It's a shame that being 7% overpriced is enough to keep you from buying.

I'm not sure why I'm even commenting, since I haven't paid more than $5k for a game, and haven't played WOOLY...

...but it's sad for pinball that an LCD would be enough to change minds on WOOLY. Really? This is because JPP released a game at that price point with an LCD? Are you planning to scrap your pinball games down the road and sell the LCD separately? It's probably a $100-$200 addition - a fancy screen that can't even look at while you're playing.

I agree that all machines probably will (and should) move in that direction, but making price demands based on them is silly. Remind me again - exactly how many games with LCDs have actually shipped? Stern adds a few cosmetic changes, 0 or 1 things that impact gameplay, slaps on a unique plaque and charges an extra $2k-$3k for an LE. And hundreds of people pay it. Oh, and then they'll finish the code 18 months later if enough people buy pros and they have the time to get around to it.

People are buying games for $8k, plain and simple. Maybe we "shouldn't be", but it's too late now (unless suddenly people start putting their money back in their pockets instead of bitching about prices and then buying anyway).

If you guys made your own boutique game in this market, what would you do - compete with Stern Pros on price? Hell no - you'd compete on the quality of gameplay, theme, artwork, and code. If boutique builders could come in and make a profit commensurate with the incredible risk involved at a lower price point - someone would be doing it. Until then, the only "low" prices we're going to see is from the only company with an assembly line mentality to churn out as many games as possible - at a price point which people also bitch about.

Exactly. And neither are most people who say they "would pay $X tops".

I understand this logic, but it's unfortunate because production costs for a color display and color changing LEDs are a few hundred at most - certainly not the thousands of dollars of "value" that potential buyers seem to place on them.

I guess that's a good lesson for boutique builders.

I'm just throwing out numbers here, but if they make $3k profit selling at $8k, then lowering to $7k will cut profits by a third...and they'd have to sell 50% more machines to make that up...all other things being equal (which they're not, because it's much more work to build and support 50% more machines).

I can just about guarantee they wouldn't sell 50%+ more machines at $7k, but unfortunately there really isn't a way to test that hypothesis.

Okay, I understand - we just disagree on how much an LCD adds to our personal enjoyment of the pinball machine. I wouldn't pay 20% more for a car just because it has a touch screen in the console showing me extra information about the songs as they play.

I've played WOZ dozens of times and the only time I can bother to look up at the LCD is during the ball lock animation.

I was specifically responding to the post that said an LCD was a $1500 improvement. You threw in an LCD, new toys, and a different art package in your analogy. (Which I agree, is the standard LE upsell).

Upgrades in *every* industry are all about perceived value. They make more money off people who pay extra for them.

In the end, I guess I just don't believe the people who said they'd buy it for $8k if it only had [insert feature or list of features].

It seems fairly certain that no boutique builder can.