the equivalent of say moving from 1080p to 4K, then I would understand it because there is the cost of advancing technology but that just isn't happening. Stern is now finally adding LCDs over DMDs. And that is likely saving them money because LCD costs are lower than DMD technology.

There isn't a ration argument that can be made for their pricing model other than price gouging. And they will continue to get away with it as long as people will pay. Doesn't matter how much bitching and moaning their is. Its the pocketbook that does the voting. Frankly, I was thrilled that the DI reveal at Expo was met with silence. The optimist in me was hoping that JJP (and others) would say that they've finally pushed too far. But we will see the inevitable rationalizing, likely. And people will plop down $12.5K for these pains. You know...a fool and their money is soon parted.

This is the area of the pinball market most ripe for expansion. Anyone want to start a pinball company focused on value?

Yup now where's the pinball netflix!

Agree with the OP on manufacturers' intentions, but the result for the customer is something like going to the Ford dealer and finding that they won't sell you the Ford Focus because the new base models are Fusion or Mustang. Then you go next door and all they sell there is BMW now. New Stern or JJP pinball is not for the average Joe any more, and we're grieving this like any other loss.

If I knew they would sell 6000+ Pro/premium units into the arcade/bar/location business, providing the hobby with a pile of beaters in need of TLC in 3 to 8 years, I wouldn't give the "new" price a second thought. Let time do its thing, shut up and wait. I don't see that happening.

Well it started at 30 SLE then Gary had a little radio interview which you can find on their FB page and he said it is now 80. Ok even though I don't necessarily agree with your second line, 80SLE x 6,000= $480,000 of pure profit added to your bottom line for the year.

How is it good for pinball when an operator has to charge $2 per game to afford to put a new machine out on location? No thanks, I'll just play this one over here for $.50. Also who wants to put a machine that costs that much out where it can get damaged?

The collectors market for the most part involves collecting and not as much playing (no offense, I have machines too) and the most exposure and use a pin can get is usually in the wild. It is what will keep pinball relevant for the future.

I would argue that making machines that cost this much when they are only a little fancier than the older and much cheaper pinball machines is not good for the hobby.

I'm getting so angry about these prices I'm trying to contemplate how to pull that off.

Why do we need lcds and Bluetooth and so forth? Can't someone make 80's Bally style games for 4k? Great art, great gameplay, and great value.

If Heighway is the low end the entire market is broken.

The playfield swap adds value though, definitely.

It keeps the flippers away! Oh wait, the manufacturers are the flippers now!

It's a BDKVE but nice try on the R&D line.

You know what really pisses me off about all this crap: the fact that most of us can't afford these "luxury items" now, so all the cheap used pins are going up.....

When this house of cards comes to the ground, I couldn't be happier.

The development costs on art ok I'll give you that 480,000 minus the 5k development difference from SLE vs LE 475,000 pure profit.

Even if $2 is OK for one of us to pay to play a pinball, novices and kids will never get their moneys worth. Remember when you first started playing? Pinball was a huge waste of your quarters until you learned how to play. The future is in getting new players.

Also I love pinball! If a $12,000 game showed up at $2 a play I would probably play 3 games on it total. No more.

This is crazy talk. This is a full on cash grab with Batman '66 and, because of Stern, JJP saw room to price up their game, so they're doing so.

These prices are unsustainable. I'm not priced out yet, but I'm done with NIB games. It no longer makes any rational sense to be paying these costs when there's no increase in game features and quality. Adding an LCD screen doesn't count as new features, because it's actually cheaper than a DMD display. Stern is raising margins as fast as they can, and it's greedy.

Do you think that their new investors really care about pinball? No. They just want to get their money back, turn a profit, and go find the next company to play with. When Stern (and JJP) took outside money, this was always going to be the end result. The investors will milk the customer base for as much as they can and move on.

There's no good reason for pinball to cost this much, especially from the two companies that build at the largest scale. It's all greed.

Never thought "10K by Christmas" would sound like a good deal.

Home collectors can't afford them
Operators don't want them because it doesn't make sense as a business model

Who's left?

This is not emotional, this is rational talk. They're pumping as much air into an ever thinning bubble as they can. The bottom is going to fall out if they keep this up.

There is no way that a mass market can support these prices. Operators won't want to put $9,000-$12,000 machines on location, and if they do, they won't pay off for a very long time.

$1 a play is already turning people off. $2 a play is a complete non-starter. It won't work.

That will be a fun talk with the shareholders. They ramped up prices way too quickly.