I'm hoping for some sort of medieval castle toy....that shakes and possibly collapses! That would be madness!

Nope - Stern's Facebook page is their promotional tool, not an egalitarian democracy....and they can treat it however they like....frankly, if I were Stern I would be doing everything in my power to AVOID that page turning into the typical pinside bitch-a-thon. I know there is a microcosm of people here that think incessant bitching and whining = "discussion", but to most people its just a depressing morass of endless complaints. Hey, that exists here! No need for it in multiple places, right!

As for GoT....I am really trying to think of a time I wasn't underwhelmed by an initial release of Sterns.....good god, I laughed at Star Trek when the first pics were released. Dull art, visually tepid playfield.....etc. I wrote it off entirely. Then a co-worker questioned my opinion in a constructive way and had me come over for some hands on. It was insanely fun. The gameplay and and overall tone with audio & DMD mixed in made the game a must have. Its my favorite pin in my collection currently. Just ONE more game! My only point being, STERN and Ritchie have been around the block and chances are this game will be fun. Personally, the premium would be on my list of I had endless room and money - it reminds me of a modern Swords of Fury which is a nostalgic hot button for me.

Game of Thrones boasted 8+ million viewers for its season finale. Second most popular cable show behind Walking Dead. Comparing it to network broadcast television is apples and oranges. People actually pay to watch GoT.....no one is paying for Dancing with the Stars.

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/game-of-thrones-finale-ratings-jon-snow-cersei-1201519719/

Thread TL;DR -

Everything is subjective

Not to disagree with the broader points made, but just a note: there are two distinct licenses for Walking Dead. The TV Show and the comic books. TellTale Games has a license for the comic (same with the pinball fx table)

Just another theory as well since we are all armchair quarterbacking: HBO just isn't that adept with licensing properties in terms of art direction. Every company is different. Stern, left to their own devices, makes its as cheap as possible. That's a pretty standard business approach. Unless I am forgetting something (highly likely!) what's has HBO really had that's been steeped in licensing outside of Sopranos and GoT. Not saying their legal/business approach is slack, but they may be hands off otherwise. A company like Fox? They were there at ground zero with a Planet of the Apes and Star Wars. Two original ground breaking licensing juggernauts. They probably have a much more micro managed approach. All conjecture of course! But Stern has a history of cheap and dodgy art *cough* Rolling Stones *cough*