This is just my opinion so go ahead and blast me for it, but I think CGC is NUTS to be heading into new game development. I own an MMR CE and a Stranger Things Premium. I paid more for the MMR, and when I look at the BOM for each game I gotta believe the MMR was 2-5x more profitable for CGC than the STh was for Stern.
MMR starts with finished design and code (they pay PPS something for all the work that Williams did). They developed colored dots (which they charged everybody $400 extra for), they developed a PCB with embedded white LED’s to reduce assembly labor, everything above the Playfield is 1997 tech. And they have a ready-to-spend market waiting for them.
Stern had to pay Netflix, the Duffer Brothers, David Harbour. They paid Brian Eddy, et al, to design, code, etc. They have color changing LED’s, a projector, a large HD monitor and 2020 tech throughout. There have been about 10 code updates in the year that the game’s been released. All of which sounds expensive to me.
Why does CGC want to mess with all that when they have so many people (like me) who’d be excited to shell out $6-9K for a brand new reliable version of TOM, WH20, CV, TOTAN. Not to mention the licensed themes.
New games are great, but we need CGC to focus on getting more remakes out there. 25 year old machines are too old for the average person to keep running.
It’s a win-win... CGC will be more profitable and we’ll have more modern remakes of the classic 90’s Bally/Williams pins.