Newtown, PA
My theory....
The launch price of WOZ was probably too low, but helped fund the start up of the company.... not a sustainable price. We have also heard that distributors have smaller margins on JJP pins, if true, supports there is pressure on gross profit / income margins.
But once that price is out there, you have something that people anchor too.... and are left with two choices....
1. scale back features of future games, keep price relatively flat and go head 2 head with Stern. not a fun choice. and not what they set up to be..
2. start taking price as you launch new games and editions.... they took this path.
The other challenge JJP has is volume. Fixed costs is a real thing, they have a building, they have workers, they have taxes, utlilities, etc.... So IF volume has been declining.... cost per unit game produced go up.... once again, more pressure on cost, thus need more price.
POTC stopping production this quickly.....
- maybe it is simply costing more to make then they realized... and thus not anxious to keep it on the line.... (this should not be the case though, forecasting COGS, bill of materials, labor, overhead, etc.... is really important to get right).
- maybe as everyone has said the demand just was not as big as they had hoped... and they have some juggernaut titles ready to go, so why not shift gears.....they can always come back to POTC (maybe it gets to a cult status and they bring it back next year).
Why YBR:
- my guess is that their is more demand for the game.... I can imagine that new people/families coming into the hobby not knowing much and that WOZ is a really attractive game. So I think it is aimed at new people coming into the hobby. Why the price ? Allows distributors to get more margin and for JJP to get more margin, and they are probably testing the price point to see if it still moves...
- why the monkey mech got removed, I dont know.... especially given the price increase.... I was guessing maybe the source for that part was no longer around and they had a choice to re-engineer and find a new supplier or do something simpler.... and they took simpler.
In regards to the collectors and limited editions, I am not that person... but I can definitely see why folks who are into that get upset... to me it looks like JJP will continue to do multiple limited runs/versions of games.
Although I don't like to see price increases JJP needs a business model that will work.... lets say for a second that they need to improve financials:
1. Increase sales volume: quickly move to your believed juggernaut titles (WW, toy story, etc...). This they are doing.
2. Increase volume: Make the product more differentiated, I don't think they need to do this, they are already top tier by a long shot on features.
3. Find a way to maintain product features and reduce costs/price eventually... easier said then done given they are probably swamped trying to get the pins out. The key would be to figure out what is must have vs. what is nice to have.... and cut nice to have (keeping the customer at the front here).
Wishing JJP the best, Dialed In on my radar for a pin I really want. My kids love it and I think it is really fun. I also really enjoy WOZ. Pricing of new pins is a bit much for me.... but hey, I'm not everyone so JJP needs to see if it can find its portion of the market and make it work.
