I am on the fence with Harry Potter, it is classic but also a little dated. I have always thought it would be cool to do the 'Lego' version of a franchise. The 'Lego' movies have been pretty entertaining recently. I would be interested in a Harry Potter if Stern loaded it up. I would like to see the use of subway ramps, cool toys and cool features. This theme would not be ideal for Stern to do a re-theme and tweak an already produced design. Something fresh and new and something that knocks my socks off.

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I hope so, even if I do not care for the theme I want Stern to be successful and thrive. This theme would sell a shit ton, I say go for it Stern-it will do well. It is a universally attractive theme, not many of those are left.

Home runs? Like that is your opinion man. WOZ is the rainbow show with no flow, and Hobbit has great art and looks cool, but is a dud when it comes to game play. Sorry JJP fans but I feel Stern would make a good pin and I would love to see Stern make it. It may not look like a museum piece but it will play well, which is all I care about. I would take Stern over JJP any day of the week.

That is a concern, if they are going to spend the rumored million dollars on rights, the BOM may suffer. They simply need to raise the bar without jacking up the price. This one will be based off volume sales for Pros/Premiums for ROI, not selling x amount of limited super LE's. The profits will be based on number of units produced during the franchise agreement period. They will sell a shit ton if they keep the pricing relative and don't cut corners on BOM. A good game sells itself.

That's the catch 22

I have thought about this, I think if pinball companies price their pins more competitively they will in turn sell more units. Profits come by negotiating better pricing from vendors by purchasing higher quantities of parts, etc. Base profit projections on volume sales, not limited numbered runs. Let's take Houdini as an example. I feel if American priced Houdini's at $4995 they may have sold considerably more-heck I would have bought one at that price. How many units would they have had to sell at $4995 vs $6995 to have the same ROI? Harry Potter will sell well if priced competitively and if it is a good playing game. Imagine if Stern reduced pricing for Pro's back down to $4995 in order to capture more volume sales-that would be awesome.

Well if it cost $3000 to produce that would be a $2000 profit for each machine instead of $4000. Also consider having to leave some profit for the distributor-$500-$1000?

2000 x $2000=$4,000,000
1000 x $4000=$4,000,000

Looks closer to 2 to 1 to me not 11 to 1-again a volume based approach instead of limited numbers.

Funny you say that-I was thinking the same exact thing. I dropped $800 for 21/2 hours last year at Universal California-what a waste of money. I did do the studio tour that was ok but other than Harry Potter, the park is lacking. Universal Florida is way better and I did not feel like I was getting ripped off. Night and day difference between the two.

I love how the title of this thread is Stern Making Harry Potter and how many JJP fans felt the need to chime in a make a jab. I agree with the fact that JJP build quality seems to be superior but I feel the JJP fun factor is lacking. I have not been able to get into WOZ, Hobbit or POTC. I have enjoyed flipping Dialed In, but it has not drawn me in yet, the theme is meh. Stern machines for me have been fun to play. The only game Stern has made that is hard for me to play is WWE, and honestly I still enjoy playing it occasionally on location. People usually complain about the most recent released Sterns, but over time people fall in love with them. Why? Because they are fun to play. I would take a BBH over a Hobbit if asked today-because I think BBH is more fun, not that the Hobbit is worth more. Sorry that this thread has turned into a Stern vs JJP thread, but we all don't like apples, some like oranges (some like both).

I will be stoked if Stern makes Harry Potter!