It's pretty funny that so many of you are accusing stern of trying to make the most profit they can. That is exactly what every company large or small is trying to do. Especially companies that have outside backers. I think the OP said it very well and represented what a lot of people feel. But there are a lot of others that just seem to be whining because games cost more then they want to pay now and they still want NIB pins so they are pissed.

It's real simple, stop buying them and things will change. This literally happens on every new game stern releases. There's a huge uproar and no one is ever buying another one until things change. 5 months later the next license that someone has to have is released with a $200 or more price increase and the same people buy the game and then whine and say never again. Fast forward 5 months and history keeps repeating itself. I think some of you need help with your OCD NIB pin buying habits. They do not seem to be bringing you the happiness that you seek.

Not going to happen. At least half the pinball people I know have already moved on and are excited for the GOTG release. Pinball people have very short memories and just can't seem to help themselves. It will have more toys as Borg games always do and be the same price as SW. People will justify it as its a cool theme with good art and toys unlike what they thought SW was. There will be 400 LE's and people will be fighting to get one.

You just listed things that you think an LE should be required to have and yet you bought either LE's or premiums of sterns last 2 releases? Why did you buy them if you are so pissed at stern? Your logic for pricing on the secondary market is also very off. JJP games have lost more value in most cases than stern games. A year from now you will be able to buy a DILE for $7500 and Hobbits for $5500 HUO.

Learn to read dude. DILE's are going to be plentiful and will take a 1K hit on the HUO market. My post said nothing about NIB DILE's Your post was literally about sterns losing value. So what in the world are you trying to say?

There are still some SWLE's available. They seem to be slowly drying up though. I've actually heard the exact opposite on sterns year. BM66 is not selling any premiums, KISS is not selling, GB is still selling but has dramatically slowed down, AS pro sold pretty well but not great and there are still LE's available, SW sold decent but not as well as expected for the huge license and just like all of the games previously listed premiums are not selling well at all. Maybe they were counting the ACDC distributor sales into that as I'm sure it is going to do very well. But otherwise, their new releases are struggling horribly. Add in QC issues and things do not look bright at all. Then you factor in that CGC pretty much gave them the middle finger and have taken 1500-2500 sales away from them, JJP is doing well with DI now that it's shipping, and Spooky to a much smaller extent just took up 250 or so more sales from stern with TNA. Maybe they sold a ton of ACDC's and that is why they are claiming that. Should be a huge red flag to them that a game from 5 years ago does better then their new releases though if that is in fact the case.

JJP is ramping up to do at least one title per year now. CGC has been a huge success and will be releasing their next remake very soon and has the potential to make 3500 or so games per year without ramping up or adding another line. Each Spooky release is getting larger. All of these things added in with cutting in features result in less sales. Prices are going way up to cover the drop in sales and the cost of sterns QC problems. If stern could make a good profit and still sell LE's for $5500 they would do just that and kill the competition. Everyone thinks price increases are because of greed and them screwing you. It's not, it's because they have a dwindling bottom line due to a larger building, QC issues, and lower sales.

Not exactly how it works. They are dealing with numerous suppliers of parts and just like at every manufacturing factory there will be bad batches of parts, unforeseen issues, recalls, delays, etc. When these things happen that cost the company money they can't just continue to eat it. You can blame them all you want but the same thing happens with every type of manufactured product. It's also not just stern. People seem to have quickly forgotten a $6500 WOZ. JJP had part issues, cabinet supply issues, board issues, etc and it turned out that they had to increase the price 30% to make money on it. Do you really expect them to just eat all of that and bankrupt the company?

All I know what I've been told from a couple of different distros. Maybe some are doing better then others and maybe in other areas certain games are selling better. I still think AS is sterns best game since Metallica and am shocked it has not taken off and done better.

No one said anything about financial statements. It's basic business. If stern can make a good profit at a lower price and slowly price out their competition they certainly would. Price increases have been continuous since the move to the new building. Price increases happen almost solely due to a decrease in the bottom line.

Maybe I'm just the only one that likes it that much then. I think it's great though. Not a theme I love but great art, good toys, solid code, fun as heck for me.

Strange, I have never seen anything like that from KT or Charlie who are Spooky. Never had a bad response online, at shows, by email, or on the phone.