Quoted from Frax:I haven't heard of a single case of this with Hobbit, so what's the excuse for JACK'ing Hobbit prices? =P
It is the opposite. People were backing out because reality kicked in. This game is terribly overpriced. Put it next to WoZ and add in the fact that a WoZ can be had for less. Ouch.
Given the choice between what people played at expo (and any improvements that could be made at this point) vs Stern LOTR, and I'd imagine people would rather have a used LOTR to fulfill their Tolkien needs.