Quoted from Whysnow:even simple math says that a full cab with paint = 1k
full board set = 1k
populated pf w 2 flippers, a few pops, a few spinners, a 4 bank of drops, a bunch of standups = 1.5 k
various crap I am forgetting = $500
4k for a machine
A real company tosses in scale of production and bring down the cost a bunch.
Work it form the inverse direction, YES a simple classic game is way simpler to build than a Stern Pro. If Stern is killing it will current modern games selling at 5500 then they can surely shave 1k from BOM making a Seawitch and sell a tone of them at $4500. I am amazed they are not doing it TBT. Call it the classic model and offer 1 er year of all their best titles.
You are missing a lot of costs here. Employee salaries and benefits, insurance, rent, utilities, machinery, permits, taxes, etc. And, of course, there needs to be some profit built in so they can invest in the business.
Stern is not a good example as they likely have very large economies of scale.
