Quoted from brucipher:Do you not understand how this upgrade works? The color upgrade IS a software upgrade. Anyone who updated to the 2.0.1 code already has the color installed on their machine. It is all in the software. People are paying $200-$400 to unlock a part of the 2.0.1 code.
The color upgrade is a feature upgrade. It does not matter that you already have the hardware it requires, or that they have released a free software update that contains the feature and are charging money to unlock it.
Quoted from RTR:This is more than an update, more than a feature even, it is a product. The unlock deal is paying for the product. They aren't making anyone pay to make a full color display (that you are already enjoying) better.
Software companies do it all the time. There are lots of products already loaded up and ready to go on your computer or within games you have purchased, you just pay to unlock them.
The argument that something was late or there was a problem with my playfield doesn't = free color display. They are just different issues.
Still, the only argument here that makes any sense to me is if Rick said that everyone, or some subset of everyone, was going to get this product for free. Those people may have a complaint, but I am still unclear on how that went down.
Exactly.
And it's not just software companies that do things this way. Take Tesla Motors for example.
Every vehicle they sell (each of which cost way more than an $8000 pinball game)
contains the necessary hardware sensors and software support for Autopilot. Owners have the option of paying $2,500 to enable the Autopilot features at the time of purchase, or $3,000 to enable them at a future time via an over the air settings change. Nobody is complaining that they paid for hardware that is on their car that they will never use, and nobody is complaining that it costs money to enable the extra features that already exist on their cars.
Similarly, they also sell over the air updates to unlock additional battery capacity, https://www.inverse.com/article/15318-tesla-reveals-model-s-has-over-the-air-battery-upgrade-what-other-features-is-it-hiding or to unlock the ability to use their SuperCharger network for cars that did not include it. http://shop.teslamotors.com/collections/model-s/products/enable-supercharging
Portland, OR
Saint John, NB
