Quoted from freddy:

Do Tell!

Quoted from freddy:

will it come with a glory hole like your LUCI?

Quoted from Reality_Studio:

I can see that but on the other hand there is a point where too much product can create a glut in the market. For example if someone wants a movie based game, it can be tough to justify buying a new $7500 Star Trek table if let's say a used Tron was available tor $3000. The used market does affect the new market to an extent, I think it's a delicate balance of striking while the iron is hot but not going overboard and having too much used product in the pipe

I dunno, people keep saying that but I don't think it's the case. The amount of people that can afford pinball tables numbers in the millions now worldwide, whereas they are still only produced in the thousands. So long as they can keep that pricing balance right I think they can milk the pinball cow for years to come, assuming people don't get bored of pinball. I don't think it's money that would stop the pinball train, but eventually apathy might as younger people with limited interested in pinball grow up and don't spend any of their spare dollars on pinball tables.
To me right now they have it split quite nicely, they have the new tables in the >$7500 range which let's these USA based companies earn a profit all while paying the typical huge costs of doing manufacturing here (unions, legal, insurances, etc), and they have the used tier at around $5000 or so which let's new people with disposable income get into pinball while at the same time not undercutting their sales of new machines. With the current roughly $5000/$7500 split of used and new, I think those that prefer new will not be swayed as often to go used. At $3000/$7500 though that changes somewhat.

Quoted from Iceman5000:

Actually I have. Metallica had the clause and was extended. AC/DC did not have the clause and they could not come to an agreement to extend it.

Quoted from Reality_Studio:

The more used product on the market, the cheaper they can be had for. That applies to most anything, including pinball machines.

Oh I'm not saying it will keep going up for ever at a crazy rate but I presume Stern is thinking about this long term, meaning finding strategic volume and price points for the next few decades and that includes taking both the new and used markets into account. Right now they seem to be doing ok with their PRO/LE strategy on both volume and pricing.

Quoted from Reality_Studio:

What does this have anything to do with what I'm talking about?

Quoted from Reality_Studio:

I have my own very successful business and yes, less is sometimes more. They may do better by using their production capacity to move forward with new games/ip's, rather than overproducing (and possibly devaluing) individual games/ip's. It's not that different from what say Ferrari (and others) do. Pinball is unique in that it's not something anyone can wake up one morning and do, it takes a certain level of creativity, design, tooling, etc to get into that business so they don't have much competition to worry about now or in the near future. They don't make widgets in which case sure crank those out at maximum production capacity. Instead they have the market mostly to themselves so they should maximize the opportunity while they have it, which includes producing new games in a way that keeps both the used and new markets priced high.

Quoted from Reality_Studio:

Again, what do my tables have anything to do with what I'm talking about? Your coming across as bitter that prices are high and/or that Stern is making money. My tables have nothing to do with anything, heck I've never even bought a new table, most of mine at in the 3k range and all used. I'm purely talking business, what makes most sense for Stern.
Let me rephrase this in a way that maybe will make more sense. Using a more extreme example, if you are in the unique position where you sell a product of which you can:
1) Make 100 of them and sell them at $1 each.
2) Make 1 of them and sell them at $100 each.
...then you are better off with choice #2. I just don't know how else to explain it to you. Just cranking stuff out at maximum production capacity is not always the best and most profitable choice. It depends on what you make, market competition, etc, there's a whole lot of variables here.

Quoted from Reality_Studio:

Either your being purposely obtuse, or somehow I haven't worded myself clearly. I don't *want* anything. I have nothing to do with this. I am not an employee of Stern. Again you seem to be turning this back at me for reasons unknown. It has nothing to do with me, I don't make pinball tables.
What I'm suggesting is that a company like Stern, that effectively has no competition, has alternate options to maximize their profit and that does not necessarily mean flooding the market with a given table. There are smarter ways to do business.

Quoted from flynnibus:

There is such a thing as making your own market crash.
If Stern over produces.. their distributors get stuck with inventory they can't sell.. they go under. Stern loses distributors, and probably loses a good bit on bad debts.
With too much supply, there is also pressure on prices. Production output is not just about make as many as you can.. when you are dealing with a narrow audience.
Stern doesn't need to keep second hand sellers happy - but they do need to keep an eye on what competes with their sales.. and that includes second hand game sales. Many many many buyers rely on being able to sell a game to justify their initial purchase prices. A collapse in game values would hurt Stern new game sales in both comparative prices and by taking out many of their buyers.