I still think if they put this in a place like Costco or Target at Christmas time they will sell a ton of them.
Do targeted marketing where you only have them in select stores located in more affluent areas.

I thought about this a lot at work today.
My take on it is that it's targeting the "non pinball" community in an attempt to gain more market share or grow a new buyer base.

Yes $4000 is a lot of money for a lot of people, but for some not so much.
It's all about perspective and decimal points, hence why I said targeting stores in more affluent areas trying to reach a certain demographics.
I'm not sure who the targeted client is either, but its certainly not the seasoned pinball enthusiast (that market is saturated to capacity).
There is over 327 million people in the U.S. alone and most of them do not play pinball.

If they can pull this off it could expand their buyer base and bring new money and new buyers into the pinball market.
Let's face it, most of us here are on a budged, some bigger than others but a budget none the less and theres only so much pinball money in the current marketplace.
I have to pick and choose what machines I want to buy and who I want to spend my money with.
That might mean Stern gets my money, might be another manufacturer, might even be a used pin.
Fact is that Stern can not rely on a collector like me buying every pin they put out as a constant revenue stream.

Out of all of Sterns current licenses, this has to be the one with the most instant brand recognition.
I like to watch random people when I'm out playing pinball and see what games random non pinball people play.
I will tell that when the random person walk up to pins they will put money in Star Wars before they play something like Medieval Madness or something like Cirqus Voltaire where they are unfamiliar with the theme.
Its has to do with simple brand recognition and people connecting with things they are familiar with.

Anyhow yeah 4k is a lot of money, but hell some people will buy their spouse a new car for Christmas.
I have a client that bought his wife a 15K stove that he imported from Italy last year.
It's all about perspective.
Here in Arizona if you targeted the wealthy Scottsdale crowd I think you would sell a lot of these at a CostCo in Scottsdale.
In a poorer area probably not so much.

Yes, things like high end TVs.