Quoted from xTheBlackKnightx:I have explained some aspects in the past.
Let's look at things from a future standpoint, not the present.
This is called "short term profit methodology".
It is actually a standard business practice, if a manufacturer can figure out how to do it, and TRY to make a product look/operate identical.
It generally is ineffective when it comes to some types collectibles, so it shows the high level of new potential owners and buyers today in this hobby, and the lack of understanding or caring about the standards of the past games. Other collectible areas, people will simply not buy the "knock offs" even if made by the same company that built the originals.
Don't get me wrong, other collectible areas such as antique radios for example or jukeboxes have "new products versus old", but you do not see Rockola start using plywood instead of walnut on their jukeboxes, putting in crappy speakers and amplifiers, removing chrome trim, eliminating bubbler tubes, or minimizing the original lighting (although plastic has been used as replacements) to simply make a few extra dollars on the jukebox.
When I bought my Wurlitzer 1015 OMT back in 2005 and compared it to the original 1946, Wurlitzer did a very good job at replicating the original machine including the carousel, minus of course the electro mechanicals. That is why comparative to a fully restored HER original, the "remake" did not cost $15-20K!
BTW, this market is EVEN SMALLER than pinball.
NOTE: Wurlitzer formally closed in 2013, even though it had been acquired by Gibson Guitars years earlier. Sad day.
Stern knows the pinball surf wave will not last forever, experienced the pain before, and have to take as much as they can, while they can.
If a potential owner was not buying NIB Stern machines in 2006, they did not see what happened.
In the long term, Stern will simply reduce production to 1-2 titles a year, or whatever the market can bear, and survive.
If things go really sour, the investor council will close the company permanently, as was considered in 2010.
This would only really take a couple of bad failures of licenses or titles, most other companies remain one title away to financial closure.
Stern will continue to accelerate cost cutting as they go, as needed, or attempt new directions such as the outsourcing of construction, parts, and materials to reduce overhead in order to offset any changes in manufacturing including the largest cost, LABOR.
The remaining manufacturers will fold, as there will simply be not enough demand to sustain them.
American Pinball is a good example, as they have produced nothing yet, and NEED Houdini to be great hit.
Presently however, CGC and PPS are gaining a good foothold in the "retro" market, which Stern cannot directly compete.
They do have the necessary licenses to do it, but could if they really wanted, if they did some reach back.
WNBJM is not a correct example of a "remake" as it was a "retheme" and not an original Stern game to start with overall.
To be be brutally honest, Stern would be better off re releasing older games from the 90s (DE), than some of the crap they did since 1999.
But would the games be the same QUALITY or less from what they made before?
Hmmmm....I don't think so....
People do not even realize reruns of the same popular games such as LOTR were not the same from one version to another...
With additional competitive pricing and proven successful games of CGC, Stern are concerned.
They should be, as there remains a finite amount of disposable income to be spent on the tiny % of people who want to own new pinball machines.
TINY.
The rest of the companies will continue to fight for the scraps of what is left to the end.
For example, Spooky LLC has the support of the community, unlike ANY other manufacturer, and has a good rep for customer service support. JJP is right behind them, and is recognized for their quality of games.
The rest of the companies all have complete and utter, uncertain present futures living on shaky ground like an earthquake fault.
Most have released no fully produced game at all, just prototypes or tiny amounts of games.
All other manufacturers represent less than 10% of the entire market and with prices for "premium" games effectively reaching MSRPs at $10K, it forced many potential NIB buyers completely out of the market, or forced to do the "Hokey Pokey" with Stern.
I am NOT doing the "Hokey Pokey" with a manufacturer that wants to give me less quality and game for more money. That is for the foolhardy. I already supported Stern once before on this aspect in the 2000s, and I will not tolerate them doing this again at least to me. For some this is some sort of "epiphany" which is NOT new to the pinball industry.
As a result, Stern knows where they stand at least for the next 2-5 years or so, or we as a whole have another pricing drop period in the market earlier than anticipated.
This is a prediction based on experience, not conjecture, as I stated even here before, and it WILL happen again.
This is not a market "crash", it is a pinball "recession".
Prices are already steadying on used "Top 10" games, and dropping for those hoarders of NIB games (still sitting in boxes) made more than 2 years ago. There has been a slow increase of owner's already "cashing out" as interest begins to fade again.
Hopkins, MN
Wasaga Beach, ON
Biscarrosse
Étalle
