Quoted from pcprogrammer:I was told when I did a tour of the Stern factory that they have all the machines they are coming out with already planned out for several years. I found that interesting.
I remember hearing that Stern has, at least, a 5 stage release process. Game that JUST came out (BM66 at this point), game coming out (Aerosmith), game in testing (next game), game in white wood stage (next-next) and game far along on paper (next-next-next). From there I heard they have a large stock of licenses in various states of agreement.
It wouldn't surprise me if this "5 stage" process was actually a separate process for more than one developer, leading to several years of games in more or less ready-to-test stages.
Regarding the next games, I'm interested to hear more too. These new games look fun and I'll play them on route, but I'm not excited enough about them to own them. If Iron Maiden ends up actually being a thing, I agree it's too soon. Maybe that's next January's game?