So PPS or whoever owns the Williams rights licensed this to them? This is crazy. I mean I have zero pinball industry experience but I am totally missing the market for this. Wouldn't really wealthy collectors want originals in pristine shape?

This smells like peak pinball madness.

The super LE stuff wasn't started by Stern. The move "up-market" began earlier. jersey jack founded his whole company on the basis that there were collectors who wanted to spend $6k on games when sterns were 4K. His old convention pitches were all about how cheap Stern was and how he could provide a box full of toys for just a little more.

5 years later $6k is a "bargain" price and the games have moved severely up-market. Of course in those 5 years we've seen stock market madness... a bunch of nouveau-riche middle age guys wanting to blow money on status symbol pinball and arcade stuff. How long this lasts? IMHO it lasts until the next recession, which will probably take out a few of these boutique manufacturers.