Quoted from GotAQuestion:

Isoquants and Isocosts. I would bet that Stern has not only "looked at the market", but made graphs, projections, and a whole lot of pretty charts showing that this is the way to profit.
Companies make decisions on one thing and one thing alone, dollar signs.
No decision is a blind guess. It's all based in cold hard data.

Quoted from GotAQuestion:

On pinside. A niche forum for highly dedicated dedicated hobbyists with, you must admit, an EXTREMELY pessimistic general view on things.
We know it's lacking features compared to $6000 machines but some random nobody who wants a NIB but doesn't want to pay real NIB prices? Time will tell. There's a demand for it.
I also find it funny that people say "games shouldn't cost $6,195" and "the game that costs $4,000 sucks" in the same thread. People asked for a $4,000 game. Spider Man Home Edition is what $4,000 worth of game gets you. From what I hear, the $4,000-ish HomePin early reception is that it feels cheap too. In allllllllllll my other hobbies there's a familiar saying - "you get what you pay for". I'm not surprised the budget games feels like budget games.

Quoted from TRAMD:

I have purchased 3 NIB pins in the last couple months. They are a Ghostbusters Pro, a standard Wizard of Oz and a Smaug SE The Hobbit. The Ghostbusters cost me $5500 with shipping and has functioned perfectly and has been enjoyed dozens of times by me and my guests. The Hobbit Smaug SE and Wizard of Oz standard each cost me $8300 with shipping and both have had multiple problems from day 1. Stern may have its issues but they are delivering a more reliable product for less money than any other manufacturer out there. When my The Big Lebowski arrives, that sentiment may change, but for now there is no more reliable manufacturer than Stern. Heighway, Spooky, Dutch and some other manufacturers may have some good looking stuff but Stern has kept this game alive for the past few years and they deserve some ******* respect for doing so.