I won't comment on the criticism versus anything else but...

The market has grown considerably recently. It wasn't that long ago that Stern was shipping probably around 2000 games per year. While they haven't said exact numbers, just based off LE sales, they are shipping more than 2000 LE games per year.

The market has grown. It's why Stern ended up in a larger facility, and why JJP, Spooky and now the P3 system are all competing in the same or a similar marketplace depending on how you look at it. Additionally, based on what I have heard from people who I know who operate, more pins are going back on route and earning better again than they have been.