OP

Quoted from brundaged:

No one wants to pay more, obviously. Can we please move past the grousing about it?
-Stern's 15k Batman 66 SLE is obviously a pricing experiment: They intend to learn how much demand there is for a much-higher priced game. They're not doing it to make money. 30 SLE games times an extra $6,000 per game is only $180,000. For a manufacturer of their size that's not enough to make a difference. But gathering data on how many people are willing to enter a contest just to be able to buy it is very valuable.
-JJP's Limited Edition Dialed In! really is limited: The $9,000 price is only good until the end of the year, after which the price is $12,500. So pay a deposit now and the game is theoretically worth more after December 31. At 9k the price is comparable to their other offerings, yet offers more. The theme is irrelevant to this discussion. For JJP, the pricing experiment is to see how many will commit to a deposit before the year is over. After that, they find out how many still want it at 12.5k.
Remember that companies can always lower prices--that's easy. The hard part is finding the pricing ceiling, which is what both companies are doing right now. The fact that they feel able to explore this tells us the market is strong. That's great news!