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.

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.

Want to know how we already know it's bad for pinball? There were three major games unveiled (Dialed In, Batman '66, Aliens) at Expo this year and the biggest talking point is the price of the games. We're not focused on cost over content. Good job, guys. Way to go.

Same here. It was my 8th Stern and my 3rd Stern NIB. It was also the last.

Tapping unto a high end market would be a valid strategy, but these aren't high end machines. The price is high(est) end, but Batman '66 is pretty sparse. It has less features than Stern's previous release, and it's built with the same process. We're not talking a Time vs. a Rolex. We're taking two Timex watches, one just priced as a Rolex.