Yes.
But I'm talking about competition. And competition driving innovation.
It was business smarts of Stern to keep the DMD to keep development cost low. It would be business dumbness if they would still be doing this, competing with JJP.
JJP gives us nice games, so Stern has upped their game.
Deeproot says they want to keep the price low, so you have to rethink the development and manufacturing side of things. (Whatever they'll do.)
Camera replacing a couple of switches, tracking the flippers for an end of stroke switch replacement, while using ist maye also to be able to stream your game could potentially drive cost down while adding additional features.
Again: Not saying that this is the way to go.
Simpler example:
Most Pop Bumper Areas are totally seperated. Would it really change the outcome noticably when all 3 Pops are only driven by one switch line & coil?
Would it save money? I dunno! But it is something that could be evaluated if you see the need.
Even simpler and Stern allready does this:
If you don't have to hit targets in a specific order why bother intergrating a lot of seperate targets but include a big one, like in Munsters.
It is risky to do that if people think you're watering down the experience, since this is an obvious change. But they did it and will look if people get around accepting it.