Quoted from Rarehero:Absolutely despicable.
It’s always something. I stopped buying Sterns when they made people beg for a $15k Super LE of an unfinished prototype. Then came horrible playfields as a feature. Then making Stranger Things owners pay to “unlock” a lighting feature.
I was almost tempted by TMNT...was thinking about getting one.
NAH.
Glad I didn’t buy a TMNT. Now that $600 mode DLC is a thing, this has cemented that I will
never buy a Stern on principal. Every game is gonna have a paid unlock now. I’m Done. Forever. Lost me as a customer permanently with this one.
My feelings on Stern pretty much mirror yours exactly. Unfortunately there are too many people that will be outraged and then end up buying one anyway. If someone even mentions Stern, my default reply is "not interested." I don't care about theme, features, light shows or anything else when your quality is garbage and you are going to hold back features to try to upsell customers later.
So people can crap on stuff like Oktoberfest and Hot Wheels, but I would buy three of each before I bought a Stern.